Bri-off

The New York Times writes of the inherent theatricality in the character of Madoff, at the heart of this $50 Billion ponzi scheme.  It occurs to me that our recent discussions of Brian have him somewhat as a similarly motivated, yet less successful, Madoff.  Edward faces the challenge, it seems, of depicting a potential-mastermind, with a clownish twist.

In a separate Op-Ed called Stop Being Stupid, Bob Herbert argues that the core of Madoff's success was his ability to dupe those around him into thinking he had money.  Does it get any better than this?  

"The mind-boggling stupidity that we’ve indulged in was hammered home by a comment almost casually delivered by, of all people, Bernie Madoff, the mild-mannered creator of what appears to have been a nuclear-powered Ponzi scheme. Madoff summed up his activities with devastating simplicity. He is said to have told the F.B.I. that he “paid investors with money that wasn’t there.” Somehow, over the past few decades, that has become the American way: to pay for things — from wars to Wall Street bonuses to flat-screen TVs to video games — with money that wasn’t there."

I feel like our play is beginning to ask: what just happened?  Do bubbles lead to depressions?  If we understand bubbles, can we understand what got us here?