Stop Making Madoff a Scapegoat

If every broker that sold a stock on the belief that it would be a great long term investment was wrong and sent to prison there would not be enough prison space to hold them. Madoff was a Keynesian. He believed that his system would produce wealth as long as investors had faith in it. Madoff and his investors would still be making money if that faith continued. But due to a falling stock market and sudden withdrawals his system caved in like a deck of cards. It is wrong to accuse Madoff of being a criminal only a guy that thought John Maynard keynes knew what he was talking about. Every investment broker sells stocks on the belief that the customer will make money in the short or long term. There is no written guarantee because it is only speculation. If the customer goes broke due to the unforeseen nobody would accuse the broker of criminal activity. It is no different if a small business is sold on the belief that the flow of customers will continue into the future. The price of every business is based on earnings and faith in future growth and profits. If in time the environment changed and the investor went broke it would be wrong to claim that the seller was a criminal. Capitalism could not flourish without a belief that an investor could make a profit. That belief is based on a future that can not be predicted or guaranteed. If Madoff is made a scapegoat and sent to prison it is a blow to the nature of Capitalism and its beauty.