Monday, December 29, 2008

Orwell on Ponzi

Here's one of the many great little excerpts from Orwell's Why I Write -- think Ponzi when reading the below, and how a petty C-Store thief would be treated in contrast to how a Maddof would be treated; or how CEOs from the Big Automotive Manufacturers are treated in contrast to how, well, we're treated:

"It is not that anyone imagines the law to be just. Everyone knows that there is one law for the rich and another for the poor. But no one accepts the implications of this, everyone takes it for grated that the law, such as it is, will be respected, and feels a sense of outrage when it is not."

Orwell, "Why I Write" (Penguin Books), p. 21.

Orwell was commenting on the English legal system, but evidence suggests that it just might go beyond the limits of Great Britain's coast.

3 comments:

Tecumseh said...

Good quote, MFT -- always good to go back to the old master, and his fountain of wisdom.

Speaking of Madoff, look at what he faces, at a maximum (!):

Madoff, under house arrest in his Manhattan apartment, faces as much as 10 years in prison and a $5 million fine if convicted.

Now divide this by $50 billion (the amount he confessed swindling), and compare the resulting fractions to what Joe Schmoe would face were he to pilfer a sixpack of beer from the corner store. Life is a bitch!

Arelcao Akleos said...

Folks, we have discussed this before. There is no good solution but the Vico solution.

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