"There's a
sucker born every minute" is a phrase often credited to P. T. Barnum
(1810–1891), an American showman. It is generally taken to mean that there will
always be many gullible people in the world. (Wikipedia)
Bernard
Lawrence "Bernie" Madoff (pronounced /ˈmeɪdɒf/;[3] born April 29,
1938) is a former American stockbroker, businessman, investor, investment
advisor, money manager, and former non-executive chairman of the NASDAQ stock
market, and the admitted operator of what has been described as the largest
Ponzi scheme in history….
Concerns
about Madoff's business surfaced as early as 1999, when financial analyst Harry
Markopolos informed the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that he
believed it was legally and mathematically impossible to achieve the gains
Madoff claimed to deliver. According to Markopolos, he knew within five minutes
that Madoff's numbers didn't add up, and it took four hours of failed attempts
to replicate them to conclude Madoff was a fraud.[57] He was ignored by the
Boston SEC in 2000 and 2001, as well as by Meaghan Cheung at the New York SEC
in 2005 and 2007 when he presented further evidence. He has since published a
book, No One Would Listen, about the
frustrating efforts he and his team made over a ten-year period to alert the
government, the industry, and the press about the Madoff fraud.
Although
Madoff's wealth management business ultimately grew into a multi-billion-dollar
operation, none of the major derivatives firms traded with him because they
didn't think his numbers were real. None of the major Wall Street firms
invested with him either, and several high-ranking executives at those firms
suspected he wasn't legitimate.[57]
Others
also contended it was inconceivable that the growing volume of Madoff accounts
could be competently and legitimately serviced by his documented
accounting/auditing firm, a three-person firm with only one active accountant. (Wikipedia)
The willingness to believe the improbable is a
striking aspect of human nature.
Especially is this true when we are willing to romanticize the capacities
of an individual. We have the ability to
turn someone into an idol and dutifully worship them. Politics frequently witnesses this type of
deification. We vote for one believing
that they will turn heaven and earth and realize all our even transcendental expectations
within a few years. We can do this with
movie stars as well, greatly expanding their acting roles into silver screen mastery
of all of life. Decision makers in
government are themselves often willing to believe that an outside stranger, a
little-known entrepreneur will be able to perform miracles in growth and
development. In this case, it is the magic,
the charisma, the iridescent chutzpah flowing from a confident developer that will
certainly achieve where no one else has or could be successful. This faith is inevitably eroded by the
iconoclastic action of time. That which can be “pulled off” when an eagerness
to believe is present (together with tightly controlled theatrical conditions)
becomes dissipated upon the larger less controlled canvas of life. On the downside of great expectations we
often feel like suckers—taken in not only by others, but by ourselves as
well. The capacity to dream unrealistic
dreams every now and then will present a winner—the product of a very desperate
long shot. But on the other hand,
realistic dreams if psychologically permissible are generally the most
rewarding.
