Thieves

This New York Times columnist has some choice words for the man who stole billions, primarily from the rich and well-connected, in no small part thanks to his seductive reputation for consistent, if unexplained returns:

Is there a Hell painful enough for him? A place where, say, he can listen to Bush economic theorists espouse the joys of toothless regulation while looking at pictures of the Holocaust survivors who are among Madoff’s victims?

The writer goes on to highlight the decency of other wealthy individuals, who do not sin against their peers, and whose enterprising brings them such fortune that they are left no relevant social role but to retire into philanthropic activity in their twilight years. For this, they are celebrated as exemplars of the community by their class, their works championed as a model for addressing the world's problems: if only we had more emperors of wealth to benignly rule over the health and well being of most of humanity.