U today

Good morning:

This picture is the volcano in Iceland. Apparently an erupting volcano creates its own lightening.

It is getting nicer, sort of...

It certainly is warm out today, but it looks like it may rain but I hope it does not. I have my clothes hanging outside today.

I did finish No One Would Listen, a book on the Madoff scandal. It amazes me that the government bail outed out the banks and car companies but did nothing for the Madoff losers. But in one sense they got what they deserved. Many knew it may have been a scam but continued to invest with him because the returns he was reporting, a straight 45 degree angle up. He reported losing money in only seven months in the ten years he ran his scam. This was but one of the eight or so warning signs Madoff gave of his Ponzi scheme.

The author has nothing to good to say about the SEC. After Madoff was arrested the author appeared before Congress and told the committee the SEC was in the pocket of the banks and big companies, not helping investors as called for by the SEC charter. All but one SEC commissioners resigned as well as others who had information about Madoff but did nothing with it. The author had been sending materials to the SEC for nine years. Had the SEC taken action nine years ago, this would have saved investors $55 billion, the amount Madoff raised during those nine years. His final losses were $65 billion.

My next book may be Scott Turow's Innocent. I will skim Presumed Innocent before doing that, as the latter is a sequel of the former.

There was a report on Morning Edition this morning on stupidest commentator on radio, Rush has a new book out on his version of conservatism. I did not listen to it as I hate this guy.

What are your plans for Memorial Day weekend coming up?

Steven