Schmoozing with a Confidence Man

Everybody knows that the guy who robs the corner store is a thug. But here is a video clip of a guy, Bernard Madoff, who is 200 MILLION TIMES thuggier than the common thug robbing the corner store. He comes across as a "reasonable" guy, but he is a thief. He has destroyed thousands of people's lives. But he seems so pleasant. Yes, a confidence man does his best work when he comes across as "your friend".

Notice how early in the clip he makes two points: (1) brokers are "over-regulated" and (2) cheating is pretty well impossible. He makes these statements in this 2007 video clip when he is already deeply into stealing tens of billions of dollars from people...


By the way, one of the more prescient comments I've heard is that Madoff couldn't have done this alone. It is quite curious that he was "turned in" by his sons. But you can tell from this video that his relatives were deeply involved: his sons and his brother and brother-in-law joined the firm. It is impossible that he pulled off a $50 billion Ponzi scheme "all alone" when he had all these relatives deeply involved. This is a family crime. It is only time before the family, and even employees get taken off in chains for collaborating in this huge, huge crime.