Alex Krogh-Grabbe

The big news story for the day is of course Bernie Madoff’s trial. I think the anger and vitriol directed at him by his victims is somewhat grotesque. They’re perfectly justified in being upset, of course he deserves the punishment he’s going to get, but the victims should really direct their ire at themselves. It is just plain stupid investing to neglect diversification, no matter how seemingly secure and lucrative. And really, these people made millions of dollars somehow. You would think they would know what to do with it. While it’s sure to be a controversial assertion, I would even suggest that perhaps the victims even deserved to lose their money.

Madoff deserves to go to jail. He blatantly and knowingly stole millions of dollars. But the fact that he acknowledged his crime during testimony today, acknowledged his wrongdoing and laid the truth bare before the agents of justice, that made me respect him a little bit more. He expressed remorse, in what seemed to me to be quite honest language. He gave the reason for his monster Ponzi scheme as a driving desire to meet the expectations of his investors. Is that not something we can all understand? A desire to meet the expectations of those who put trust in us? I feel slightly sorry for him. And yet he deserves the punishment he will get, there is no question.

I don’t really have a point, except that we should avoid thoughtlessly assimillating the victims’ anger, and exercise compassion for all parties involved. Criminals are people too.

I’m sure that I’m not alone among progressives in wringing my hands over the seemingly unshakable power of conservatives in the Senate to block progress. Republicans have been and continue to be pummeled into the ground by public opinion; surely we should be able to get good legislation passed. Yet Democratic gains never seem to be enough; we’re always just a few votes short.

The problem, of course, is those members of the Senate Democratic caucus who are themselves conservative, or “centrist” or “moderate”. I like Markos’ take on this issue:

All this desire for everyone to agree is creepy, and more indicative of the Broderites who want everyone to agree with them, rather than any desire for real consensus that might exclude their own ideas.

I feel like idealogically middle-of-the-road Senators like Pryor, Nelson, and Lincoln simply perceive that they’ll have more power disagreeing with progressives and the President than if they were more amenable to good legislation. The talk about a Senate Blue Dog coalition is just more demonstrative for these senators’ passion for power.

I think a multi-party system, necessitating coalition governments, would be a better form of democracy than the two-party system we currently have. The formation of oppositional groups within the same party is a similar step, but still. It’s nice believing that the majority of members of congress are on your side. Being reminded that large chunks of your party disagree with you for largely overcautious and political reasons is no fun.