Monday, August 1, 2011

The Great Charles Ponzi XII

Well, we saw the fate of Charles Ponzi.  Please note I mentioned at the beginning of this series of posts that Ponzi was not the first person to actually do a "Ponzi Scheme," but his name is forever linked with the scheme and the victims that followed.  Why was Ponzi so unlucky (or lucky since he has achieved a type of immortality) to achieve this dubious distinction?

     Ponzi lived during the beginning of the age of mass communication - namely that of radio.  The 1920's, when Ponzi was operating, was the birth radio technology.  Much like the net and various apps and smartphones today, radio had the possibility to change the world because, for the first time in human history, allow people to be connected instantaneously.  It was a new technology and was just barely beginning to be exploited.  Also, it was a form of mass communication technology that was, more or less, available to all Americans.

    Like any new technology, the uses of this technology when it starts is always questionable.  People are always asking "just how viable is this technology and will it last?"  Try looking at the history of 8-track tapes and Betamax for recent examples of technology failure.

   Radio, however, was an invention at the right place and at the right time.  And, a story like Ponzi's was almost created for this new medium.  Ponzi's scheme could be written in newspapers for instant distribution and read aloud on radio for instant transmission.  Millions of people could suddenly be aware of this vast scheme and the incredible numbers of people who were defrauded.

    Radio was in the right place at the right time, but Ponzi was in the opposite situation if he wanted to be forgotten by history.

As always, have a great and fraud-free day.

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