It’s a good idea to watch the watches (Jan 8)
By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune
They want to throw financier Bernard Madoff back in jail, instead of letting him live in his $7 million New York apartment while he awaits trial on charges that he ran a $50 billion Ponzi scheme, defrauding people of billions. It seems he has been violating terms of his bail by sending jewelry worth $1 million or so to friends. The feds want to take those baubles from him, sell them and give them to the people he allegedly defrauded.
Among all that jewelry was 16 wristwatches, according to the Associated Press, and I think that says something about Madoff.
A person only needs so many wristwatches, unless he or she is a wristwatch collector. I, for example, have three. One I wear every day, one was given to me by my kids, and although the band comes apart, I keep it because they gave it to me. The third is a watch given to me when I graduated from the eighth grade. I’ve had some others, which were cheapos which stopped and were tossed.
The Wall Street Journal, which appeals to people in Madoff’s income range (as well as to schmucks like me) in December was advertising new Cadillacs on its front page and new wristwatches on its inside pages. The wristwatches and the Cadillacs cost about the same. I don’t know it for sure, but I suspect the wristwatches Madoff sent to his friends were the kind being advertised in the Wall Street Journal, not the kind I have.
Now, if Madoff had one, or two, or even three of those really nice Cadillac-priced wristwatches, I suppose it would be understandable. It would give him one to wear on each arm and a backup, in case one accidentally fell into the toilet.
But if a guy has 16 wristwatches, it means he’s a little careless with his money or he has too much of it. Either way, you don’t want him handling yours.
