Bernie Madoff, Scapegoat

[USRufnex]

Bernie Madoff, Scapegoat

by Michael Moore

Posted May 1, 2009 | 01:28 PM (EST)

http://digg.com/d1q63P

It would be too easy -- and the wrong lesson learned -- to put Bernie on TIME's list all by himself. If Ponzi schemes are such a bad thing, then why have we allowed all of our top banks to deal in credit default swaps and other make-believe rackets? Why did we allow those same banks to create the scam of a sub-prime mortgage? And instead of putting the people responsible in the cell block in Lower Manhattan, where Bernie now resides, why did we give them huge sums of our hard-earned tax dollars to bail them out of their self-inflicted troubles? Bernard Madoff is nothing more than the scab on the wound. He's also a most-needed and convenient distraction. Where's the photo on this list of the ex-chairmen of AIG, Merrill Lynch and Citigroup? Where's the mug shot of Phil Gramm, the senator who wrote the bill to strip the system of its regulations, or of the President who signed that bill? And how 'bout those who ran the fake numbers at the ratings agencies, the lobbyists who succeeded in making sleazy accounting a lawful practice, or the stock market itself -- an institution that's treated like the Holy Sepulchre instead of the casino that it is (and, like all other casinos, the house eventually wins).

And what of Madoff's clients themselves? What did they think was going on to guarantee them incredible returns on their investments every single year -- when no one else on planet Earth was getting anything like that? Some have admitted they did have an inkling "something was up," but no one really wanted to ask what it was that was making their money grow on trees. They were afraid they might find out it had nothing to do with gardening. Many of Madoff's victims have told investigators that, over the years, they have made much more than the original investment they gave Bernie. If I buy a stolen car from the guy down the street, the police will take that car from me regardless of whether I knew it was stolen. If I knew it was stolen, then I go to jail for receiving stolen property. Will these "victims" give back their gains that were fraudulently obtained? Will the head of Goldman Sachs reveal what he was doing at the meetings with the Fed chairman and the Treasury secretary before the bailout? Will Bank of America please tell us what they've spent $45 billion of our TARP money on?

[waterboy]

Madoff sticks out as having been the most proficient, long term thief, therefore he gets the prize.

Those who make the rules, determine the guilt. Bankers, financiers, brokers all made their own rules, then used their political toadies to rubber stamp the process. Justice is not a part of this process. Reminds me of a clever line from way back...When you're up to your neck in alligators, its hard to remember that your original plan was to drain the swamp.

[Red Arrow]

I consider Michael Moore to be the left's equivalent of Rush.

Justice:  A lawyer friend told me that justice is the impartial application of the law (or lawyer words to that effect).  It has nothing to do with what might be considered fair. 

[Conan71]

Tell me you didn't really quote Michael Moron, Ruf.