Tentacles of Madoff scandal reach far and wide

http://www.optimum.net/Finance/AP/Article?articleId=502985&categoryId=18

In the nonprofit legal center Steven Schwartz runs from a converted furniture store in Northampton, Mass., the e-mail was very good news: By week's end, a check for $243,000 would be on its way.

The money couldn't come soon enough. The sharp downturn in the economy had put Schwartz's group — working to improve treatment of teen offenders with mental illnesses — under very tight budget pressure. At least the check was a promise he could count on.

By that Thursday, though, events were unfolding 160 miles away that would upend those assumptions and assurances. In a federal courtroom in lower Manhattan, a Wall Street wizard stood before a judge, charged with running a $50 billion fraud that targeted scores of wealthy and powerful investors.

The name of the accused, Bernard L. Madoff, meant nothing to Schwartz and why should it? He'd never heard of the money manager with the beachfront mansion and the 55-foot yacht. They'd certainly never met. There was no reason to think they had anything in common.

Except, it turned out, the money.

- more . . .

http://www.optimum.net/Finance/AP/Article?articleId=502985&categoryId=18

It will always result in a disaster.

The sage men of Wall Street know what they're doing, just rest easy. We're going to turn the economic controls of this country over to these men without oversight or regulation, and everything will be all right. Here's our plan:

Step 1: Turn all the money over to guys like Bernard Madoff.
Step 2:
Step 3: Wealth is magically created and everybody gets a pony!

Let's just let the Magic of the Free Market work its, uh, magic. He's got a beachfront mansion and a 55-foot yacht! He must be very wise.