Oligarchs Sitting at the Same Table!

So, I think that I should say something about the Madoff Ponzi Scheme. But what is to say? The schemer and those who abetted and enabled him and his ilk (yet to be exposed) all sat at the same table, not to mention the same club, and were happy to eat from the same “trough.”

The folks who are covering this story don’t seem to get that all these folks are connected and if not why the scheme isn’t as far reaching as it might be? And yet the scheme is really quite far reaching in that trust is afforded the Oligarchs and the Masters of the Universe (see TARP Big Swindle vs. UAW and Big Three) that is not extended to the hoi polloi.

So, we had the bleeding from the Market losing Trillions of value, then we had the Mutual Funds and Hedge Funds freezing up and now we have the fact that Bernie Madoff made off with an awful lot of their money and by one of their own. And they are shocked and awed that one of their own breached their trust and took them down.

Unfortunately, it isn’t just the Oligarchs, and their Wanabees, that are the only victims of this particular swindle. Many good causes are being effected by this particular swindle. The JEHT Foundation is closing its doors. Some of its beneficiaries, such as the Innocence Project, The Center for Constitutional Rights and Human Rights Watch along with many in the Arts World, are going to be reduced and maybe even endangered.

There is a part of me that thinks, just like I did in 2006 about the Credit Default Swaps, this is just one of the first of the swindles that will be exposed during this Economic Downturn.

It is just another example, and exhibit A, on why there shouldn’t be so much concentration of wealth and power with a very small part of the population and economy in a democracy.

The Founding Fathers warned us against this and yet once again we have failed to heed history.

Prof. Krugman ties it all together this morning in his column and the World gone Madoff.

Read it.

Update: Scott Berman is on the case and I have total confidence in Scott’s abilities to deal with this situation. Not only is he a great litigator and lawyer but a wonderful person. I am not suggesting that these aren’t complicated cases they are. But, I feel better knowing that Scott is working on the case.