and by the way…
…what do y’all think of Alexandra Penney?
She’s a wealthy and semi-prominent woman who lost all her life savings by giving it to Bernie Madoff to invest. She has now written three blog posts entitled “The Bag Lady Papers” for an online media outlet I’ve never heard of, The Daily Beast. In these posts she makes it clear that she has been out of touch with the way the vast majority of Americans live for quite a lot of years now. What will she do if she has to iron her shirts herself? How will she have her hair highlighted on a budget? Where will she learn how to do her own manicures?
Commenters immediately responded with intense, unending vitriol. Poor fucking you. Boo fucking hoo. CNN actually did a story on her, and the real hook of the story (I suspect) was how strongly the commenters responded.
I am of a few different opinions about this (naturally). I’ve spent a lot of mental effort on the perspectives of people with and without wealth, and I’ve been variously disgusted and heartened at the attitudes of people I’ve met at all levels. Penney continues to insist that she earned all her wealth for herself, did nothing to deserve the loss of her life savings, and has definitely done nothing to deserve the ill-will of the entire internet. Well, okay, but who sent you to Smith? How did you get the opportunities that earned you the wealth? Luck and entitlement are concepts so intertwined that those who have both cannot understand the relationship. Also, Madoff was offering high returns, which makes me think that you were being greedy; also also, anyone with sense does not invest all of her millions in a single place, especially a single high-risk place.
Yet: everything is relative. She is having to adjust to having a rug pulled out from under her, and having to adjust to a lifestyle she knows virtually nothing about (even if it is the common one in this country). I’m not surprised she has culture shock, and I feel for her, a little bit. It’s not unlike the life I had to get used to in New England, although I certainly didn’t whine about it so publicly (until, um, fall 2008).
But she has to know that she’s an easy target for ordinary folks who have lost their homes, who never had a housekeeper or a semi-prominent name in the first place. And, if you’re baring your newly-impoverished soul on the internet (or at least if that’s how it seems to you), why do you bother shaving 10 years off your age, or emphasizing (twice) how hard you worked at blue-collar jobs when you first had your son? Doth the lady protest too much? Doth she realize she’s got a big red target painted on her ass?
So I’m going back and forth about it. What do you guys think? Plain ol’ negativity and schaudenfreude is not what I’m looking for here; do you have any real thoughts or stories to share?
January 12, 2009 at 4:28 pm
I feel a little sorry for her, but at least she has assets to sell off and support her for a while. Many others hit by these hard times don’t own the home that’s being foreclosed, much less multiple properties and expensive jewelry. They have no safety net, and the wire is wobbling mightily.
It’s hard for me to say “you got greedy and deserved it” – it’s entirely possible, and also entirely possible that some of Madoff’s victims were just naive.
But you are definitely on the right track about luck, entitlement., and the “opportunity to have an opportunity.” That’s real life for ya.
I think we’re in agreement.
January 12, 2009 at 6:50 pm
This is somewhat timely as I sat in the very fancy home of a customer trying to help him save money on his $6,000.00 a month utility bill and having to stifle a snarky comment when he asked what he was supposed to do if he couldn’t use his automatic ice/snow melt sensors to warm his driveway and sidewalks. :/
I find it difficult to feel sorry for her because, I guess in my opinion, she should have known better than to place all of her proverbial eggs in one basket. Like you said, especially a high risk one at that.
But then again…I’m kinda bitter when it comes to the finances.
On the customer: Wow. Just…wow.
January 12, 2009 at 10:54 pm
Hmmm. This scam was huge and all of the people received statements in the mail like real investors. Their “eggs in one basket” was merely one broker, but they thought they were invested in many companies. These people were given statements by a SEC certified brokerage firm that they owned stock in IBM, Apple and numerous real companies….but they never did. Most people, who have them, have only one broker.
I do feel for her, and the others. Obviously, the whole story could have been done in a different manner, but these people made real money and lost it all. They could have done things differently, but this hurts people. Some of them are very wealthy and some weren’t.
I shouldn’t be the taxpayers that bail these people out, but I do feel badly about this whole thing. I heard this same story today, but it was told differently.
This way it was told that the was a writer, but had retired and had a studio. The story stopped with her talkign about having to go back to writing again. Simple.
It is amazing how the same story can be told differently.
True that. You have a good heart, MTAE.
January 14, 2009 at 7:46 pm
Well, I hadn’t heard of her until I saw that article on CNN.com. So I think it’s possible that her losing her money was the best thing to happen to her. Maybe she should put out something new and it will sell quite a bit b/c people know her name. They know her story now, and will read her again b/c they want to hear what she has to say in light of the controversy.
You are as kind as MTAE. Part of me hopes that this happens for her as well.
PS. Thank you for linking me. I’ve added your link to my site as well. Thank you for being wicked cool and adding me to your list.
You’re welcome! I like your blog a lot.