Baseball Banking and Madoff

by Diane Wilson

As the top American bankers testified in Washington today, one could only sit in disbelief at the sad spectacle. The heads of the once great banks -- and these were really good banks -- had to explain and apologize, and beg. Washington is beginning to ring out the excesses as it comes to terms with the new realities but it will take awhile to sort out a culture that had coveted excess.

America's national game, baseball, has been having a rough week. The New York Daily News reports that former Blue Jay Roberto Alomar got hit with a heavy duty lawsuit. This follows the flap created by Alex Rodriguez's interview with ESPN, in which he admitted to using banned substances while playing with the Texas Rangers back in 2001 - 2003. Rodriguez told the network that he wanted to prove that he was worth the money.

Then there is the slow steady drip from the Bernie Madoff case. If reports are true, he is the player who has really hit it out of the park, having claimed thousands of victims in his alleged $50 billion Ponzi scheme. Madoff doomed the rich and the retired, but it is his devastating reach into philanthropy and pension funds that boggles the mind. According to the New York Times, this case extends to the New Orleans City Employees Retirement System and locals of the Plumbers & Steamfitters union, among others. Everybody had counted on Mr. Madoff to keep their money safe.

Bankers, baseball players and fund managers. We sit with an issue of trust, a need to sort the good from the bad, and to get back to some sort of normal. So, we have a stimulus bill passed in the US and we have one here at home, but we need more. We need values. No more shock and awe economics. No more swinging for the fences. No more. I want to know which of the banks are still reliable because I'm still foolish enough to believe that they are not all bad guys. I just do not think that. Same with the managers and players. It is the scoundrels that are dominating. Time to get them out of the way, change the culture and move on.