After watching Bernard Madoff, the ex-chairman of the NASDAQ stock exchange, being taken away in hand cuffs, many people were relieved.
He was sentenced to life in prison for embezzling almost $20 billion.
Prosecutors made an example of him as a warning to others, who were thinking about or were already following in his footsteps.
Clearly, the lure of money in an already stinking economy is worth the risk of a life behind steel bars.
Don Reinhard, a former financial adviser for Florida State, has been sentenced to 51 months imprisonment for charges consisting of everything from bank fraud to falsifying tax documents.
According to WCTV, a Tallahassee news station, Reinhard’s family members blamed the stress of a new wife and three small children as the reason for his criminal behavior.
Reinhard’s crimes, although heinous, shed light on a serious problem facing the nation: the struggle to stay afloat during a dramatic economic downturn, and the “I will do anything” attitude that has surfaced as a result.
A quick turn to any major news station will most likely have a story such as Karthik Rajaram, the Los Angeles man who killed his entire family in October 2008 after succumbing to financial stress due to his recent unemployment.
Stories such as Reinhard’s and Rajaram’s can be avoided.
We are asking for all FAMU students and faculty to stay strong during these hard economic times.
It’s not worth wasting your life behind bars or taking your life or the life of another.Stephanie Burton for the Editorial Board.