HOME Eclectic	Poor Bernie Today's top story in Yahoo! Finance is about Bernard Madoff. Yes, that poor fellow who was recently sentenced to 150 years in prison, which means he is totally unlikely to ever enjoy freedom again. Unlike the rest of us.  You can see the headline of this story right here. The date is July 14th, 2009. If I am not mistaken, the French are celebrating their national holiday, which has a lot to do with another prison, the Bastille. What a nice coincidence.  No matter how outrageous Bernie's scheme was, I am still very surprised that his first day in a new home made the top story. I could not find anything about the French national holiday in the World section of Yahoo! News. Is Bernie's crime really that big? Relatively speaking, not at all. While he is being labeled in the media as the brain behind the biggest Ponzi scheme in history, the very same media somewhat conveniently omit the fact that the US government is currently running even bigger schemes of this sort, known as the Social Security and Medicare programs.  So why is Bernie so important? Well, being a contrarian at heart, I  have some theory about it. It may seem controversial, but I don't think it's out of whack. People like Bernie are useful scapegoats and tools for the real culprits or the real powers, so they are allowed to operate as long as it is deemed appropriate by the real operators. But not a moment longer. The real operators just wait for the right moment to use them. So when the crap hits the fan and the real culprits behind the real mess like the current financial debacle are afraid of being exposed, then the little schemers like Bernie make the headlines.  They serve as a useful distraction. The public needs someone to vent their frustration on and so they get their Madoffs. But that's about it. Don't even think about one of those big shots from the Federal Reserve that are to blame for the real problems, the problems that the majority of people have to suffer from. Nah, that's out of the question. Bernie is all you can get, little people. The government was informed about Bernie's suspicious activity, but chose not to act. That makes a lot of sense. Why expose a big scam like that at a time when nobody needs it? That would be an awful waste of a perfectly good scam. It's a waste like that that would be the real crime.
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