It appears that little will change under Obama, with the appointed head of the SEC, Mary Schapiro, similarly concerned with protecting Wall Street sharks.
James Petras (2008) similarly believes that Madoff's failure is not a personal one, but a failure of the current social, political and economic justice. In addition to an economic culture that most favors the very rich, Petras also believes that the SEC and its actions are completely predictable, precisely because the regulators are selected from those are regulated. Madoff was so successful for so long because he was able to play the fraud game better than others.
According to a radio interview conducted with (2008), Maurice Schweitzer explains the exact principles that worked together in enabling the Madoff scandal, as well as others like it. These principles include scarcity, authority, social proof, and the liking principle. According to the first, the client is told that the fund is closed, but the advisor nonetheless attempts to find a place for the investor. This creates a sense of exclusivity, which is one of the main features of the Madoff scheme. Secondly, Madoff had considerable authority in the field, being the chair of NASDAQ in 1990 and subsequently a board member. Authority figures are a social phenomenon that exert a large amount of influence over the social consciousness. They tend to be trusted with little or no question. Thirdly, the social proof principle is a phenomenon by means of which individuals trust whatever they see many others engaging in. Many high profile investors, including the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Stephen Spielberg, and the owner of the New York Mets, invested in Madoff's scheme. This attracted other high profile investors to follow suit, without any further investigation into the scheme or its merit. This type of merit is based solely on the actions of others and the appearance of legitimacy. The final principle that Schweitzer mentions is "liking." This is another social phenomenon, by means of which people are influenced by those they like. Social networking, country clubs and charity events played a key role in Madoff's ability to commit long-term fraud. Investors wanted to believe that Madoff's consistently high earnings were real, and they influenced each other in the perpetuation of this belief.
One could therefore conclude that it is not only...
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