Blame it on Bernie

There has been a lot of loud, public scorn directed at Bernie Madoff recently, much of which he has certainly earned. However I find myself wondering what it is we are avoiding when we spend so much time on Madoff. After all, there are plenty of people who can no longer retire, who lost life savings in the market, who had never even heard of Bernie Madoff before the scandal, let alone invested money with him.

Sure blaming Bernie is easy, especially since he has done some truly reprehensible things. But as he will be spending the rest of his life in prison, railing against him is hardly a productive use of time. For his victims, this may be a necessary emotional outlet. For the rest of us, it is a dangerous blind spot that could easily trap us. What makes Bernie so easy is that he is tangible. He has a face, a (highly recognizable) name, and best of all, a clear and apparent crime. The cause of the rest of our economic woes, by contrast, remains frustratingly elusive.

Perhaps, now that the trial is over and Madoff himself is being locked away, we can start to look at the bigger picture. How has privatizing our public safety net endangered many of our futures? Why are we so slow to realize that sometimes "the market" is not the only or the best solution to our national problems?

Is the plight of Madoff's many victims terrible? of course it is.
Would it be slightly better if they could be certain they would have a public, national healthcare plan and a robust social security agency to turn to? Absolutely.