Sunday, March 29, 2009
Bernid Maddoff bilked people of $50 billion in the largest, most vile scam in U.S. history — unless, of course, you consider what Fedzilla has done and continues to do with impunity.
Fedzilla is using hundreds of billions of tax dollars, possibly more than a trillion against our wishes to prop up private industries because of the financial meltdown caused by its own impropieties, particularly its lax oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Madoff a felon? Big Brother is a bigger felon.
Crime of the century? Well, the crooks who ran Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are as guilty as Maddoff. And elected bandits such as Sen. Chris Dodd and Congressman Barney Frank, who turned blind eyes to Fannie and Freddie while pocketing campaign contributions from both, got away with worse, and we still provide them office space.
Now these same elected bandits are bilking taxpayers by making us pay to clean up their horrendously unethical and soulless behavior.
The SEC goes AWOL
Maddoff committed his decades-long crimes right under the noses of the Keystone Kops at the Securities and Exchange Commission — you know, the folks responsible for enforcing the federal securities laws.
If the SEC couldn’t nab the biggest bandit in U.S. history after having been informed of Maddoff’s highly suspicious investing activity on numerous occasions, the question needs to be asked: What good is it?
In typical Fedzilla fashion, the SEC’s budgets and manpower increased during Ponzi Maddoff’s $50 billion robbery.
There is a lesson here: The more bloated Fedzilla becomes, the less effective it is at carrying out even its most basic responsibilities.
No SEC official will be fired or demoted, much less criminally charged, for failing to bust Ponzi Maddoff and protect American investors. The lack of Fedzilla accountability is sickening, though sadly predictable and all too familiar.
America does not need more SEC employees, more regulators, more investigators, more regulatory guidance, more taxpayer dollars. I say it gets less.
Rewarding an agency or an individual for poor performance is the wrong approach. Those who allowed this to happen deserve to have their budget slashed and their management fired.
Ponzi Maddoff is in jail pending sentencing, which could be up to 150 years in prison. If justice were served, close associates and family members who knew of his con would be sharing his cage with the other street rats.
The stench gets stronger. The waste piles higher. What else is new?
Ted Nugent is a Waco musician and television show host. Contact him directly at tednugent.com.
