Corzine and Madoff: The Fruit of Financial Deregulation

Corzine and Madoff: The Fruit of Financial Deregulation
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The congressional advocates of deregulation insist that a market unfettered by government supervision creates jobs and prosperity. They're right -- it creates jobs and prosperity for gamblers and thieves like Jon Corzine and Bernie Madoff.

Imagine if the de-reg geniuses told a Las Vegas casino boss that his business would create jobs and wealth if it eliminated the cameras and security staff who watch the players. Do you think the boss would tell these gurus it was a great, logical idea? I don't think so; he'd throw them out of the building. Without supervision and enforcement, the casino's players would promptly cheat the business into bankruptcy.

So why do the de-reg gurus in Washington, D.C.'s Congress think their ideas will work when it comes to Wall Street? What's crazy in Las Vegas passes for brilliance in the free markets. It allows the Corzines and Madoffs of our country's economy to run rampant and take a wrecking ball to the welfare of those of us who play by the rules.

To say that meaningful financial regulations hurt Wall Street profits is like saying that bulletproof bank teller windows hurts the profit of the bank robbers. If we are ever to keep the Corzines and Madoffs and their ilk from ruining the lives of everyone in their path, financial de-regulation is the last thing this country needs. If these miscreants were allowed to work their evil in the past because they were insufficiently supervised by financial regulators, why would anyone think things will improve if we tone down the supervision even more?

The very definition of insanity is advocating the same stupid idea all over again and expecting a different result.

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