Perspective

Bernard Madoff, at 70, is off to jail for the rest of his life after pulling off a $65,000,000,000 ponzi scheme within the asset management arm of his private investment firm. Many individuals lost their life savings, thousands of predominantly Jewish charitable organizations and institutions have lost their endowments and investments, many have had to shut down. Bernie made off with their dough and now, shortly after pleading guilty today for 11 counts worth up to 150 years of jail-time, Madoff was sent directly to jail and his wife went home to the family penthouse. Bernie is going to jail on the taxpayers dime and his family gets to continue to live richly on the money that he stole. Yet another free ride for Bernie.

No matter how many civil suits are filed, the family will still get to live the life to which they have become accustomed. And I suppose from his standpoint, this is the best way for it all to go down. He'll take the fall to protect them as if they didn't know. Come on now, when was there ever anything that was a sure thing?

Well it seems Bernie, and the Antigua-based Robert Stanford, recently arrested for his own $8,000,000,000 scheme, have kicked off what will prove to be the ultimate scammer season. Granted their scams were perpetrated over a longer period of time but this spiraling economic ruin is the perfect time for all the scam-meisters to sharpen their tack. There are so many ways to defraud people now, it is ridiculous; every single type of mortgage reduction, debt reduction, risk-free investment, unemployment scam and others are well-ripe for success. With so many of us clamoring for things to get better including the Dow Jones with its latest 3-day increase of 623 points, we are all especially vulnerable. Already in my job search, I have received so many job-fraud solicitations; unfortunately, the collateral damage of being registered on employment websites.

My husband and I are trying to figure out how to stay positive this year because it is going to be a very long year but it shouldn't be all bad. I don't want to bury my head in the sand and hope for the best. Nor do I want to get so obsessed with trying to find positive news in which to celebrate. I am just hoping not to get so bogged down with surviving that I sound too negative or become too cynical. At least we have Spring right down the road and Spring is usually, almost, pretty much, kind of, mostly, good. Isn't it? I'll make no claims before their time. You know what happens when you bet on a sure thing, Madoffians.

I have to say I am loving the earlier start of daylight savings time.