There's a show I watch weekly on CNBC. Its called "American Greed. Scams. Scoundrels. Suckers". I find it fascinating. The scams that are successfully perpetuated. The methods used. And the sheer brilliance of the scam on many occasions. The show revolves around highlighting the scam and the victims, especially how much impact it has on their lives.
What I find most interesting is the similarities and common elements of almost each of the scams. Here's what almost all of them have in common.
a. The scam artist who is extremely confident and has charisma that has people believe in him or her, mostly him.
b. They require an investment from the sucker.
c. There is a promised return which is much much higher than anything that regular investments offer.
d. Initially the promised returns happen to attract new investments.
e. When the incoming investments reduce to less than the payable returns, the scam ends and the scamster is either caught or vanishes.
The logo "American Greed - Some people will do anything for money", all refer to and judgement is passed on the low morality of the perpetrators of the crime. In my opinion this describes as much if not more aptly, the victims. That's because the victims are aware that what they are being offered is unreal and not possible, but its greed that blinds them to believe what they hear, no matter how unreal it is.
You can see the episodes at CNBC's website
http://www.cnbc.com/id/18057119
or on Hulu
http://www.hulu.com/american-greed
or you go through the list of episodes and pick the ones you want to watch. My 2 favorites are Bernie Madoff and Raj Raj Rajaratnam.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_Greed_episodes
And finally, this is not about American Greed at all. Its about Human Greed. As a wise acquaintance recently remarked, "All of us want lots of money to do very little, and preferably nothing at all."
What I find most interesting is the similarities and common elements of almost each of the scams. Here's what almost all of them have in common.
a. The scam artist who is extremely confident and has charisma that has people believe in him or her, mostly him.
b. They require an investment from the sucker.
c. There is a promised return which is much much higher than anything that regular investments offer.
d. Initially the promised returns happen to attract new investments.
e. When the incoming investments reduce to less than the payable returns, the scam ends and the scamster is either caught or vanishes.
The logo "American Greed - Some people will do anything for money", all refer to and judgement is passed on the low morality of the perpetrators of the crime. In my opinion this describes as much if not more aptly, the victims. That's because the victims are aware that what they are being offered is unreal and not possible, but its greed that blinds them to believe what they hear, no matter how unreal it is.
You can see the episodes at CNBC's website
http://www.cnbc.com/id/18057119
or on Hulu
http://www.hulu.com/american-greed
or you go through the list of episodes and pick the ones you want to watch. My 2 favorites are Bernie Madoff and Raj Raj Rajaratnam.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_Greed_episodes
And finally, this is not about American Greed at all. Its about Human Greed. As a wise acquaintance recently remarked, "All of us want lots of money to do very little, and preferably nothing at all."
The really interesting thing is not the show itself but the fascination Americans have with it. It speaks to the dichotomy of the American moral fabric - once great and singlarly focused on what they can acheive if they worked hard; now decayed, devolved into a morbid eleation at the failings of the human condition that permits the scammer and the willing participant (aka victim) whilst still wanting to acheieve personal success.
ReplyDeleteThere was a time when things like this wouldn't/couldn't happen because of the public shame that would be hurled at the scammer and his/her family (close and extended). A time when morality was personal and communal - the last 2 generations have lost that sense of morality as their parents have succumbed to the abdication of thier repsonsibilities in favor of Generation Me, herenow Generation Gimme.