Ever since news broke of Bernie Madoff bilking investors out of fifty billion dollars, I’ve been trying to figure out what the heck a “Ponzi scheme” is. (Apparently, I lack the requisite historical background on Charles Ponzi.) This morning, however, I finally found a clear explanation of how it works on The Simple Dollar: Let’s say I wanted to start a Ponzi scheme to get rich really quickly. I’d put an advertisement out there saying that ...

tags: what is a ponzi scheme, charles ponzi, nten, five friends, nso, investment opportunity, what the heck, billion dollars, 5 million, south america, checks, investor, advertisement, investors, money