Kwabena:
Don't mind Moses. I am fully with you on this one. Moses is trying to imply that your current statement has antecedents in this forum; that you have a habit of trying to frame everyone of us as being in bed with Western orientalizers of the continent once we write that all is not milk and honey in Africa; that you have severally in the past attempted to carry your great love for Nigeria to the point of teaching Moses, Ikhide, Farooq, and yours truly how to write positively about Nigeria and not play into the hands of Westerners; that you hardly have been able to restrain yourself from proverbs, allusions, and innuendos comparing us to Western journalists and career badmouthers of your beloved Africa; that you and Mwalimu Bangura have been the most unrepentant purveyors of the sort of give-me-back-my-black-dolls pan-Africakanism that Farooq once dismissed as "pity-inspiring". These are the contexts and background that Moses has established for your last post. Don't mind Moses. We know that none of this is true, don't we?
Pius
--- On Sat, 22/1/11, Akurang-Parry, Kwabena <KAParr@ship.edu> wrote:
From: Akurang-Parry, Kwabena <KAParr@ship.edu>
Subject: RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Wealth - Caveat Emptor
To: "usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com" <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Date: Saturday, 22 January, 2011, 2:14
Chief Moses, I thank Onyankopong [God] that you did not unleash your "Abdul Bangura plague" on me! I would like to remind you that speaking of a thing is not the same as speaking for it. It is an old Akan saying that may serve us well on this forum. I concluded my signification of Madoff's scam and the ways that the West frames the "other" with the following: "This is the more reason why we should rethink what we say about our countries." You have imputed asymmetrical, disapproving angles to my statement: you write "if you have to self-censor, withhold truth, embellish, or outright lie about your country or continent…" Haba Moses, tell me which part of my statement explicitly or implicitly means that we must adorn Africa with self-censorship, embellishment, or lies? Did it ever occur to you that "rethink" could also mean how to re/consider what the West says about Africa? Is the word rethink synonymous with negativities in your dictionary? I am very glad that you enunciate the following: "I resent any nationalist or pan-African script that forbids me from telling truth about my country/continent and its many troubles. In fact I reject even a more benign attempt to impose a particular vocabulary or stylistic slant on my discourses regarding a country that I am familiar with and in which I am invested." You may engage in resentment within your own allowable limits. Certainly what I wrote does not hold you or anyone hostage to any fraudulent orthodoxy of Africanizing. Mine is as much an opinion as yours! I am not gate-keeping how to re/construct or re/think Africa. As you often do here, your intellectual labors push subjectivity to the point of disturbing inchoateness. Who said that I wrote from some standpoints of nationalism and pan-Africanism, and where did you learn that nationalists and pan-Africanists are incapable of evocative appreciations of problems facing the continent? My Broda Moses, as we say in Ghana, the horse you have groomed for yourself may be "too taller" for you! From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] on behalf of Moses Ebe Ochonu [meochonu@gmail.com]
Sent: Friday, January 21, 2011 1:49 PM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Wealth - Caveat Emptor
"This is the more reason why we should rethink what we say about our countries. " Madoff or no Madoff, it is not what we say about our countries or continent that produces and disseminates the pathology of Nigerian, Ghanaian, or African collective badness. It is the prejudice of Westerners, their haughty hegemony, and, as you yourself stated, their control of the global organs of mass image making and unmaking--the mass media. In any case, if you have to self-censor, withhold truth, embellish, or outright lie about your country or continent because you fear that it may fuel the Western collectivization of "African" vice, are you not pandering to the gods of Western labeling and allowing them to shape your discourse on your own country/continent? I resent any nationalist or pan-African script that forbids me from telling truth about my country/continent and its many troubles. In fact I reject even a more benign attempt to impose a particular vocabulary or stylistic slant on my discourses regarding a country that I am familiar with and in which I am invested. Self-censorship in the name of preventing the negative Othering of our people and countries is self-immolation. It is also cowardice in the face of Western racist prejudice. Speak truth about your country and your continent no matter how uncomfortable it may be. This is what we owe our beleaguered peoples. If some prejudiced white person or institution insists on labeling our countries or continent because of the sins of a few or uses what you say as an alibi to impugn your people, name and shame them by calling attention to their underlying prejudice. Speaking truth about one's country and fighting against its unfair stereotyping should coexist just fine. On Fri, Jan 21, 2011 at 11:15 AM, Akurang-Parry, Kwabena <KAParr@ship.edu> wrote: The whole Madoff's scam throws light on the ways that hegemony and the constructions of the "other" work. Madoff has been singled out as ONE American criminal. Just imagine if Madoff as a Ghanaian whose criminal activities had brought down the world's economy and consider the generalizations that would have been perpetrated to demonize not only Ghanaians, but all Africans! This is the more reason why we should rethink what we say about our countries. Wealth - Caveat Emptor Bernard Madoff's $50 billion scam teaches valueable lessons By Ellen Paris Photo Credit: ISTOCKPHOTO That billionaire Mort Zuckerman could fall victim to Bernard Madoff leaves average investors shaking in their boots. Brian Shea, vice president and regional manager of Wells Fargo's Wealth Management Group, knows this firsthand. "This has hit a vein here," he says. "It's no surprise that we're hearing from local clients that know someone hit hard by Madoff. Your money must be well diversified. We talk about that all the time, but we're seeing so many investors who gave Madoff practically everything."
No matter what entity you invest with, review your portfolio closely and often. More importantly, entrusting all your money to a single investment adviser — no matter how trusted — is risky business.
Due diligence was lacking among Madoff's clients. Those involved claim he had an aura about him that precluded asking questions. "He was known to be evasive in communication and give black-box kinds of answers," says Shea, who's based in Palm Desert. Investors have the right to demand to speak directly to the person managing their money and making investment decisions — including direct portfolio and fund managers.
"There needs to be total transparency with money managers and quarterly meetings directly with them and not their intermediaries," Shea says.
Check the backgrounds of people managing your money. Request client names, both past and present, and talk to their competitors.
In an essay published in The Wall Street Journal, psychologist and author Stephen Greenspan explored the reasons why wealthy people fall for shysters like Madoff. Greenspan, who himself lost money to Madoff, wrote, "The Madoff scam had social feedback pressures that were very strong. Newspaper reports described how wealthy retirees in Florida joined Mr. Madoff's country club for the sole reason of having an opportunity to meet him socially and be invited to invest directly with him."
Marc Beauchamp, a former NASDAQ spokesperson during Madoff's tenure there, views it this way: "Madoff is a prime example of affinity fraud pure and simple, with unsuspecting victims believing something that was too good to be true." Affinity fraud is a scam that targets members of a specific demographic group. "In Madoff's case, his victims were wealthy and many were Jewish," Beauchamp notes.
The first mistake Madoff investors made was entrusting hefty sums of money to an individual. "Anytime you deal with a sole proprietor or small shop, you can't do the necessary due diligence you can do with a large firm," says Jim Estes, associate professor of finance at Cal State San Bernardino. Madoff's credibility was based on his wide network of friendships. It was difficult to identify the clearing broker, critical to ascertain when investing with a small company. You also want to see monthly and proxy statements directly from the funds in which you invest. "With computers and the various software programs available today, anyone who sets out to create fraud can," Estes warns. "They can produce all kinds of bogus statements."
Before giving your money to anyone, check with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (www.finra.org) to ensure they are licensed and to see what arbitration and mediation history they have. FINRA is the largest independent regulator for securities firms doing business in the United States. It oversees nearly 5,000 brokerage firms, about 172,000 branch offices, and approximately 665,000 registered securities representatives.
An SEC rule that loosened regulation for private brokerage firms such as Madoff's has not been extended into 2009. Haddon Libby, chief financial officer of El Paseo Bank who spent years in private banking, considers that a positive move. "This is important that the SEC is fixing this rule, because the more you have people really looking over people's shoulders, the better," he says. Libby also points to "making sure your money is held by well-respected and recognizable custodians like Schwab, LPL, Bank of New York Mellon, or Fidelity."
Most importantly, Madoff boasted to have only two down months in 20 years. Realistically, nobody can claim that kind of record. Who you invest with goes back to one simple guideline: Caveat emptor (buyer beware).
http://www.cafeafricana.com
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