Thursday, July 02, 2009

A tale of two narratives

Bernie Madoff is rightfully receiving universal condemnation and ridicule for swindling investors out of 50 billion dollars. He is always described, among other things, as a rogue, thief, scoundrel, and criminal, . His financial “victims” are said to be “ruined” and “suffering”.

Meanwhile, Michael Jackson is receiving universal acclaim as a musical genius, even as his financial records indicate a negative net worth of over 500 million. Apparently, Michael Jackson swindled creditors out of over 500 million dollars. His financial victims are never mentioned or even acknowledged in media reports.

Perhaps 1 billion dollars is the line of demarcation. Probably not. Expecting the media to be fair and truthful is always expecting way too much.

4 comments:

Rick and Gary said...

Gee, David, I think that's a huge stretch. Jackson's creditors are sophisticated banks and global corporations making collateralized loans based on accurate financial information. (Sony, for example, preferred losing money to risking boycotts from Jackson fans.

Madoff's investors based their decisions totally on fabricated financial information.

David M. Smith said...

What? I’m not allowed to stretch? That’s no fun! : - )

Are you claiming all of the charities that invested (sic) with Madoff, many of which use their own forms of manipulative information, are purely innocent, while all of Jackson’s creditors, were sophisticated financial operations? Some of Jackson’s servants over the years would disagree.

Of course I was stretching (a little).

How have you been Rick? Are you as (comparatively) skinny as the rest of Colorado?

Buz said...

Gee, I thought you were going to go somewhere else with this ... some slick guy who has tricked "investors" out of about 3 trillion (and still counting).

Buz

(Good to see you back ... I tried to send you an e-mail, but there were about 20 "David Smiths" in the Company address book ... I was given the Golden Boot as of 4/30.)

David M. Smith said...

Hi Buz,

Sorry to hear about your boot. You’ve done your part to improve the cost model; the new corporate deity. Your former employer only has about 200,000 left to sacrifice on the alter before costs are completely under control.

Dsmith02 at eds.com is my e-mail.