I’ve got some good news and bad news. Which do you want to hear first? Let’s start with the bad news and end on a high note.
Bad News:
It is heartbreaking to think of all the people who reached the tipping point, after losing their job, losing their home, and running out of money, scrounged up their last bit of savings and bought a tent. Tent “cities” are popping up everywhere around the country. From Athens, Georgia, to Nashville, to Reno, Seattle, and maybe the largest of the burgeoning tent cities, Sacramento. 
Katharine Q. Seelye, a writer for the New York Times reports on the conditions in Sacramento. “The primitive settlement sits in the shadow of the state capitol and is home to about 300 people who have no toilets or running water, creating unsanitary conditions that advocacy groups worry could promote diseases like cholera. With the downturn in the economy and more working-class people losing their jobs and their homes, the tent city is expanding.” Apparently the city of Sacramento is exploring all avenues for creating temporary housing, but like anything in a monster bureaucracy, this will likely take a while. It is also sad to think that, according to Seelye, in Sacramento, 10.4 percent of rental housing units are vacant and 4.8 percent of owned units are vacant. Shelter, running water, and electricity, all going unused while hundreds of people are permanently camping just a few blocks away. So in case you still weren’t convinced, YES, this economic crisis is very real. And it is getting more serious every day.
More Bad News:
No way…that’s enough for a month, let alone one blog. And there’s too much damn bad news out there. I’m going to stop there in an attempt to further prolong any need for a Zoloft prescription in my near future.
Good News:
Bernie “King Shmuck” Madoff is going to jail…probably for the rest of his life. I mean, the astronomical amount of gall this man must have to start a scheme and continued to grow it to the point where $64 billion dollars in other people’s money were totally lost. He ripped off Ellie Weisel for crying out loud! That is record breaking amounts of gall! And when he addressed the court today, reports claim that despite his “deep apologies” to the people whom he robbed, his speech and tone remained unapologetic with a tinge of arrogance mixed in for good measure. “When I began the Ponzi scheme, I believed it would end shortly and I would be able to extricate myself and clients from the scheme,” he said. “This proved to be difficult and ultimately impossible.” Oh, well now that you mention that, it’s completely understandable. You wanted to stop it. You really really wanted to, but you couldn’t. Alright Bernie, all is forgiven.
So fine, Bernie’s going to jail forever. But what a bitter-sweet victory. Recouping the victim’s money will be difficult if at all possible, and what about all the other people who helped old Bernie in his scheme? And when can we see some more blame come down on the SEC who needs to share an enormous amount of blame for Madoff’s extended stay atop the International League of Rat’s (ILR) as The Ponzi Scheme Champion of The World.
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Looking back on it, was that even THAT good of news? Not really. So let me leave you with some truly great news: Opening day is in a few weeks and the Cubs are going to win the World Series this year. Wooohooo!
By Andrew Brentan
I guess Andrew is a big Cubs fan! I would have to agree with the baseball season just around the corner, that is great news! I know some people don’t like baseball or it doesn’t carry the same excitement as some of the other sports but it’s baseball and its a great game! Go Padres! 🙂
Even though I live in San Diego and have lived here for years, I am a big Cubs fan! My family were big fans growing up and it just sticks with you. I have to agree with Andrew, this may be the year???
More big heads from WStreet must go to JAIL!
gad’s last blog post..ZX7 [CHROME] by ZYOXX WHEELS
Hmmm… for some reason I think people who invested with Madoff were much happier before the Ponzi scheme was exposed and they thought they were making money — which resulted in them spending money.
Kind of like when everybody had equity in their homes… they felt rich and spent money.
Anyways… The Cubs winning the World Series would be a fantastic Feel Good story… Kind of like Cinderella Man or The Legend of Bagger Vance. Something we certainly need right now…
If the Cubs can win the World Series this year… then anything is possible!
BTW…Thanks for reminding me of how much I miss Wrigley Field this time of year…. Now I’m sad…
Paul Francis, CRS’s last blog post..Report suggests 55% of Nevada Homes are worth less then their Mortgage
Bernie was just one of many when you think about it. He got caught but how many more just like him are out there? They’ve proably moved on into different jobs but ones where they’re still risking other peoples money all in the pursuit of bonuses they don’t deserve. And then at the other end of the scale, you get people who were once proud homeowners living in tents!
I don’t understand what Madoff’s plan was. It seems obvious eventually he was going to get caught. There is no light at the end of the tunnel for Ponzi schemes.
jill’s last blog post..January 2009 sales lowest since January 2001
Yeh very bad but one thing is positivity provides us , People developing Tent Cities it’ll be very tough we all understand but no option without facing, I most like Bernie “King Shmuck” Madoff News going to jail because always people only want Good and hate bad but i love to ean with good one.
I’m glad bernie is going to jail.
So Madoff made off with the life savings of others! This is truly a sad commentary on our materialistic society. More is better, no matter how we get it! The truth is that we cannot take it with us into eternity. And, we will answer to the Lord for what we do and how we treat others. “Do unto others …”
Thankfully, there is some good news out there, even if the national news outlets do not focus on it enough. Hopefully our President will continue to move from the politics of fear to the word of hope he ran on.
Madoff walks around so smug, devoid of any real emotion. I have never seen any expression on his face, and I wonder if he has any remorse at all.
He is certainly a criminal, but the latest AIG scandal with their executives receiving multi-million dollar bonuses **after** the bailout isn’t much different. To me, that is right up there with the Madoff thing.
Yeah i agree, i am glad he is going to jail. Hopefully he live a long time in jail also
It is good to see that he will pay for what he has done, but ultimately that doesn’t put the lives he has wrecked back together. I can’t believe he got away with it, but i guess that is the beauty of hindsight!
How very sad for all those people; lets really hope that these stimulis packages get the economy in gear. AND it would be nice if the Cubs won the World Series, since it would be a Cinderella Man story.
Your right, everyone talks about Bernie, but he couldn’t have done it all himself. I never hear about who helped him in all this.
That is so sad that there are that many people living in tents. The foreclosure issue is out of control.