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Posted: 3/12/2009
Why Aren't We Bailing Out Madoff's Victims?
I'm watching the Maddoff proceedings and while I'm glad this sociopath is going to jail, what I'd like to see even more is part of the stimulus bill proceeds being diverted from "zombie banks" and "dead car companies" to the victims of Maddoff's little 20 year reign of theft and chicanery.
The way we are looking at money these days in the country,the 50 billion back to the victims is not even a rounding error. I mean, Nancy gets 30 million to protect some rat in the California ecosystem, AIG gets 150 billion to pay its partners off in what will amount to the largest "structuring" case in history, and some scientist somewhere gets another billion discover why pigs farting may produce methane gas. It seems we could reshuffle a few billion here and there, let AIG fail, and just acquiesce without the necessity for a study that certifies that pigs produce methane, it smells, and if extrapolated to huge quantities may not only threaten life on earth but the entire galaxy as well.
Maddoff stole the money over a twenty year period right underneath the nose of the same woman that is now charged with designing new rules and regulations for firms and their representatives. The really heavy lifting is being done by the Attorney General of New York who is trying to get to the bottom of whether the thieves at Merrill padded their own pockets while hiding a 22 billion dollar loss.
Mary Shapiro couldn't find a case of wrong doing on the part of the big firms if it were a grapejuice stain on a white blouse. It's not because she's stupid, it's because she has too many conflicts of interests and her staff is stupid. Mary needs the firms to supervise and keep her people busy. She needs the big firms to stay in business so she can fine them every now and then. And she needs her salary and defined benefit plan. Mary needs everyone in the industry and not one of the investors who trust it.
I think we have enough money to pay all the Maddoff people back. I think we should pay them back. If someone will ask them, I think they will say the same things.
Just don't ask Mary because she doesn't get any of this.
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