Madoff’s Gluttonous Competition

In Dante’s fourth circle of hell, we might well find Bernie Madoff—but while he’s the first name that comes to mind when you think of greed these days, he’s up against a lot of competition when measured against the paragons of financial fraud and all-around selfishness over millennia. Remember Genghis? No slouch of avarice. Or Pope Sixtus? Lest you forget, he built his fortune on the backs of brothels.

Bernie and the rest of Wall Street’s recently exiled heavyweights are just the latest in a long line of titans who let greed and excess get the best of them. Here are some stars from that hall of fame…

Out on the Street: Comp Me

Each week, “Joe the Trader” chronicles his experiences with life after Wall Street.

Last week I had my third interview with my most promising job prospect. While I may have to go through another round of pleasantries, at least as far as I’m concerned, it is time to fish or to cut bait. Fortunately, the chief investment officer of the firm was the one to bring up the touchy topic of pay.

“Lets talk comp,” he said. “What are your thoughts?”

What are my thoughts? Are you kidding me? Just give me a job and a reasonable salary. But of course, I couldn’t sound desperate. A few years back, when times were good and I was being lured away by a prospective employer, my dad advised me to “ask for enough to make them squirm.” While that might have been the appropriate strategy at that time, now I am not exactly playing with the strongest hand—nor with the house’s money. So I decided to try to balance the two.

The Repo Men

President Obama and Treasury Secretary Geithner are calling on AIG executives – some of them newly minted millionaires – to return their million-dollar bonuses (to be fair, some received a little less than that). We commend their initiative—but wait, what initiative? So far, we’ve seen “calls for” the executives to step up and act like big girls and boys and hand back the money.

And so if they don’t, we’re wondering if Obama and Geithner might take things into their own hands—go after the money themselves. What would that look like?