Frank Rich: We've Had Eight Years Of Madoffs

THREE days after the world learned that $50 billion may have disappeared in Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme, The Times led its front page of Dec. 14 with the revelation of another $50 billion rip-off. This time the vanished loot belonged to American taxpayers. That was our collective contribution to the $117 billion spent (as of mid-2008) on Iraq reconstruction -- a sinkhole of corruption, cronyism, incompetence and outright theft that epitomized Bush management at home and abroad.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[alabaman]

It's always a literary delight to read Frank Rich. And I usually agree with him.

[dadw5boys]

LOOK AT THE TRADES MADE AT 4 :00 AM EVERY MORNING DURING THE WEEK.

THE PUBLIC CAN'T TRADE AT 4 :00AM !!!!!!!!!!!

A FEW SHORT SELLERS CAN SET A STOCK PRICE AT 4 :00 AM WITH A FEW TRADES UP OR DOWN !!!

[StellaRay]

This essay should have top billing on Huff Post. I have learned much from Mr. Rich, as he backs his opinions with facts. We should all know what Frank Rich knows.

Certainly what he has to say here is more important than more Blago blubber, more important than Bush's attempts at legacy polishing, more important than Palin's interview last week, which did indeed get top billing on this site.

Rich's article should be top of page under the headline: Outrage. The more who know, the more who will fight for change.

[Amennyc]

Obama can play nice all he likes. He can spare Bush and Co. prosecution in the Hague. He can neck massage Boener and Duncan all he likes.... But hey... the minute Obama's motorcade runs a red light or Obama sneezes in the wrong direction, expect charges to be brought.

[Amennyc]

If we change the name of the economic crisis to "Terri Schiavo" and maybe the Iraq war to "Natalie Holloway" things will get done.

[Retrofuturistic]

People always ask, "Where is the public outrage?"

Well, it isn't in the mainstream media, is it? We have no representation in Congress or in the Justice Dept. We have no free press. Demonstrations are not reported. Complainers are marginalized by calling them "liberal" or "non-Christian".

If we have no free press, people don't know when or where the Boston Tea Party is being held.

I am outraged. I have been outraged for years. I have written letters, gone to meetings, spoken out. No one will listen to me. No one will do anything.

[StellaRay]

I understand your despair, Retro, but hang in there. Folks get touchier when they don't have a job,
can't send their kids to college, have no retirement funds left. Think of it like a snowball at the top of the hill. Small at first, big by the time it hits the bottom of the hill---and we haven't hit the bottom yet.

Honest journalists like Frank Rich are still being heard, the word is spreading---the whole swampy disgrace of the last 8 years---new details every day shooting out everywhere on the internet. Too many know.

It's not going to be perfect, or like a movie with a neatly tied up the good guys win ending----but it's going to change. Believe.

[djgonebad]

Your SO right!!!! I've been outraged for THIRTY YEARS!!!!

Growing up watching the NEWS HOUR, on PBS, made me think- ALL NEWS SHOULD BE LIKE THIS!! But, now I know that's not the case; so in turn, I'm left in a state of RAGE, directed at the MSM and the politicians that play this trivial game of name calling.

It's hard to swallow how our country is shielded from the REAL ISSUES happening in the world. Debate turns into screaming matches, not real discourse, or topic examination. This type of "NEWS" blocks the country from ever knowing what really goes on with our representatives; thus, allowing them to hold their political seats and pass the buck towards future generations.

This JUNK comes from both sides of congress and if a congressman steps out of the company-line, their labeled and cast aside as some sort of KOOK.

THE VOTERS ARE FINALLY GETTING SICK OF IT!! HOPEFULLY THE NEXT ELECTIONS WILL RID CONGRESS OF MORE SELF-RIGHTEOUS, HYPOCRITICAL LACKEYS FROM BOTH PARTIES!!!

[StellaRay]

dj, I sympathize with your utter frustration with the MSM. Television journalists, save for a few, have lost their souls in the race for ratings. Ironically, I believe if they pursued the stories Frank Rich covers, they would eventually enjoy a ratings bonanza.

It's not that print journalists are better, just less relevant. Most people these days get their news from TV or the internet. TV journalists have grown lazy, think it's enough to provide a platform for pundits to scream at each other.

The real work of journalists is hard, lonely and brave. Ask Woodward and Bernstein about it----whatever you think on them now----they delivered.

[DumbDad]

What happened to Dan Pearl resulted in what happened to Dan Rather, and Bush got a free pass. Anybody got a clue how we got a Chris Wallace as the son of Mike? It just boggles.

[Tulka2]

Ugh. I can't wash the sight of Pelosi kissing Boener at the Congressional podium (odium) out of my mind.

[eugenegerard]

Madoff is the canary in the coal mine. Bush and his Repug crime family have made 100 trillion disappear.

[Okieborn]

Mr. Rich !!
How True !!
Why Oh Why Will Bush Walk Away From A Lot Worse Crimes ??
I Guess The Old Saying Is True !!!
Money Will Get You Out Of Any Crime !!!!

[Tulka2]

"If the Bush administration robbed banks, would it be enough for the new president to say, 'I will not rob banks?' ".

If the Bush administration is not prosecuted, then the presidential oath to "protect and defend the Constitution of the United States" means nothing. Btw...? Several media people found themselves in front of war-crime tribunals after WWII. We have the on-line machine now. Go back and look at Frank Rich's essays before the war began. He was not in the streets carrying a sign... let's just put it that way.

By next year it will be impossible in all of Amerika to find a person who voted for Bush.... twice.

[levibatgirl]

Mr Rich is spot on!!

[Rule Of Law]

Waxman said, "We need to depoliticize it," he says. "If a Democratic Congress or administration pursues it, it will be seen as partisan."

When did that fear ever stop the Republicans?

[Thundrdrum]

It's NEVER stopped repubs, but that's not the point. It is seriously TIME to start holding our elected representatives to the standards common citizens are obliged to observe. Until we, the people, start demanding the truth, it's never going to happen. And the truth of the Bush years is going to be horrifying.

[hark]

They're held to the same standards as their peers. What's wrong with that? It just so happens their peers are the rich.

Money is power. We've allowed too much to be concentrated in the hands of the very few, and this is what happens - a cesspool of corruption, as Lord Acton observed so wisely.

Government (that is, us, the people) is (are) the problem, not the solution. We bought that hook, line and sinker, and now we're stuck with it.

[Rule Of Law]

I agree. In fact it's been 8 years of what I call "Trickle Down Morality,'" and the time has come to hold them all accountable. Our elected servants have a duty not just to obey the laws, but to set the proper moral example for the country. They've failed on both counts.

[tbone99]

since when is defending the Constitution and obeying the law partisian?
When the Repugs declare it so .

Please tell me who made them Masters of the Universe?

[Rule Of Law]

And the cost of the war will itself pale when compared against the cost of the Debt that Bush has created and left for this country to pay. All that borrowed money is far worse than pay as you go taxes because of the INTEREST! But his banking buddies love it!

[hapiguy]

Frank,,,your words hurt big time,,,because nothing will ever happen to the horrible people responsible for
for the Destruction of the USA,,,i will never understand the whole deception on the American Public, as we
set and do nothing..Maddow will be prosecuted for his Scam..why not any and all elected officials..they are truly Guilty as charged..

[apoyo]

We had a leak in our kitchen with the water mysteriously seeping out from underneath the cabinet on the floor but no sign whatsoever as to its source. The plumber said it was from the piping inside the wall and had to break a giant hole in our outside wall to fix it.

We can not fix what went wrong these past 8 years without breaking a hole in the wall to get to the problem as painful and costly as that might be.

[Retrofuturistic]

Good analogy. But where do we go with our hammers? We have no representation. No free press. No voice at all.

People couldn't even protest at the conventions. If they tried, they were put in cages. The people are hamstrung. We can't do anything.

[courageunderfire]

That's some democracy we have here huh?
Sometimes, I wonder if we are not able to be able to bring justice to this whole thing, but maybe we could enact the laws so that this kind of thing could never happen again.
It seems so simple. It should be simple. So, why then isn't it?