I’ll just say from the outset that Bernie Madoff is a douche bag.

My take on this situation, that of his sentencing to 150 years in jail, isn’t going to offer up some other assessment of this guy. Total. Douche. Bag. However, I want to explore a bit deeper and look at his sentence.

On the surface, sure, 150 years when a guy is like 71 seems excessive. And there will be others that will say that a sentence of that length is entirely justified – that he ruined their lives and he deserves to be thrown into a cell and locked away. Hell, some think he should be put to death! The courts are clearly sending a message, and fine, that’s good. The thing that has me scratching my head is that we’d send a guy away for LIFE for this kind of a crime.

Maybe I am just ignorant (and if so, please let me know I have a thick skin) but, no one died (actually, someone may have killed themselves but I don’t believe Madoff actually pulled the trigger on anyone is what I mean).

Some rich people lost money. Some probably less than stinking, filthy rich people probably lost some money. This guy, again, was a douche bag. Many of the people who lost money are going to get a portion of it back. Does a life sentence fit with this crime?

I’ll put myself in the victim’s shoes. Okay, i invested some money and the person I trusted more or less stole it. And, this happened over a long period of time. Well damn, who doesn’t steal from you? I feel like car and home instance is a total scam. Same with home owners association fees, automated speed cameras, investment companies and in some cases, even the Federal government. Everyone is out there trying to screw you out of your dollar.

I’m not saying this guy doesn’t deserve punishment – but locking an old man up for 150 years (he’ll be dead in 10) isn’t going to really get anyone their money back. He was obviously intelligent. Put him to work for the people he stole from. Give him no comfort, thats fine, but make the punishment be productive for some type of good.

To me it becomes a bigger issue – money for life. If this guy killed someone, then yes, lock his ass away. But, he stole money.  Yes, a lot of money.  Should his entire life be taken away for that? Is money that valuable? Is there no other way of making it up to the people who lost the money? Do they not have ANY accountability in the fact they gave him the money in the first place? Does the government have any accountability (I assume they do if they are refunding people up to 500k).

Does Madoff deserve to sit in a cell for the rest of his life (aka 10 years or so)? What type of justice would you dispense if it was up to you? Probably sounds crazy but i’d put the guy to work (under supervision) for minimum wage doing CPA work or something for non profits – put his intelligence to GOOD use and turn him into something other than a crook.