A sociopath with great emotional intelligence. 

http://www.salon.com/env/mind_reader/2009/02/26/bernie_madoff/?source=newsletter

Ellen,

Unfortunately, I don’t think you can teach common sense.

What an appalling collection of responses from CJ, Purple Girl and M. Currey.

CJ is angry with CBS, shareholders, the grocery store manager, & exploitation of Mr. Thierman by them for purposes of “manufacturing consent,” aka maintenance of the American myth of rugged individualism & independence in support of the flag (patriotism.)

Without questioning his patriotism, I don’t think Mr.T’s first concern here is the flag.  He got stuck with a problem-theft of a big part of his income-& sought a way to solve it with dignity & self respect.  He may be a victim, but he doesn’t to want to make it a career.  Is he sad, worried about appearances?  I think he is a practical man with 90 years of experience living, giving him an enviable cool & self confidence.  Other people worry about appearances, not him. 

CBS exploiting Mr.T is far fetched.  I don’t for a instant believe that they would support or excuse Madoff’s activities.

The grocery store manager may or may not have been motivated by sympathy (shame!) but appears to have gotten a good deal.  I don’t refer to the $, but to Mr.T’s attitude, abilities & willingness to engage with the job & the public on behalf of his employer.  I worked in retail & service for many years.  Mr.T is an unusual & valuable employee.  Lucky (smart) store manager. 

Further, Madoff is NOT a fall guy/stand in/symbol.  He is an evil,/amoral individual responsible for his own choices & actions.  Justice needs to be the focus here for Mr.T & the country.  Madoff deserves as much retribution as the law can dish out, including depriving him & family members, friends & associates of any profits gained by his actions & received/concealed by them.

Purple Girl: By your reasoning when people retire or get old, they lose their rights/equality with you.  You suggest family members need to step up & remove them from society into eternal dependent care.  You suggest they should resign themselves to whatever level of comfort a Social Security check may or may not provide.  Or you suggest, if they were really decent, responsible people, they would sell their homes, because they bought them so long ago, they should apologize that they might be worth more now.  “Put cash in their pocket faster that $10 an hour.”  Is this a get rich quick scheme-sell your home, don’t work for a living, live off others? 

You suggest Mr.T’s debt & family obligations aren’t as real as a young person’s.  To suggest that a man who is willing to return to work at age 90 for $10/hour after his total retirement savings was stolen is only a money grubbing, self indulgent, dilettante puts shame on you, not him.  If you or someone you know is seeking a job, you would do well to replay the video & take lessons from Mr.T on how to be a great employee.  Mr.T is a 90 year old citizen of this country, with all rights thereof & same right to exist as anyone else.

(An aside: assume Mr.T earned 4% on his $700,000 = $28,000/year.  At $10/hour he must work 2,800 hours to earn that.  This means about 54 hours/week for 52 weeks/year.  This is not “cushy.”  And what is minimum wage?  We need a LIVING wage, & unions to get it.)

Margaret C.-  Mr.T &  wife live in their “modest home,” not a retirement center.  Why expect him to “move down the economic ladder” because his retirement savings were stolen?  He is as entitled to work to support himself & his aspirations as anyone else.

There are plenty of things to anger us in the current economic situation, & hopefully enough anger in us to insist on change.  My immediate reaction to the video is to wish Mr.T & wife well for the future.  What happened to them is unforgiveable.  If we want a silver lining here, it’s Mr.T’s life lesson to us all in these times of great personal insecurity that we don’t have to cede control of our lives.

“Yes we can.”

If he gets seriously ill—the cost of his medical care will take every last asset; he won’t even have his modest house. You have to be indigent to get Medicaid.

Actually Madoff should be the one handing out flyers for $10.00 an hour—on second thought; maybe Madoff should only receive the minimum wage.

It seems that he could make ends meet but that would mean he would have to move out of his retirement center and live in housing owned by HUD, but some people cannot move down the ecnomic ladder so they would rather take a job from a younger person with a family.

But that is up to the manager of the store.  Maybe he wants a senior person to do the job he does.