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No One Would Listen: A True Financial Thriller (view source)
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{{review|No One Would Listen: A True Financial Thriller|Harry Markopolos|0470553731|5 May 2010|Greek tragedy}} | {{review|No One Would Listen: A True Financial Thriller|Harry Markopolos|0470553731|5 May 2010|Greek tragedy}} | ||
Cassandra was a beautiful Trojan princess who Apollo blessed with powers of clairvoyance but, when she rebuffed him, he cursed her by ensuring no-one would believe anything she said. Thus, her admonitions about the fall of Troy (it may have been she who warned “beware of Greeks bearing gifts”) fell on deaf ears and, as Wikipedia beautifully puts it, her | Cassandra was a beautiful Trojan princess who Apollo blessed with powers of clairvoyance but, when she rebuffed him, he cursed her by ensuring no-one would believe anything she said. Thus, her admonitions about the fall of Troy (it may have been she who warned “beware of Greeks bearing gifts”) fell on deaf ears and, as Wikipedia beautifully puts it, her “combination of deep understanding and powerlessness exemplify the tragic condition of humankind". | ||
I dare say {{author|Harry Markopolos}}, who repeatedly alerted authorities to [[Bernie Madoff]]’s [[Ponzi scheme]] for almost a decade before it finally fire-balled, knows how Cassandra felt. This is his recounting of his whole grisly story. | I dare say {{author|Harry Markopolos}}, who repeatedly alerted authorities to [[Bernie Madoff]]’s [[Ponzi scheme]] for almost a decade before it finally fire-balled, knows how Cassandra felt. This is his recounting of his whole grisly story. | ||
At that level, this is a fascinating account of a genuinely Greek tragedy — irony intended — which contains exactly the elements of Cassandra's tale (except, perhaps, the unbearable beauty). {{author|Harry Markopolos}} was possessed not just of the vague discomforts that a know-it-all-after-the-event windbag might use to claim fore-knowledge: to the contrary, he identified, in gruesome and glaring detail, that [[Bernie Madoff]] was running a [[Ponzi scheme]], precisely why, precisely how, and offered some precise and simple measures by which an investigating authority could cheaply verify his allegations (such as | At that level, this is a fascinating account of a genuinely Greek tragedy — irony intended — which contains exactly the elements of Cassandra's tale (except, perhaps, the unbearable beauty). {{author|Harry Markopolos}} was possessed not just of the vague discomforts that a know-it-all-after-the-event windbag might use to claim fore-knowledge: to the contrary, he identified, in gruesome and glaring detail, that [[Bernie Madoff]] was running a [[Ponzi scheme]], precisely why, precisely how, and offered some precise and simple measures by which an investigating authority could cheaply verify his allegations (such as “ask to see his transaction confirmations"!). This he sent, in writing,<ref>[[Media:Markopolos.pdf|Harry Markopolos’ 18 page submission to the SEC]]</ref> to the [[Securities and Exchange Commission]] about five times over the course of a decade. | ||
That is remarkable enough a story, and Mr. Markopolos deserves your money to tell his story for that service alone. | That is remarkable enough a story, and Mr. Markopolos deserves your money to tell his story for that service alone. | ||
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That doesn’t sound like a plausible answer to me. | That doesn’t sound like a plausible answer to me. | ||
Anomalies, as depicted in scientific literature, are fleeting imbalances; momentary disruptions in the established order which dissipate so quickly as to not be reliably measurable, and thus do not falsify existing orthodoxy. We dismiss anomalies with platitudes such as | Anomalies, as depicted in scientific literature, are fleeting imbalances; momentary disruptions in the established order which dissipate so quickly as to not be reliably measurable, and thus do not falsify existing orthodoxy. We dismiss anomalies with platitudes such as “stuff happens" or “this is the exception that proves the rule". | ||
A fifteen-year, 50 billion dollar fraud involving one of the most respected figures in the industry, publicly trailed by magazine articles and a privately prosecuted by the concerted, detailed, and relentless efforts of a small group of professionals is not an “anomaly”. It simply isn’t credible to put this down to an unfortunate confluence of improbable human errors. | A fifteen-year, 50 billion dollar fraud involving one of the most respected figures in the industry, publicly trailed by magazine articles and a privately prosecuted by the concerted, detailed, and relentless efforts of a small group of professionals is not an “anomaly”. It simply isn’t credible to put this down to an unfortunate confluence of improbable human errors. | ||