Madoff gets 150 years in prison!

[The Brain]

From today's NYT article on the sentencing:

in meting out the maximum sentence, Judge Chin pointed out that no friends, family or other supporters had submitted any letters on Mr. Madoff's behalf, attesting to the strength of his character or good deeds he had done.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/30/business/30madoff.html?ref=global

What's up with judges having names like body parts? Learned Hand. Judge Chin. Etc.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1314&dat=19690107&id=KI4RAAAAIBAJ&sjid=c-kDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4441,2259145

[Valmy]

I may be a grade A moron but the people who invested heavily in Madoff's shit without checking that he was legit maybe weren't very bright. From what I've read about Madoff (basically thread titles on Languish) it seems the guy was just collecting the Stupid Tax.

No argument here.

[Maximus]

Well people still committed crimes in Rome or India when the penalties ran to impalement or crucifixion, so deterrence is rarely effective.

I think you're missing the point. The conclusion to be drawn from that is that deterrent isn't effective with everyone. After all, I would guess there would be more people committing crimes if there was no deterrent at all.

[KRonn]

This is all this guy got, for the financial horrors he put upon people, wiped them out, retirees, companies, as well as charities that got ruined by his schemes? He deserved much worse! Death penalty would have been proper, only mitigated by how much he cooperated to get some of the money back.

[Neil]

This is all this guy got, for the financial horrors he put upon people, wiped them out, retirees, companies, as well as charities that got ruined by his schemes? He deserved much worse! Death penalty would have been proper, only mitigated by how much he cooperated to get some of the money back.

The death penalty and life imprisonment are the same.  The only thing is that the death penalty is superior in a moral sense.

[DontSayBanana]

The death penalty and life imprisonment are the same.  The only thing is that the death penalty is superior in a moral sense.

Schtick aside, I kinda agree with you here. Life imprisonment and the death penalty both assume that a person is incapable of functioning in society. Nursing along thousands of aberrant failures, as well as stretching the resources available to the normal and those benefiting from rehabilitation, is kind of stupid in that context.

Anyway, the joke I made before my accounting final earlier: at least he didn't get life.

[garbon]

This is all this guy got, for the financial horrors he put upon people, wiped them out, retirees, companies, as well as charities that got ruined by his schemes? He deserved much worse! Death penalty would have been proper, only mitigated by how much he cooperated to get some of the money back.

Seeing as how people practically begged him for financial horrors, no I don't agree.

[Caliga]

This is all this guy got, for the financial horrors he put upon people, wiped them out, retirees, companies, as well as charities that got ruined by his schemes? He deserved much worse! Death penalty would have been proper, only mitigated by how much he cooperated to get some of the money back.

This is America, not China.

[Darth Wagtaros]

This is all this guy got, for the financial horrors he put upon people, wiped them out, retirees, companies, as well as charities that got ruined by his schemes? He deserved much worse! Death penalty would have been proper, only mitigated by how much he cooperated to get some of the money back.

The death penalty and life imprisonment are the same.  The only thing is that the death penalty is superior in a moral sense.

Its cheaper for society is what it is.

[KRonn]

This is all this guy got, for the financial horrors he put upon people, wiped them out, retirees, companies, as well as charities that got ruined by his schemes? He deserved much worse! Death penalty would have been proper, only mitigated by how much he cooperated to get some of the money back.

Seeing as how people practically begged him for financial horrors, no I don't agree.

People didn't ask to be financially ruined, charities gone out of business, families losing college money, etc. They just invested, as millions of us do every day.

[KRonn]

This is all this guy got, for the financial horrors he put upon people, wiped them out, retirees, companies, as well as charities that got ruined by his schemes? He deserved much worse! Death penalty would have been proper, only mitigated by how much he cooperated to get some of the money back.

This is America, not China.

Aw heck, we can go China like once in a while.   

[Razgovory]

Take his money away, sure, but getting a life sentence for something that does not involve murder or cruel rape is just fucked up.

How is that fucked up?  What he did ruined alot more lives than raping or murdering and far more damaging to society.

We are talking about 65 billion dollars here Mart.  People like him threaten to destroy our entire system, which no raping or murdering could achieve.  We depend on people following the rules.

Cause Marty is actually a white collar criminal.

[garbon]

People didn't ask to be financially ruined, charities gone out of business, families losing college money, etc. They just invested, as millions of us do every day.

Act like a fool and you largely deserve what you get.

[DontSayBanana]

Act like a fool and you largely deserve what you get.

Which only holds true for the initial rounds of investors. By the end of the scheme, Madoff was supposedly pretty trustworthy. It wasn't just the investors that failed to look over his shoulder; no one did.

[garbon]

Which only holds true for the initial rounds of investors. By the end of the scheme, Madoff was supposedly pretty trustworthy. It wasn't just the investors that failed to look over his shoulder; no one did.

Everyone is jumping off a bridge, I think I shall too!