Good and Evil

Let me at the outset tell you what prompted me to write on this subject. While watching CNN, I heard that "Bernie"Madoff has started serving his sentence of 150 years in prison, the maximum under US Law, What I could not understand was how a person,aged 71, could be punished when his life expectancy could at best be another 30 years.Probably, the Judge thought that under no circumstance Madoff should get out. Such was the severity of the offence, in the eyes of the learned Judge.

We have heard and read of a lot of Chit Fund and Finance Company Frauds in India and more particularly in South India.. We have also seen investors loosing money in a big way when the promoters disappear overnight. This happens all the time in all the places.As long as gullible investors, looking for higher interest out of greed,are in plenty, these "disappearing" acts will continue.

It is established that ill-gotten wealth does not stay with the persono for a long time. If a person earns money by cheating people and through misrepresentation, such wealth will not last long. Apart from not being able to enjoy that wealth, he may also land in prison, leaving his family with a bad name.

There are two ways of teaching business to new entrants. One is "what not to do" and the other is "what to do". I had worked in Punjabi,Marwari and Gujarati business groups. The Gujarathis always start with "What not to do". They clearly tell their children to avoid wrong business practices. While in ESSAR ( a Marwari group), we used to adopt two philosophies-- LDNK and BDJ. The word LDNK refers to 'Lekhe dekhe pakkhi karo". (Adopt a give and take policy--work has to be finished even if money has to be given). The second refers to "baadh me degha jayega".( First, do what is necessary, even it is illegal. We will worry about the consequences later).I felt that both approaches were wrong.

Bernard Lawrence "Bernie"Madoff and Warrent Buffet represent the two ways of doing business --the Good and the Evil. Madoff. a plumber-turned stock-broker. was accused of so many frauds-Securities Fraud,Investor Advisory Fraud,Mail Fraud,Wire Fraud,Money Laundering Ffaud ,Making Fase Fflings with SEC,theft from an employee benefit plan etc. He was convicted of operating a PONZI Sceheme that has been called the LARGEST Investort Fraud ever committed by a single persdon. What is interesting is that before this biggest fraud came to notice, he was already a convicted felon.He had confessed to committing 11 Federal crimes. He has also not appealed against the sentence.His is a case that has proved that you cannot cheat all the people all the time.

There are two good aspects,though, to the personality of "Bernie" Madoff. He was known as a prominent philonthropist. Following his arrest and sentencing, all his Charitable Trusts have been questioned. The second good aspect of Madoff is that he has brought up his sons properly. He confessed to his sons on December 10,2008 that the Asset Management of his firm was a giant Ponzi Sceheme-as he put is "one big lie". The sons, then passed this information to authorities. The following day FBI Agents arrested Madoff and charged him with one count of securities fraud. It is pertinent to note that earlier SEC had handled several investigations against Madoff so very incompetently that he was let off. He is now deserted by his family and all his wealth has been seized. This is the result of doing business in an "EVIL" way.

Compare "Bernie: with Warrent Buffet who represents the other end of the spectrum. Mr Buffet,rated as the second richest person in the world, is the largest share-holder and CEO of Berkshire Hathway. From an early age, he imbibed the correct values. Known for his "Value Investing", he filed his first Income-Tax Return when he was thirteen deducting his bicycle and watch as work expense for his work as news-paper delivery boy. Starting his life as a penny-stock-broker, he has kept all his investors/employees happy all these years,He has recently donated more than fifty percent of his wealth to a Charitable Trust run by Mrs Milinda Gates.Mr Buffet represents the GOOD way of doing business.
Mr Buffet proiudly declars " I am 15 percent Fisher and 85 percent Benjamin Graham. The basic ideas of investing are to look at stocks as business, use the market fluctuationsd to your advantage and seek a margin of safety That is what Ben Graham taught us. A 100 years from now, they will still be the coinerstone of Investing".

A spiritual Guru once wrote " Life has everything; all you need is to be able to connect the dots. You need to work out new combinations and for that, you need CREATIVE PERCEPTION"

The above aptly describes Mr Warrent Buffet who represents the GOOD way of doing business.

Let us learn from the epics-- Ramayana and Mahabharata. Both are replete with instances of triumpth of GOOD over EVIL