The Madoff Fallout
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
What's the next step for victims of the Madoff scandal? Jason Zweig, personal finance
columnist for the Wall Street Journal; and Gregory Sisk, Law Professor at the University of Saint Thomas, discuss some of the options.
Comments [9]
Monique....i think Brian was merely pointing ou the irony in the situation. This finaancial mess pales in comparison to the rough situation of Iraq. President Bush has been honest & expressed regret that no WMDs were found....hence the question is appropriately phrased with irony not entirely serious.
IMHO
Jim
Brian,
re: the Madoff segment
You had a smile in your voice but that analogy you made in the question can families who lost loved ones in Iraq and Afghanistan sue the government for false premises of WMDs was devastating. You almost never come off that pointed. I wonder if anyone else though so.
#6 is right b/c they'll say you're not "ready willing and able to work" b/c you were busy volunteering.
DO N OT VOLUNTEER IF YOU ARE UNEMPLOYED!!! In New York State you can lose your unemployment insurance payments. Particularly if you are volunteering in the field from which you were laid off. This happened to a friend of mine. Brian, look into this and do a segment on it so people know this.
Re: The woman who called to ask whether a bankruptcy judge might be sympathetic to her family's situation (they had borrowed money against their funds invested with Madoff).
It sounds to me as if this woman hopes to retain some assets and stiff her creditors, passing the grief to another undeserving party. That is beneath contempt.
My 91 year-old grandmother, a "sophisticated investor" with nary more than a high school education smelled a rat several years ago, and pulled out her investment through a family fund with Madoff. Too bad no one counseled her 93 year-old sister with dementia, who's now lost everything.
Not to sound uncaring, but the people I've seen weeping on CNN (and most of the rest of Madoff's victims) will almost certainly be fine. They almost certainly have rich relatives and rich friends. They'll have a roof over their head and 100K from the SIPC. As a paycheck-to-paycheck renter in these uncertain times, if someone could guarantee me that right now I'd be thrilled.
Has the Madoff mess affected any of the "socially responsible" investment firms?
The SEC defines sophisticated people as making joint income of $500k or more per year or they have at least $1 million in assets.
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