Thread: The dark side of American business was on full display

NEW YORK - The dark side of American business was on full display Tuesday.

Four men accused of varying degrees of defrauding investors out of millions — or even billions — were either arrested, investigated, surrendered to authorities or sentenced to prison.

It was a stunning refrain of alleged deception while the country struggles with the deepest recession since the Great Depression in a week that has seen major employers announce thousands of job cuts and consumer confidence fall to a record low.


At the top of the list: Bernard Madoff, the former money manager and Wall Street luminary accused of running a $50 billion Ponzi scheme. The regulator in charge of ferreting out fraudulent schemes on Wall Street, the Securities and Exchange Commission, was grilled by Congress Tuesday over its failure to detect Madoff's alleged wrongdoing.

Linda Thomsen, the SEC’s enforcement director, said the agency needs to improve its internal processes for pursuing cases. She said the agency also needs authority to regulate parts of the financial system that escape oversight and needs funding to carry out more investigations.

"While we always do our utmost to do more with less, if we had more resources, we could clearly do more,â€

You also gotta love the one with Barney (a major player in the housing and credit fiascos through the CRA, ACORN and it's housing assistance affiliate) who used a portion of the bailout to steer 12 million dollars to a Massachusetts with who he has personal connections and whose CEO is currently under investigation for acquiring exotic cars and other personal items. We are so beyond screwed that just being screwed looks good at this juncture.

We are so beyond screwed that just being screwed looks good at this juncture.

I wish I could disagree with you, but I can't.