Pundits are still arguing over the root causes of the financial crisis. The short list of usual suspects is, in no particular order, greed, crazy leverage, unregulated derivatives, credit collapse, and Bernie Madoff. Bernie Madoff? You’re thinking, I’ve got to be kidding. Wasn’t Madoff just another two-bit con artist who happened to hit it very big suckering rich acquaintances from his mistress on down to invest their money with him by promising high returns. He paid them from cash invested by the next round of suckers, whom he paid from cash invested by the round after that in what became history’s biggest Ponzi scheme. More in the MetroWest Daily News.
