The Story Of Charles Ponzi

I remember one day in 1986 when my cousin in Irvine invited me to dinner in Orange County and told me to bring $1000 cash. She said that we could make $32,000 within a few weeks. She knew at least five people that made $10,000. This pyramid scheme ended rather quickly. The last people to join were the big losers and so on. In 1903, the Italian Charles Ponzi emigrated to the United States and came up with a scheme that had to do with postage stamps. Ponzi's scheme took in over $1 million dollars in a short period of time. Over the years there have been hundreds of ponzi or pyramid schemes that have defrauded investors. Notable examples include boy band mogul Lou Perlman who ran off with $500 million over twenty years.
Bernard Madoff will definitely win the prize for the biggest scheme of all over $50 Billion. I am sure that this will not be the last time we hear about a ponzi scheme.

Random thoughts....will the Federal Reserve cut the Funds rate to 0.50% tomorrow?....will money market fund returns got to 0.00%?....only ten days to Christmas...the rally has to begin any day now...I believe that Bernanke has to find a way to end the credit crunch...the corporate and municipal bond market have to function soon and I mean soon...within the next thirty days...