Posted on June 30, 2009 - by Nate

Another Fraudulent Bernie Bites the Dust

My dad worked for MCI for most of his career which later turned into WorldCom under the regime of Bernard Ebbers. Those who do not know the story of some of the largest frauds in U.S. history should at least know the characters involved. News reports today told the sad, but conclusive tale that another Bernie has bit the dust. 

Bernie Madoff, for over 20 years, ran the largest ponzi scheme known to man and now he’s behind bars for 150 years. Sadly, 150 years may not seem like justice to those whose lives have been completely devastated by his actions. I know personally that the Bernie Ebbers fraud caused a lot of grief for WorldCom employees, including those in my family.

I listened to a heated debate on NPR this morning regarding new regulation proposals to separate the power from the money on wall street. Something has to be done. Interestingly, the warning signs are always there. It’s just that no one suspects anyone in such a position of trust to be so moronic. I guess it’s our own fault for being nieve and turning a blind eye to the facts. Let’s just hope we can all get our act together and pull our head out. 

It’s events like this that make people tight-fisted, unwilling to invest in wall street, and keep the economy from booming. It may be super cheesy to quote Uncle Ben from Spiderman, but I think it appropriate: “with great power comes great responsibility.” The problem I see is that in many instances great power reduces requirements for accountability. Such was the case with these two sleeze balls.