Maybe yours, but not mine
In this episode of “Schadenfreude Theater,” the New York Times describes the heartbreak of psorisis increduilty experienced by rich people when other rich people treat them the way they treat everyone else.
“While the fallout from Mr. Madoff’s suspected con game shook investors around the world, perhaps nowhere was there a higher concentration of victims than in this room. Investors were said to have paid hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to remain members of this club in hopes of an introduction to Mr. Madoff, usually by Mr. Jaffe or Mr. Shapiro. Mr. Madoff has been a member since 1996.
But more than wealth, these people seemed to have lost a sense of trust and prestige. During a visit to the club on Saturday, many members, asked for their reactions, requested not to be named because they did not want to ruin their standing among friends.
In Mr. Madoff’s fall, their world turned upside down, they said. Those who prided themselves as financially savvy suddenly seemed gullible. The trusted friend, sage adviser and model philanthropist they thought they knew was now charged with being a multibillion-dollar swindler.”
It’s worth the read, but the money quote at the end is priceless:
At Green’s Pharmacy, a popular lunch counter in downtown Palm Beach, a man who said two of his relatives were founding members of the country club wondered aloud whether the club’s unusually exclusive nature, especially among the wealthiest investors, is what enabled the suspected scheme to go on so long.
“There was such insularity of this inner circle of an already pretty exclusive club,” he said. But then he observed that lots of investors who were not members of the club had been duped, too.
“I don’t know,” he said. “The whole thing just makes you question your assumptions.”
Oddly enough, mine haven’t changed.