Madoff And Blagojevich: The Ultimate Patsies
We're on the hunt for scapegoats in America. And for good reason.
The flood of shock and outrage over Bernard Madoff’s massive Ponzi scheme this week comes as the tide of shock and outrage over Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s scams is in a temporary ebb. But soon enough, Blago will say something stupid or more damning details of his dealings will emerge and the cameras and klieg lights will swing back to Illinois again.
Seems we’re on the hunt for scapegoats these days in America. That’s what happens when there is an absolute vacuum of accountability in our political and financial culture. The “little people” start looking for fall guys. And, when one or two pop up like these two criminal clowns, the mass media is all too ready to clap them in the 21st century equivalent of the stocks so that we can all give them swift, imaginary kicks as we pass them in the public square.
But deep down, everyone knows Madoff and Blago–while deserving of our scorn–are the ultimate patsies. And the more attention we pay to them, the less we notice the real cartoon villains, the ones who make these guys look like the petty, two-bit pikers that they are. Let’s face it: directing all of our outrage at one schmuck Ponzi schemer and one foul-mouthed, crooked governor is like smashing a few acorns under our feet instead of chopping down the massive diseased oak tree over our heads.
Washington and Wall Street have, quite literally, conspired to run our economy into a ditch so deep no one is sure how and when we’ll get out of it. Why? Because Blago’s crime of pay-to-play politics is the rule in our government, not the exception. Wall Street kicked back a steady percentage of its pilfered profits to our political leaders and bought–make no mistake, that is the word for it–their complicity. Worst of all, no one of any consequence is suffering for this criminal arrangement. Over 90% of our lawmakers were reelected this year, most of them by large margins. And the bankers and traders have all gotten to keep the six and seven figure bonuses they made losing our money and, possibly, destroying the viability of our markets.
No wonder we’re all so outraged. No wonder we’re ready to storm the Governor’s Mansion in Springfield and the Upper East Side of Manhattan and string these two effigies of our poisoned era up on the nearest lamppost …
Oh well, at least one major media figure is starting to make these connections and speak these truths. From Paul Krugman’s column in the NY Times:
At the crudest level, Wall Street’s ill-gotten gains corrupted and continue to corrupt politics, in a nicely bipartisan way. From Bush administration officials like Christopher Cox, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, who looked the other way as evidence of financial fraud mounted, to Democrats who still haven’t closed the outrageous tax loophole that benefits executives at hedge funds and private equity firms (hello, Senator Schumer), politicians have walked when money talked.
Krugman could have filled his entire column with such “bipartisan” negligence and graft. Better yet, he could have illustrated how none of these political players have suffered for their actions. Just as their cronies in New York still retain the proceeds from years of ruinous, shortsighted gambles with other people’s money, most of the high government officials who made all of this possible are still … serving in the highest levels of our government! Lawrence Summers. Robert Rubin. Henry Paulson. Barney Frank. Chris Dodd. The list goes on and on and on. It should be a rogues gallery, not a Washington roll call. But that is exactly what it is. And Blago and Madoff are going to be punished for that inexcusable fact as much as for their own reprehensible acts.
While I most certainly agree with you in saying that Blagojevich is just but one of many(who are we kidding…all) crooked politicians. Im sure thhat if you comb through the practices of either party you will find every advancment is made not through merit but by mutual benifit. Our government hasn’t BECOME this….it was founded this way.
I do however disagree with you in refering to Madoff as a patsie or even likening him to the Illinois governor for theory purposes. Bernard Madoff defrauded people of 50 BILLION dollars . This automatically elevates him above scapegoat status. Its not only the wealthy investors left with a chink in the nest egg’s armor, The ripple effect will ruin the lives of people who have never even heard of prospect investment and don’t know what the hell a ponzi scheme is. Mr. Madoff deserves to every bit of attention that comes his way, if for no other reason, to highlight the practices of our friends on Wall St. and investment tycoons everywhere.
So as I see it….I suppose I agree with your general logic that these were just two smaller cogs in much large unseen machinery. So staying with that I feel that everyone wants to find someone to blame and villify…..and man is that easy, but what about the root of the problem? As long as our country is driven by the capitalist outline and every decision made in government affects the bottomline of economic giants it won’t matter if it’s donkeys, elephants, or Captain America at the helm. The golden rule is that gold rules and our system is set up for one to cradle the other.
For the most part I totally agree with you. I have never voted for either party myself as I find that their policies are virtually identical.
In this particular instance, your statement that these guys are patsies misses on crucial element, at least in the case of the Illinois governor.
Here is a video of the governor on December 8, 2008, speaking on behalf of the sit-in workers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkGFOn8X1X4
The following day:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fohPKtgNpyw
I think it’s quite a shock that the day after the governor announces a suspension of all Illinois government dealings with Bank of America, he is arrested for trying to sell Obama’s seat in the Senate. According to the WARN Act, the workers at the sit-in had a legal right to request a 60-day notice or the equivalent before being shown the door. That is a law throughout the US. Companies can’t just ignore the law when they feel like it. If they can do that, then why have laws in the first place??
The investigations had been going on for some time, one of them for over a year, and yet they wait until right after the governor’s speech condemning BofA before arresting him.
Things that make ya go hhhhmmmmmmmmm………………………………………
You are getting warmer. The mainstream news media lunches and parties and is owned by the same people behind the corporate curtain. Time to pull back the curtain and shine the spot light on those top 500 corporate company boards of directors. You may be surprised how many names OR the names of the companies and subsidiaries that they have ownership interest in … will appear frequently.
They hire the finest CEO front men and women armed with hundred million dollar compensation packages to front for them and sit in front of congressional committees and take the sticks and arrows with a smile or just a blank stare and then go back to the board room to re conspire with their governing boards of directors to continue to implement policies and programs that have brought us to this “mainstreet” ruin. The Boards are the governing bodies. They ultimately VOTE on the direction, policy and programs of the company.
How about an ongoing feature that spotlights the guys and gals behind the corporate curtains? When the “big three” CEOs are testifying, wouldnt it be great to have a nice little sidebar of who they work for–their board of directors?