Tuesday, October 18, 2011

The Madoff Revolution

No one understands yet how great a favor Bernie Madoff did us. Setting up a pyramid scheme was nothing new, nor was his getting caught. New and important was how the collapse he left behind him was cleaned up.

Tens of billions of dollars was lost by investors. Madoff himself had a few million. So where was the rest of it? Obviously in the bank accounts of those investors who took their ten or twenty percent per year profits out before the final collapse. Our government did the smart thing and demanded the money be returned, or else. Or else what? Prosecution for complicity in the fraud. "We didn't know! We didn't know!" "Yes you did," said the government, "Pay or go to jail." Most paid.

The Occupy Wall Street protesters want revolution. How are they going to do it, without violence or destruction of our institutions? One percent of Americans have more wealth than ninety percent combined. How did they get that money? Unregulated capitalism, that is, transactions that should have been prevented by oversight, but are in any case illegal under current law.

The Madoff Revolution: ask the question, where and how did you, the one percent, get your money? What laws were broken?

Will our government do the smart thing? Demand the money be returned, or else. Or else what? Prosecution for complicity in the fraud. "We didn't know! We didn't know!" "Yes you did," the government will say, "Pay or go to jail."