Times Of Swaziland: WATCH YOUR POCKET

WATCH YOUR POCKET
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BY CHRIS MORGAN on 29/04/2021 07:35:00


Someone called Bernie Madoff died recently.
You may never have heard of him; and you’ll be better off for that because he
might have lured you and your life savings into the most devastating of all the
Ponzi schemes ever carried out since the originator, Charles Ponzi, designed the
formula that blends human greed with naivety and serious misfortune. Ponzi and
Pyramid schemes are similar in that they deceive innocent investors into
believing they will make a crazy amount of money. But, instead, the perpetrator
simply uses the capital received from new investors to pay part, or all, out to
earlier investors. Robbing Peter to pay Paul; an absolute disaster waiting to
happen. In Ponzi schemes the perpetrator deals directly, and often very
personally, with investors; a sociopath who doesn’t care that those people are
destined to lose all their money. Pyramid schemes involve the recruitment of
existing investors to solicit investment from others, with money from new
investors used to reward the recruiting investors. It spreads; hence the
pyramid. Disaster beckons.
These schemes have always offered returns on investment way above existing norms
in the investment world. The rates of return promised are a lie because of the
way incoming investment money is stolen to create fictitious returns. The
schemes carry a massive risk of implosion, but there are people who are gullible
enough to invest in them. They don’t deserve to lose the shirt off their back;
but that’s what happens. Such despicable schemes have existed in Eswatini and
people have lost lots of money. We trust that the regulations and monitoring
processes are now in place that will protect emaSwati from being lured into
similar schemes in future.
Society elsewhere takes a very dim view – especially of Ponzi schemes – and
it certainly did with Bernie Madoff’s version. Companies and many individuals
lost a total of US$65 billion, yes billion (around E1 000 billion!). In 2009, at
the age of 71, Madoff was sentenced to 150 years imprisonment, a similar penalty
to what he’d have got if he’d murdered 100 people. Well he actually
‘killed’ the lives of thousands, didn’t he?  Others will replace him so
watch out!
Possession
There is an old expression – ‘money does not bring you happiness’, my
reply could be – well, let me have a try. But seriously, the possession of
money will not per se bring real happiness. And if money is your god then you
will never have enough anyway. That’s when you notice the obnoxious
characteristics of the greedy chasing more and more money. If you are rewarded
with substantial financial resources for conducting a legitimate and profitable
activity – there are hundreds of examples – good luck to you, and you’ll
enjoy it. Other means of acquisition of money will never be as rewarding. The
best example is a lottery winner. After the fortnight of inebriation, coping
with the shock, you will experience a silent resentment among the non-winners,
and be besieged with requests for money, ultimately having no idea who your real
friends are. At the end of that spectrum, are the seriously dishonest. And
that’s where society lets itself down badly. The illegitimate acquisition of
cash should lead to accountability and disgrace, but, sadly, in most countries,
it never does.
So what does bring happiness? Here’s a suggested checklist of contributors.
The first is someone or more whom you love. That emotion is hugely rewarding,
especially if you focus on what you can give, rather than take, in the
relationship. The second is someone or more who love you; the deep pleasure of
that needs no explaining. True happiness also demands a good state of health,
combined with the confidence of having more than a few years of sustained health
ahead. A strong religious faith is for many an important component. You also
need a career or other time-consuming pursuit that you enjoy, as well as a
genuine interest in the world around you. Money does come into the equation. You
need it to live but I would argue that you only need enough and a bit more after
meeting the bills of day-to-day living. If you can’t be happy in that status
you will certainly not be any happier as the bank balance increases. How are you
doing so far?
Very sadly a significant proportion of every society in the world, but
especially the poor countries, is in constant distress, unable to finance their
daily needs. So how can we expect them to be happy? Especially when they live in
full view of the rampant, yet often unchallenged dishonesty and avarice of many
others. It is the countries of the world, strong in social welfare –
especially in Scandinavia – where the happiness quotient is the highest.
Nobody lacks food, healthcare, education and a roof over the head. Those
countries look after their poor and don’t tolerate the greedy.