In his latest article Lewellyn Rockwell, President of the Ludwig von Mises Institute, makes an interesting, and, I believe, appropriate comparison between the thieving activities of Bernard Madoff. and the economic policies pursued by the US government, particularly the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department. One does not have to read very deeply between the lines to understand that the main difference is not one of morality but of legality. In other words the Fed and Treasury activities are backed by the full faith and credit, if not scruples, of the government and the other, well, was not. Here’s a piece of Rockwell’s insight:
Madoff’s scheme played into the belief that wealth was not something
to work for, but something to scheme for. It could be generated by
playing your cards right, hooking into the right networks, and finding
the right “investments.”… But listen: the government right now is using the same tactic to
convince you that it is saving you from the recession. The whole scheme
partakes of the same sense of denying reality that characterized
Madoff’s scheme…The entire financial system that is propped up by
the Treasury and the Fed is based on the same idea: that something out
of nothing is possible…So they will jail Madoff. Wall Street would flog him if it could. He
is disgraced for all of history. But meanwhile, the likes of Bush,
Bernanke, Paulson, Obama, and all the rest are still riding high, even
though their scheme is far larger and more egregious.
