Juggling Dynamite

As with Madoff’s Ponzi scheme and all the many other financial scams in human history, it takes criminal directors as well as willing followers(clients), aiders and abetters in order for crimes to be perpetrated.

Frontline goes inside the hunt that uncovered vast insider trading (again) on Wall Street.Here is a direct video link.

It is important to understand that while Cohen’s SAC is one of the largest players caught cheating this round, SAC’s tactics and practices are widely common. See: US Attorney General Preet Bharara: Insider Trading Is “Rampant” On Wall Street.

For those who do manage savings for clients in a legal and honest manner, one of the things that is so hard to stomach in all of this, is not just that the culprits are unjustly enriched often making themselves billionaires from illegal activities, but also they typically receive wide public adoration, esteem, media coverage and privilege based on their alleged investment “brilliance”. They are then offered a host of plum positions on boards and advisory roles for foundations, companies and governments. And when they are finally revealed as frauds, many simply write some cheques for fines while keeping the bulk of their illegal proceeds even while their clients lose everything. In finance today, crime frequently does pay.

Bloomberg News’ Keri Geiger and Jennifer Arlen of New York University School of Law, discuss JPMorgan’s $1.7 billion settlement to resolve claims that it played a role in facilitating Bernie Madoff’s ponzi scheme on Bloomberg Television’s “Market Makers.” Here is a direct video link.

Also see this clip of US Attorney Preet Bharara explaining the banking relationship between JPMorgan and Bernie Madoff and Morgan’s legal failure to report clearly suspicious activities, because they were making lucrative fees from the accounts. Here is a direct video link.

This documentary offers some entertaining inspiration for anyone trying to improve their food habits and health for the New Year. Here is a direct link to the trailer.

You can view the entire documentary for $12.95 here on the web.

Root for Charles, John, and Garnet as they try to buck the system of pills and procedures and outfox their heart disease and diabetes. When their doctors inform them that they can’t get better, our intrepid trio tells the doctors to think again. Charles, John and Garnet decide to take on their diseases by drastically changing their diets. We all know making resolutions is easy; sticking to them is the hard part. With lighthearted animation, piercing expert interviews and a feisty attitude, Chow Down is the moving story of the success you can achieve when you rewrite the recipe for a healthy life.

Something I would like to add here. A couple of the people in this film talk about the added time required to prepare healthy meals relative to fast food. I have heard this lament many times. One poor lady actually gives up and relapses back to a life of obesity-based disease, because she says she is doing all the meal prep for her family on top of her job outside the home and it is too much work for her to keep up. Another lady says she spent 2 hours (!) to prep healthy pizzas.

If you enjoy cooking and you have the time, making elaborate recipes can be lots of fun. I often use a few hours on a Sunday afternoon to prep some food for the coming week. But if you don’t have time or much interest, you certainly don’t have to give up on healthy eating. It is definitely great if you can enlist help from spouse and kids in meal preparation–it gives everyone a sense of buy-in and active participation in their own health. (It is very hard to help people against their will, so family members need to get on board if they are to develop good habits). But unless you are creating complex recipes from scratch on the spot (rather than some parts in advance), hours of slaving in the kitchen is entirely unnecessary. Learning to prepare healthy food is mostly a learning curve issue more than time intensive. Once you get practiced and have a repertoire of some go-to-meals, preparing clean, healthy food is actually quite simple and quick.

If all else fails (or if you prefer) tossing fresh, raw ingredients into smoothies and juicers really could not be faster or easier to do. If you hate the time or process of eating a salad or a stir fry, drink it instead! Fast, portable, healthy food, with a fraction of the prep and clean up time. All perfectly manageable even on a hectic schedule.

Either we spend some time maintaining our health or we will spend our time treating ill-health. It is that simple.