Not even a month ago, I published an article asking whether recently uncovered ponzi schemes were a sign of the comming recession. Although no judgement can be made whether we all (at least the Brits are) in a recession yet, however, seemingly, some ponzis start to unravel now: Theranos, which I already discussed in the said article, anncounced last week that it had to void thousands of blood-test. Especially the famous new-blood-testing machine „Edison“ may not to be so famous after all – rather faulty to say the least. As a consequence, the company now faces class-actions suits for „consumer-fraud„. Although speculating about the ponziness of Theranos myself, I am a little astonished that it unrvals so fast now. However, this astonishment is nothing against the one I entertained when reading on Zerohedge about a report in which Tesla is compared to Enron! Although I personally think that THIS conclusion is (a little) far fetched, I have to admit that at the time I did not realise that Enron was a ponzi scheme before it was uncovered. And: from the outside it was a large, succesful business, the poster-child of the „new“ way to make buisiness in this era. Does that sound familiar?
The lesson: until uncovered, a ponzi rarely looks like a one! So, be on the lookout for typical signs of ponzis in your investments – e.g. it it looks to be good to be true – it probably isn’t! (More signs here)