The Biggest Ponzi Schemes Of All

Bernie Madoff is a crook who should go to jail. But, so should thousands of others who are just as crooked and greedy as he is. Instead though, they’re getting bailouts.

Madoff ran this incredible Ponzi Scheme that could have stolen as much as $50 BILLION from innocent folks who wanted to earn as much as possible on their money through his investment ‘expertise’.

But, millions of other unsuspecting people lost what could amount to more than a TRILLION dollars, all of whom invested in good faith with the biggest and most trusted names in the banking, insurance, and investment industries, which after all is said and done, amounted to little more than their own Ponzi Schemes.

AND WHAT ABOUT FANNIE MAE AND FREDDIE MAC?

Here are two government related agencies that gave HUNDREDS of BILLIONS of dollars, perhaps more than a TRILLION dollars after all the dust settles, to people who couldn’t afford to pay the taxes on the homes they bought, least of all the mortgage.

In 2003/4, when McCain tried to pass a law in the Senate to place controls on these two gargantuan mortgage thieves, the Democratic led Senate, INCLUDING the Savior Obama voted not to rein-in Fannie and Freddie.

How did the executives of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac “earn” their BILLIONS of bonus dollars? Not by how much the companies earned. But rather, by how much they transacted.

It didn’t matter if the loans were good or not. It didn’t matter whether the loans were going to be paid back or not. All that mattered was the commissions the men at the top were going to earn on the gross, rather than on the net.

Think about this for a second:

What would you do if your boss came to you and said that you could sell his or her product for whatever price you could get for it, even at a loss, and you’d be paid your commissions on the selling price?

WORSE – You are the boss of a public company, and how much you make is determined ONLY by what you allow all of your employees to bring in regardless of the risks of serious loss.

And there’s no one to tell you otherwise.

Would you really care if the company you worked for made money or not, especially if the company was a gigantic multi-billion dollar quasi-public institution, if you could make millions, even HUNDREDS of millions of dollars by selling as many of its products that you possibly could at any price?

Chances are you wouldn’t care, and that you WOULD sell as much as possible.

That’s why Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac needed the type of serious oversight that was demanded by the Republicans and denied by the Democrats including Lord Obama.

It is obscene that Thomas E. Donilon has been given a serious position on Obama’s transition team, when in fact; he was one of the senior executives at Fannie Mae.

MORE – Franklin Raines and Jim Johnson both served as the most senior financial advisors on Obama’s campaign team, both of whom made countless MILLIONS of dollars through their incompetence, greed and larceny that led to the collapse of the American financial system.

Both of whom were CEO’s of Fannie Mae during the crooked years.

But the capper to all of this is Rahm Emanuel, who also made MILLIONS of dollars as a Fannie Mae executive, who, as Chief of Staff, now holds the single most powerful position in the White House next to Barack Obama.

So, why should Bernie Madoff be singled out for jail, when all he did on a much smaller scale ($50 Billion), is what the men who are the closest of all to the President Elect did, in stealing far more than a TRILLION dollars from the American people?

The greatest injustice to all of this, is that these VERY BAD ACTORS who’ve led America and the financial world down this current path of ruination, are not only begging for handouts from the people they’ve stolen from, THEY’RE GETTING THEM!

And they’re getting them in spades. IT JUST ISN’T FAIR!

If Bernie Madoff has to go to jail for his Ponzi Scheme, so should a great many banking, insurance, investment and mortgages executives.

I imagine there’s a few Members of The House and Senate who should join them.

I can wretch knowing, that not only are these white collar criminals still walking the streets and getting taxpayer dollars to carry-on, but that they are still collectively getting bonuses from the taxpayers that amount to hundreds of BILLIONS of dollars.

Isn’t it incredible that Congress is surprised that the people who’ve elected them and the rest of government hold all of them in such low esteem? Actually, I think the proper word is contempt.

Before any of this can be properly fixed, it has to become completely broken. And that’s not too far down the road.

My biggest concern is how much irreversible damage Obama and his Democratic Congress will create before the people wise-up and get rid of the Democrats in 2010, and Obama in 2012?

In the meantime – If Bernie goes to the Big House, he shouldn’t be going alone.

As an aside – but related nonetheless to our financial crisis, I’m happy to know that Prime Minister Stephen Harper is insistent that tax reductions for the Middle Class must be part and parcel to any Canadian stimulus package. At least one leader is getting it right.

Best Regards . . . Howard Galganov