Madoff The Poster Child

Bernard Madoff should become the poster child for Democratic Congresspeople and Senators to push through the reinstatement of financial regulatory rules and oversight that have been dismantled and voided by the Republicans over the last thirty years. The facts of the Madoff case prove that the lack of Government oversight and regulations in the world of high finance will not only affect a few but could affect the entire economy. The Madoff case is about only one individual and yet accounts for over 50 Billion Dollars in losses to personal, charitable, and corporate wealth.

If Mr. Madoff was able to accomplish what he did, is there any doubt that other investment firms throughout the country with no government oversight have been engaged in similar practices? The collapse of the financial markets could have been prevented or at least the tide could have been stemmed if the systems that were put in place during the Great Depression by the FDR Administration had been modernized not eliminated.

The carrion cry of the Republican Party and its leadership such as Senator John McCain has been deregulation. They even wanted to dismantle social safety nets created during the Great Depression such as Social Security. In fact, after deregulating the financial industry these Republicans had the bright idea of investing Social Security Money in the deregulated Financial Industry. If this had passed would Bernie Madoff have been an investment vehicle for Social Security funds, wouldn't that have been just great for the American Family?