Recent news articles covering the activities of Bernard Madoff, a brilliant financier for the times, make a compelling case that he be considered for the Nobel Prize in economics next year. His absolute great talent was to make people feel comfortable in turning their money over to him for great returns.
He outmaneuvered investment bankers, lawyers, economists, accountants, commercial real estate investors and developers — not to mention the folks at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. No wonder, at a recent luncheon meeting in Hong Kong, Thomas Friedman, a columnist for The New York Times was asked "if America was that corrupt."
Just imagine some of the comments by individuals who invested in his empire. They thought Madoff was a genius and anybody who didn't give him his money, a "fool." Madoff was considered a "wizard." Obviously, he is a genius to have built an impressive portfolio, at least on paper, that would accumulate up to $50 billion in a few years.
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