Opinion: Madoff Implosion Is No 'Tragedy'

Maybe I was raised differently from the super rich on Wall Street or in Palm Beach, but in my world stealing is not a "tragedy" -- it's a crime.

I keep reading that many people, mostly insiders from enclaves of extreme wealth and privilege, are calling Bernard Madoff's implosion a "tragedy." This actually sickens me because it exposes just how serious the crisis of morality is among America's elites.

(Photo gallery: Reported losers in Madoff scandal)

It is not a "tragedy" to me that so many people with so much money and privilege were suckered by someone like Madoff. I think it is just a combination of laziness, stupidity and greed. That is not tragic to me. It is pathetic.

Madoff was making 1% per month, year after year with no losses and nobody else on Wall Street or anywhere could explain his returns. Even Madoff didn't explain it.

Plenty of people openly told the SEC and the media that he had to be either running a Ponzi scheme or doing something else illegally. Nevertheless, so many of these "sophisticated" investors piled their money into his fund. Many of them invested a huge percentage of their personal net worth, charitable trust, inheritance or future bequests to their heirs. What were they thinking?

Many were just following their friends. Many were lazy. Many were stupid. Many were greedy. None of them stopped to think that Madoff's returns were literally impossible unless he was doing something illegal.