There has been much in the news this week about Bernard Madoff and his $50-billion Ponzi scheme.

Many years ago, W.C. Fields said, “You can’t cheat an honest man,” and that has turned out to be true in this case.

Most honest men aren’t tempted by offers of free money. We may never know how many honest men turned down Madoff’s offer of free riches.

The people and organizations that lost money to Madoff were asking to be robbed. They were trying to get more money from investments than the market was paying through some shady scheme that, with their knowledge of investing, they should have known was not above-board.

Don’t cry for them. They got what they were asking for. They wanted something for nothing.

Macon N. Sanford

Suffolk