NEW YORK – Disgraced financier Bernie Madoff stood up in court in New York on Monday and told some of his victims that "I live in a tormented state for all the pain and suffering I created."

Miriam Siegman’s life has been turned upside down by Madoff’s crimes.

Facing them head on, he said he was sorry - but his words rang hollow.

Speaking to us just after the sentence was handed down, many victims said if Madoff was truly sorry he would have stopped years ago and owned up to his mistakes instead of living a life of luxury.

Others felt bitter that Madoff has not told prosecutors who else was involved and where any remaining money might be hidden.

Victims, who attended a rally after the hearing, are vowing to fight on.

But many acknowledge they will never recoup their life's savings.

One woman, Miriam Siegman teared up as she told how she now lives on food stamps.

She admitted she turned and walked out of the court room when Madoff gave his statement. It was simply too little, too late.

The 150 year sentence Madoff received was the maximum allowed and was based on several factors including the number of victims, the amount of money involved and the damage caused by his acts.

In delivering the sentence the judge said he understood the ruling was largely symbolic since, at age 71, anything over 15 years would likely mean life in jail for Madoff.

But Judge Denny Chin said he wanted to send a strong message to those who would think about perpetrating similar crimes.

This is by far one of the harshest sentences ever handed down for white collar crime in the U.S., but Madoff's crime was unprecedented and has badly damaged investor confidence.

What do you think? Did Madoff get what he deserved or is 150 years overkill? Did he act alone or will the government be successful in charging any accomplices? And will the harsh punishment deter others?

NEW YORK - “I’m at a point in my life where I was not opening envelopes ... I was not looking at stuff and I need to make a decision to be active in my life.”

Sound familiar? It did to me. The quote is from a woman attending a seminar I sat in on as part of our Road to Recovery coverage.

Each week about 30 women gather to participate in a class that is designed to help them regain control of their financial lives. It is a bit like weight watchers, but in this case they are counting coins, not calories.

As I listened to their stories, I felt an immediate connection. I also have a pile of statements about my retirement funds that I have been too busy – and secretly too stressed – to look at!

It turns out that many of us are carrying around the dirty secret that we are not nearly as informed about our finances as we should ... or certainly could be.

Gallia Icon is out to change that. A personal finance advisor, she and her co-instructor M.P. Dunleavy started these weekly money classes to help give women a basic education in personal finance.

The courses, which last for 12 weeks, are set-up like a support group – complete with weekly check-ins. The women set concrete goals at the start of the course and then give updates each week on the progress they are making.

The dozen or so ladies we visited came from very different backgrounds but they had one thing in common: For too long they had let other people make decisions about their money.

"Women, in particular, do not make money a priority and tend to let partners handle much of the responsibility. If they are taking care of the household finances it is usually rushed at 10 p.m. at night after they are done working and have put the kids down for the night," says Gichon.

The classes cover everything from understanding mutual funds to saving strategies to wills and life insurance. In the sessions no question is off limits. Participants say the female-only format helps keep the conversation free and open.

I went in not knowing what to expect, but I left inspired. After putting up pretenses for years, these women were ready to bare all. They asked detailed questions and offered each other support and information.

After just a couple of classes, many had already made big changes. One woman had started reviewing her retirement program at work and making changes to her fund allocation. Another had paid down debt and was ready to invest for the first time.

And – my favorite – had moved all her information online and was getting ready to sack her current adviser whom she felt had always talked down to her!

In this tough economy it is easy to ignore this part of life and hope the problems just go away, but they rarely do. These women show that with a little instruction and the support of your peers you can regain control and banish that nagging voice that has been telling you could do better when it comes to your money.

NEW YORK - General Motors announced Wednesday that investors who had lent the company money over the years, through purchases of bonds, overwhelmingly rejected the company's offer to swap out that debt for stock.

It now seems certain the company is headed toward a bankruptcy filing.

Whatever the outcome, this event will surely be a critical turning point for the U.S. economy.

Analysts say if the bankruptcy is quick and surgical it could help give another boost to fragile confidence.

But, if the long list of creditors engage in a drawn out legal battle it raises the risk that GM may not survive at all.

It reminds me of a scene from a racing movie where there is a horrendous crash on the track and all the drivers in the back are racing for this big cloud of smoke. Most hit the brakes. But the leading man grips the wheel and hits the gas.

The driver is either going to crash into another vehicle in that smoke or avoid the crowd and come out in the lead. In Hollywood the hero comes out in the lead, having conquered both the competition and his fear.

But this is real life and things tend to be messier in real life.

The automotive industry is not as central as it once was, but its economic footprint extends to suppliers, dealers, restaurants and entire towns. Industry experts say GM only has about 3 or 4 weeks to prove it can emerge from bankruptcy quickly.

Many believe GM is too big and too complicated to achieve that.

But Chrysler’s journey through bankruptcy has defied the skeptics. The troubled company looks set to emerge from Chapter 11 next week. With the government’s heavy hand in the game, GM could also surprise.

What do you think? Will GM be able to come out stronger or is this the end of the road? Any optimists buying a GM car right now?

NEW YORK - It was too good to be true and in our hearts we knew it.

A slew of U.S. earnings reveal the extent of the economic gloom.

In early March stocks embarked on an explosive six week rally that seemed to signal the global crisis was ending.

Oh, there were plenty who warned that it was just a bear market bounce. But it was much more comforting to think the aggressive action taken by policymakers around the world laid the seeds for a speedy recovery.

This week reality hit.

As hundreds of U.S. companies report earnings, it is clear we are far from being out of the woods.

The American consumer is still in a world of pain.

Monday, Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis warned that credit was bad and getting worse. More and more consumers are falling behind on credit cards and loans.

Tuesday, Delta warned it expects more empty seats in the second quarter as consumers cut back on flying.

And it is not just vacations that are put off. Merck is seeing lower sales on many of its major drugs. Caterpillar, the company that makes the diggers and tractors that build new homes, sees no recovery in profits or sales.

And we aren't even half way through the week!

Trader Yra Harris of Praxis Group in Chicago told me this morning: "I can't listen to this concept anymore of green shoots. It's nonsense.

"You still have to clear out this issue of the solvency or insolvency of financial institutions because that what the real health of the market is dependent upon."

The U.S. government is going to try to do that when it releases the results of its bank stress tests on May 4.

In theory that should clear the air, but I am hearing a huge amount of skepticism already and we don't even know the details of what the tests consist of.

And there is something else I'm worried about. In order to be credible these tests will have to identify losers. What happens when they do, will be unsettling to say the least.

The bears were in hibernation in March, but they are awake now. And they smell a trading opportunity.

NEW YORK - This week Ben Bernanke threw out the central bank rule book.

Bernanke has been picking up new nicknames as he battles the financial crisis.

First he did a sit-down interview for a major media outlet that aired just two days before a policy meeting, in violation of the traditional black-out period.

He then shocked markets by announcing the Fed would start buying billions in long-term treasury bonds, as well as billions more in mortgage-backed debt and agency bonds.

The response has been dramatic. Mortgage rates dipped below 5 percent Thursday.

Almost everyone I know is calling to try and refinance. Officials hope new home buyers will also move off the sideline and start to chip away at the inventory of unsold homes.

Bernanke is following through on his promise to use every tool the Fed has to help fight this global crisis.

In cartoons he has gone from being depicted as Helicopter Ben, willing to throw money into the economy, to Bomber Ben ... dropping crates full of cash across the U.S. economy.

Most traders and analysts are applauding Ben's bold action. Some, however, do worry the solution will just spawn new problems, especially rising inflation.

I'm sure Bernanke is worried about that too, but in triage you do what you can to save the patient and worry about everything else later.

I don't know if he has the right answer, but for now I am willing to put my trust in Ben.

What about you? Do you think the Fed chairman is taking the right approach or is he just laying the ground work for another bubble?

NEW YORK– Bernard Madoff will likely spend the rest of his life behind bars, but that is little comfort to the thousands of investors who lost their life savings because of his actions.

Madoff arrives at court Thursday.

After he entered his guilty plea, Madoff addressed the court and said he was deeply sorry and ashamed.

Sorry ... Sorry? This was not a one-time mistake, but a multi-billion dollar fraud carried out over decades. He ripped off friends, neighbors, charities and pensioners.

It seems incredible that he asks anyone to believe he has a conscience.

At the end of the hearing Madoff was ordered to go directly to jail while he waits for his official sentencing, scheduled for June 16.

Government prosecutors will no doubt declare victory, but victims are angry there was not a trial.

Richard Friedman, who lost $4 million in savings, told CNN: "It's not enough just to say, 'OK, I'm guilty, put me away.'

"What about all the other people involved? What about his family? I want to know. What about the money? I don't think there's $50 billion out there. I think a lot of it is with the IRS, but whatever money he had, I think that that should come out. Where is that money?"

Legal experts say we may never know where the money went.

Right now investigators have found just under $1 billion, a fraction of the $60 billion that some estimate he swindled.

The other unanswered question that I struggle with is: Why?

When people commit a crime it helps to understand the motive. Why did this respectable and, by all measures, successful man do this?

Why didn't he turn himself in earlier? He said in his opening statement he always knew what he was doing was criminal and that he would be eventually be caught.

How could he have ruined so many lives? One of his victims said simply, "He is evil."

I think it may have more to do with greed. Yes, at the age of 70 he now faces jail time, but for the last 20 years he has lived a life of extreme luxury.

If he is the only one to serve time for this ... has justice really been served?

NEW YORK– When it seems like there is no hope, when the economy is said to be in "shambles" (as Warren Buffett aptly described it), THAT is exactly the time to take a deep breath, step in and buy stocks.

New York traders still on the floor Tuesday.

At least that used to be the common wisdom.

Nowadays, investors are scrambling to sell into strength in an attempt to hang onto whatever money they have left.

Even with stocks at 12-year lows, there doesn't seem to be anyone willing to buy.

Baby boomers have lost more money than most can realistically recover in time for retirement. Younger workers have seen a decade of savings evaporate.

When discussing the latest headlines of yet another tycoon charged with swindling billions from investors, a friend of mine recently commented, "Ponzi schemes? I think the whole system is one big ponzi scheme."

She is not alone. Investors are beginning to wonder if they too were duped into believing stocks were the answer.

The system worked for executives who made millions in salaries and prospered off of stock options on the way up.

But what about the shareholders? What were they left with? Companies worth a fraction of their value. Stock portfolios decimated.

I am not sure I am ready to throw in the towel yet, but what about you? Have you lost faith in the stock market? If so, how do you plan to pay for retirement?

NEW YORK – It has been called a black hole. The insurance giant American International Group is sucking in billions of dollars in government aid that just seems to vanish.

AIG managed the biggest quarterly loss in corporate history.

Ask analysts how AIG managed to lose almost $62 billion in just three months and many will just shake their heads and throw up their hands.

In good times, the company's balance sheet could be hard to decipher; in this crisis it has become a gargantuan task.

In an attempt to get to the bottom of it, I went through their press release.

There were billions in unrealized market valuation losses, derivative losses, goodwill impairments, tax benefits not obtained.

I ended up more confused. Especially when I saw the $2.3 billion chalked up to OTHER!!!

Thankfully, my colleague Ali Velshi interviewed AIG CEO Edward Liddy and pushed him to try and explain it in plain language.

This is what he said. "We have a $600 billion investment portfolio, it's invested in equities; equities are declining in value. It's invested in certain forms of real estate; real estate is declining in value. We have to take that decline and put it through our P&L, that's what drives a good portion of that $62 billion loss."

Okay, that makes a little more sense.

Just like my house and my 401K which have plummeted in value and hurt my net worth, AIG's assets are tanking and they are acknowledging those losses.

How did a boring insurance company find itself in this position?

In the 1990's AIG expanded from their traditional role of selling life insurance and retirement products and got heavily involved in the complicated derivatives market.

Analysts liken it to building a hedge fund on top of the regular business base.

In the boom times that quasi-hedge fund made the company billions, but when the U.S. subprime market cracked a lot of those derivative contracts came back to haunt them.

In Liddy's words, they got involved in a business they didn't fully understand. That is an understatement.

Unfortunately we are now paying the price.

The U.S. government has ponied up $180 billion in aid and backstops and some estimate that bill could ultimately run half a trillion dollars.

European banks remained exposed. Retail customers around the world worry that their policies are safe.

Are you one of those customers who hold an AIG policy? Do you agree the government should stand behind the company or does there come a time when enough is enough?

NEW YORK — News this week of big bonuses paid out at financial firms on government life support has sparked outrage. AIG is paying $450 million to roughly 400 people at a financial products unit - the same unit that directly contributed to massive losses at the insurer. The company calls them “retention bonuses”.

A woman holds up a sign near Wall Street on September 22, 2008, in New York City.

They are not alone. The New York state comptroller’s office said cash bonuses paid by Wall Street firms totaled $18 billion in 2008. That is down sharply from the boom times, but still unbelievable considering that these companies would be out of business if not for taxpayer bailouts.

Those headlines stand in stark contrast to another story told to me this week. A medium sized company, hit hard by frozen credit markets and clients that are behind in payments, found itself running low on cash. The bosses made the difficult decision of asking their workers if they would skip a pay period. It was totally voluntary. Ninety percent agreed, with many coming up to the bosses after to express their support and willingness to pull together to make it through this crisis.

Another story crossed our desks about a Michigan pancake restaurant where workers got together and agreed to work a shift with no pay to help the restaurant owner bring down costs. Local patrons, hearing the news, left more generous tips to help make up the difference.

These are not big bosses worth millions of dollars who make a big show of taking a dollar salary as a public relations move. These are real people with real bills who are making big sacrifices to try to save their jobs and the companies they are loyal to.

Maybe we should require CEO’s at companies taking taxpayer money to do a job swap and go spend some time out in the real world. They might find out that you don’t need to pay million dollar bonuses to find employees that are worth holding on to.

NEW YORK - In his inauguration speech President Barack Obama said, "...those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account – to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day – because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government."

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel briefs U.S. President Barack Obama in the Oval Office.

He has wasted no time putting those words into action. Wednesday Obama announced a pay freeze for senior White House staffers.

Perhaps more importantly, he also imposed new limits on lobbyists, saying anyone who works in his administration and leaves can not lobby the White House while he is in office.

It is unclear how much of an immediate impact these changes will have, but it is a step in the right direction.

A government job is not supposed to be an internship for a lucrative lobbyist job. Special interests wield huge power in DC.

They impact legislation in a way that the founding fathers never envisioned.

It will be hard to break their grip, but if Obama can make a start, it may go a long way in trying to restore people's faith in government.

Do you think Obama can usher in real reform in Washington or is this just more talk?