Maybe criminals should be given to their victims who can then sell them into indentured servitude to make restitution.
Maddof should be the slave of his victims and have to write books etc until he has paid themback On Fri, Jul 3, 2009 at 12:12 AM, Keith In Tampa <[email protected]>wrote: > Call me a Moonbat, but I agree with Tucker on this one.....I can't go so > far as Richard did above, claiming that no prisons in the Nation is the most > effective way, but our federal and State prison systems are laughable. It > has become a moneymaker at the expense of American lives. > > > > > On Thu, Jul 2, 2009 at 11:00 AM, Travis <[email protected]> wrote: > >> >> >> >> >> >> From: *Travis* >> Date: Thu, Jul 2, 2009 >> Subject: Free Bernie Madoff >> >> >> >> ** >> >> *See Also... >> Dean Krugman to the Marching Band: "Stay the >> Course!"<http://mises.org/story/3526>by William L. Anderson >> * >> Free Bernie Madoff >> >> *Mises Daily* by Jeffrey A. >> Tucker<http://mises.org/articles.aspx?AuthorId=205>| Posted on 7/2/2009 >> [image: Bernie Madoff will spend the rest of his life in jail.] Bernie >> Madoff stole billions from the customers of his phony investment funds, >> running a racket rather than a financial service. People who aren't even his >> victims are furious, and nearly everyone enjoyed a 10-minute sense of >> vengeance when the judge threw him behind bars for 150 years. >> >> Let me weigh in with a contrary view. Free Bernie Madoff, I say. >> >> His life is already ruined. He is a pauper. He will never again do >> business. From the innovative genius whose information technology in the >> 1960s became the basis of NASDAQ, he rose to the heights and fell to the >> depths where he will stay this way until death. He won't be able to be seen >> in public for the rest of his life without encountering scorn and derision >> from everyone around him. >> >> Maybe the idea of jail is punishment. I don't see how it can be a worse >> punishment than he would face on the outside. >> >> Maybe the idea is to impose on him a feeling of remorse. But does he not >> already feel regret, even deep sorrow? This man who was widely considered to >> be a historic phenom is now disgraced, forever. We all have one life to >> live, and his is now a complete wreck, going down in history as the worst >> financial criminal of all time. >> >> What, then, precisely, is the point of jailing him? He is no direct threat >> to anyone. Society would not be safer because he is in the slammer. He is >> not going to rob people or beat people up. He might write a book and donate >> the funds to charity or make some restitution to his victims. I, for one, >> would like to read that book. >> >> Instead, taxpayers will be forced to pick up the tab for his living >> expenses. Victims get nothing. That's not justice. That's inhumane for both >> sides of the transaction: Bernie and us. >> >> Will jail "rehabilitate" him? It's ridiculous. His rehabilitation, if >> there can be one, is probably already complete. Consider the dilemma in >> which he found himself. It began small, a simple scheme that anyone can >> play. His problem was that it worked better than most. >> >> Once his scam began, he probably hoped the markets would turn around and >> he would become honest again. It didn't turn out that way. Then he couldn't >> dig his way out of it, no matter how much he hated his life. That it lasted >> decades instead of days is a testament to his marketing savvy, but that's >> not to say that he loved his life. Spending the rest of his life in the >> pokey won't rehabilitate him any more intensely than life on the outside. >> >> The problem with prisoners is not that you are treated like an animal. >> Would that they had it so good! At the zoo, the animals are fed and groomed >> and cared for. They have value because they elicit affection from paying >> customers. Even slaves are in a better position, for at least they are >> valued to some small degree by their masters. >> >> Prisoners, on the other hand, face a kind of metaphysical transformation. >> They go from being valued members of society to being treated like blobs of >> flesh taking up space. Their wardens see them as objects. They are abused by >> fellow inmates and live in a state of incredible degradation everyday. >> >> All prisoners are therefore living amidst a kind of torture. It isn't >> modern. It isn't even medieval. It is contrary to all principles of >> civilization. Perhaps we should allow it for the most violent members of >> society, pending some other solution. But that doesn't apply to Madoff, and >> it doesn't apply to some ¾ of all the prison population. >> <http://www.mises.org/store/Anarchy-and-the-Law-P335.aspx> >> But still, we are all supposed to feel some kind of joy at his captivity. >> For decades we've been told by sociologists that the real criminals in >> society are not muggers and murderers and rapists but rather "white-collars >> criminals" who are capitalists sneakily stealing money using fancy finance. >> They are the ones who should be in jail. >> >> And so now, those educated by the sociologists, forever soft on real crime >> but oddly tough on financial crime, have their way, as the bourgeoisie cries >> out for vengeance against a guy whose sole victims were the rich people who >> were his own customers. >> >> So let us ask the unaskable: Just how unusually evil were Madoff's >> actions? Not that unusual. In fact, the whole notion of paying off past >> investors with the funds of present investors is at the very core of the >> Social Security system. At least Madoff sought the consent of his investors >> who let him care for their money based on their own volition. And at least >> he didn't attempt to defend himself with the claim that he was conducting >> wise public policy. >> >> [VIEW THIS ARTICLE ONLINE] <http://mises.org/story/3546> >> >> _____________________________ >> >> Jeffrey Tucker is the editor of Mises.org. Send him mail<[email protected]>. >> See his article archives <http://mises.org/articles.aspx?AuthorId=205>. >> Comment on the blog <http://blog.mises.org/archives/010213.asp>. >> >> >> >> Mises.org <http://mises.org/> | About the >> Institute<http://mises.org/about.aspx> >> | Mises Daily <http://mises.org/articles.aspx> | Mises >> Blog<http://blog.mises.org/blog/> >> | Literature <http://mises.org/literature.aspx> | >> Media<http://mises.org/media.aspx> >> | Events <http://mises.org/events.aspx> | >> Store<http://www.mises.org/store/> >> | Community <http://mises.org/Community/> >> You are subscribed as [email protected] >> EasyUnsubscribe<http://mises.biglist.com/do/unsub/article/158720164/3q325jzvg3/1627>(by >> email <[email protected]>) | My >> Settings<http://mises.biglist.com/do/acct/article/158720164/3q325jzvg3/1627> >> >> >> >> -- >> *~@):~{> >> >> >> >> -- >> *~@):~{> >> >> >> --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. 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