Open Thread

For general discussion and debate. Possible talking point: The biggest investment fraud in history.

Investors scrambled to assess potential losses from an alleged $50 billion fraud by Bernard Madoff, a day after the arrest of the prominent Wall Street trader. Prosecutors and regulators accused the 70-year-old, who was chairman of the Nasdaq Stock Market in the early 1990s, of masterminding a fraud of epic proportions through his investment advisory business, which managed at least one hedge fund. Hundreds of people, investing with him through the firm's clients, entrusted Madoff with billions of dollars, industry experts said.

What do you think about this Ponzi scheme? What do you think of the folks that got conned? Are there more of these scams to be uncovered in the months to come? What does this revelation say about our financial system especially given the Ponzi scheme that is credit default swaps and how many companies got conned into buying them? Finally, what does it say that Wall Street totally shook this news off yesterday, and actually rallied?