Matt Yglesias's post sympathizing with the sympathy for Bernie Madoff struck a chord in me. "Was Madoff really a black hat among honest businessmen," asks Matt, "or was he just one unusually crude player amidst a rotten crowd?"Madoff knew his investment scheme was a fraud. Wall Street should have known their investment schemes were a fraud. Lacking any explanation for why the fundamentals of housing prices and investment returns had suddenly upended themselves, traders cherished their ignorance and forged boldly ahead. There is something more noble about the criminal who knows his nature than the criminal who depends on self-denial. So on some level, I sympathize with the preference for Madoff. At least we are allowed to call his actions what they were: A con. That's far cleaner than the probabilistic passive voice which speaks of "eleven standard deviation events" and says things like "it is hard for us, without being flippant, to even see a scenario within any kind of realm of reason that would see us losing one dollar in any of those transactions.” AT LEAST MADOFF KNEW.
Matt Yglesias's post sympathizing with the sympathy for Bernie Madoff struck a chord in me. "Was Madoff really a black hat among honest businessmen," asks Matt, "or was he just one unusually crude player amidst a rotten crowd?"Madoff knew his investment scheme was a fraud. Wall Street should have known their investment schemes were a fraud. Lacking any explanation for why the fundamentals of housing prices and investment returns had suddenly upended themselves, traders cherished their ignorance and forged boldly ahead. There is something more noble about the criminal who knows his nature than the criminal who depends on self-denial. So on some level, I sympathize with the preference for Madoff. At least we are allowed to call his actions what they were: A con. That's far cleaner than the probabilistic passive voice which speaks of "eleven standard deviation events" and says things like "it is hard for us, without being flippant, to even see a scenario within any kind of realm of reason that would see us losing one dollar in any of those transactions.” 
