Just a collection of obvious scams to which most people would react if it seems too good to be true, it probably is. Then the punchline is they re offered by Bernie Madoff, whose Ponzi scheme investment scam should have brought the same reaction.It s actually The New Yorker, not the New York Times, a weekly magazine which is well known for its cartoons. You may have seen the Seinfeld episode where the character Elaine submits a cartoon to the magazine. In this case, though, it s not simply a cartoon but a cover illustration for an issue that focused on the Madoff situation.
Well, first of all, it s NOT from the NY Times! It s from the New Yorker! The Times is a daily newspaper (which also has it s own magazine that comes with the Sunday edition.) The New Yorker is a news/literary/cultural magazine that come out once a week on Mondays. I subscribe to both publications, though I don t get to read the New Yorker as much as I used to. The cartoon is a parody of all the scam-like ads that you used to find in the back of magazines in the old days. It appeared on the front page of the magazine that month. I remember seeing that cover.
The New Yorker, where this cartoon is from, and the New York Times are entirely separate publications, but both NY icons. The Times is a newspaper, the other a weekly news magazine.The theme of the cartoon refers to Bernie Madoff and how people got duped into investing with him. It is a parody of ads that appear in the back of some lesser regarded publications with these over the top promises of fantastic products. Who doesn t remember X-Ray Specs?