“Pecunia, si uti scis, ancilla est; si nescis, domina”

“If you can use money, money is your slave; if you can’t, money is your master”, that’s what the Latin line above means..

Don’t know why I suddenly think of that. Money is definitely something on my top search list nowadays. It’s crisis now, I’m jobless. Although some economists stated the worst was already over,but I still can’t see any considerable progress. So I came to a conclusion that I just have to start my own business, but how?? No capital,my bank account is almost zeroed. Ok, stop complaining, onto business!

I was wondering how unfair this world is to humankinds. Some jetset are spending their seemingly bottomless accounts extravagantly, while some others are starving to death. Some executives are overwhelmed by job offers, whereas the others are completely discarded by employers and companies, even if they wanted to work without getting paid.

And all of a sudden, Bernard Madoff crossed on my mind. I’m not really familiar with financial world,but still I know who Bernard Madoff is. Thanks to his notorious international reputation, almost everybody knows him now.

According to Former SEC Chairman Harvey Pitt, the actual net fraud to be between $10 and $17 billion, as this calculation does not include the fictional returns Madoff credited to his customer accounts. Prosecutors identified $13.2 billion in losses in accounts opened since 1996. On June 29, 2009, Madoff was sentenced to 150 years imprisonment as inmate number #61727-054 at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City. As parole has been abolished in the federal prison system since 1984, it was equivalent to a life sentence. Despite its length, at least three other white collar defendants have received longer sentences. At sentencing, Madoff apologized to his victims, saying, “I have left a legacy of shame, as some of my victims have pointed out, to my family and my grandchildren. This is something I will live in for the rest of my life. I’m sorry.” He added, “I know that doesn’t help you,” after his victims recommended to the judge that he rot in jail. Chin had not received any mitigating letters from friends or family testifying to Madoff’s good deeds. “The absence of such support is telling,” he said (see here for details).

How could he have had heart to commit such horrible crime??! Fraud with the total sum of billions dollars is beyond my ken. Madoff is really mad, and folks are deeply maddened by him! He’s become a slave for his money.