Financial heroes and villains

Osama bin Laden must be getting really green. With envy. Not even his new videoclip megahit has been able to bring him back to the position of Most Hated Criminal. These days that title goes to Bernie Madoff, the world’s biggest white collar thief for many -just another banker for many more. His are the frontpages and the headlines.

Both for bin Laden and Madoff Jews have been their preferred preys. But the second one, it is estimated, has caused more economic damage than September 11. And it isn’t over.

Bernie woke up being the prisoner no. 61727-054 in a federal low security compound. The old man took over himself the blame in the pyramidal fraud uncovered at the end of past year. He faces a 150 years sentence; a life sentence actually. But he doesn’t have much to lose: being 70 years old and maybe battling a cancer, he has done everything he needed to do on life.

Still, Bernie tries to stay out of prison. Neither the affected are happy with the results. They demanded blood, they wanted revenge, they have a pure hate and want to see Madoff -and his su family- suffer the same way they do. In the end, as The Economist says, here there are not heroes; just villains.

Meanwhile the financial crisis goes on. But optimists began to arise. Ben Bernanke, Fed’s President, thinks all this nightmare will be over by 2009. His European counterpart, Jean Claude Trichet, thinks mostly the same.

Some others don’t give dates, just signs. Like Nobel prize winner Edmund Phelps, who says that the end will be close when the banks start to shut up their mouths a bit more -bad timing for becoming more transparent, ask the Swiss. Professors Nicholas Colas and Oren Klachkin, on the other hand, are betting for giving ten headlines that will anticipate the end of the crisis.

But none of the can guarantee anything. Someone said that “economic forecasts exist just to give astrology some credibility”. Many people went to Madoff thanks to that. And many people listen still to the CNBC to inform themselves.

Ah, the CNBC... A few months ago, Jim Cramer, anchorman of the cable channel, advised his watchers to buy Bear Sterns’ shares just days before it imploded. Jon Stewart, from Paramount Comedy, attacked him. Cramer retaliated. Finally, Stewart’s answer arrived:

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

In Cramer We Trust

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Maybe they shouldn’t block Stewart’s “Fuck you!”. Maybe then Cramer will understand it and he would avoid see himself being ridiculized (again) nationwide in a face-to-face with Stewart.