Ruth Madoff's Money

"Your Money's No Good"

Once upon a time, the expression, "your money's no good" was the highest sort of compliment.

That's what the bartender would say to a decorated vet ordering a drink, or the restaurateur to a pillar of the community.

Now, it's what New York City hair salons, restaurants -- and, apparently, would-be landlords -- are telling Ruth Madoff (all of whom are declining her business).

To be sure, what underlies this isn't moral disapprobation, but pure business considerations: no business proprietor wants to risk alienating their other customers by serving a notorious scammer, just as no one wants to run a gauntlet of paparazzi every time they leave their home (ask Madonna about trying to buy a deluxe New York co-op).

However, on some level, perhaps this attitude reflects the return of an old-fashioned response to heinous conduct: collective shunning, also known as "ostracism."