WhatGoesAroundComesAround_DavisRob

very human, screw-up, of poor investment returns? It is the same screwup
that legions of professional money managers have made before and
since. Of course he could have. He could have because as we have been
taught, human beings are the only living creatures on the earth that have
freedom of choice.
Instead, Bernie’s conscious choice was to obfuscate. It was to create an
elaborate and complex deception. To lie and steal. He was incredibly
good at it, a testament to his intelligence. If only he’d used that intellect
for the good of humanity rather than for all the pain it wrought. What
would have been the outlook for his family and loved ones then? For
himself?
So it is that this gift bestowed upon humans, the one that provides free
choice, comes with what Emerson would refer to as:
“The equally, counter-balancing responsibility to use that freedom the
right way.”
So it also is that this very freedom of choice can postpone the eventual
reckoning, due to the many nuances of decisions that clever and
intelligent people have within their power of choice to make. However,
for those who get upset with how long some people seem to get away, I
hope you’ll get some comfort now from knowing that, the longer they
do, the deeper the pit!
It all comes crashing down when those choices no longer work. That
happened to Bernie Madoff when the financial crisis of 2008 descended
and choked off that cash flow he so depended on. It was only then that
he was forced to confess to his family and the world what he’d done.
Only then was he forced to suffer the most extreme of all possible
humiliations, a downfall of unprecedented proportion from revered to
reviled, called a monster, and convicted to prison for the rest of his life.