Was Bernie Madoff the Exception or the Rule?

Mr. Borosage, I think we have to all remember that Bernie Madoff is in prison right now because he admitted that his operation was a Ponzi to members of his own staff and someone outed him. No SEC, FBI or other agency's investigation uncovered what he was doing. Individuals who had suspicions about Madoff's activities over the years were stonewalled. Bernie Madoff was made Chairman of Nasdaq (although the claim is now it was only a "ceremonial position"), so his approach to the business certainly didn't make them an outlier. As soon as the Gramm deregulation legislation was signed into law by Clinton at the end of his Presidency the Wall Street fraud Gold Rush was on. Given all the regulatory freedom they ever could have desired, the best Wall Street "geniuses" could arrive at was a Global Institutional Ponzi Scheme fed by the kiting of leveraged, inherently worthless, securities. To empower this massive institutional fraud, we had Al Capone style Accounting Practices in place, we had Rating Agencies that were rigging bad paper with triple A ratings, and we had, as noted in your piece, Corporations expecting their associates to engage in fraud for the benefit of the bottom line.



Furthermore, the stakes could never be higher to the Wallstreeters and the Government Officials who empowered this fraud ... for when it collapses, as it surely will, their futures couldn't be more indoubt.
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