F**K you, COX. You're just like the Bush gang when it comes to blame; "somebody else did it".
Cox set the tone of the SEC.

When Bush appointed Cox as head of the SEC, Wall Street swooned. Everyone at the SEC knew COX was Wall Street friendly and oversight by the SEC under COX would be minimal at best.

2 short previews from the net:

Joel Seligman, dean of the Washington University Law School in St. Louis and a noted SEC historian, said Cox is "very unsympathetic to private litigation."

"This likely portends a very dramatic shift in the direction of the SEC," Seligman said. "You're more likely to see an SEC that the Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable are more comfortable with."

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"Cox, a conservative 16-year veteran of the House, would replace William Donaldson, a Republican who turned out to be a firm regulator and often clashed with GOP business allies during his 2 1/2 years at the helm.

The White House announcement came one day after Donaldson, 74, said he would leave at the end of this month."

"Business groups, which view some SEC regulations as overly burdensome and would like to see them loosened or overturned, welcomed Bush's pick. Advocates for individual investors voiced concerns that Cox might do just as business hopes."

We didn't have the full picture then, and we still don't have the full picture now, but admit it to yourself, you knew that the financial markets were in trouble the day that you heard that shoe-man was appointing Cox to the SEC.

Granted, the overall financial mess is not ALL Cox, but Iraq wasn't all Scooter Libby either.

We can blog, write, and bitch all we want, but as long as we live in this, now lawless, country - we're screwed.

And, they didn't just add 20,000 more troops to domestic security to protect your bank account.

"It's deeply troubling that the employees of my agency took me seriously when I said 'anything goes' and 'lay off my cronies.'"

"...repeatedly brought to the attention of SEC staff, but were never recommended to the Commission for action."

This from the guy who led the meeting where Merrill, Bear, Lehman, et al had the rules changed so that they could leverage their assets out to 30X and more. They decided it would be best to be self regulated.

Yes. I'm sure Mr Cox is SHOCKED!

I'm in the entertainment industry, and I have been hearing that Madoff swindled tons out of artists, exec.s, producers, etc. I am afraid to say that we in the industry are too heavily swayed by someone's "credits" in a global sense (I suspect this to be true in most industries). I am sure you have heard the maxim, "What did you do last year?" Madoff came with great "credits" being a former NASDAQ Chairman, giving Madoff great credibility, thus trust although it be faux. What I would like to say to fellow Industry people, "keep it in your pants!" What I am saying is, we know our Industry, its people and how it works. We know our own animal, so if we are going to invest, invest in ourselves; it is not as risky an investment as perception may indicate.

When you have people who know what they are doing, you have more success than failure. I see it all-the-time: some Wall Street lawyer, etc. decides to be in the entertainment industry, s/he can get the money as they are complete professionals at talking people out of their money, only the lose it faster than virginity in a Bangkok whorehouse.

Many years ago I work for such a company. The CEO was a Wall Street attorney with tons of other people's money and had hired a top Industry executive consultant, only to have the CEO override every crucial decision made by the Exec leaving us all jobless within 9 months. Millions of dollars lost and with egg on our face.

In 2007, I was trying to fund a multi-media project that was about as good as it gets which includes some of the some of the hottest recording artists. I sat for two hours listening to a fund manager from a massive firm (which has so failed that it has been bought by a major bank) explaining this convoluted structured finance scheme that would make a Chinese contortionist say "What!?!" Then came the punchline when he told me that I had put together a winning team and project that would be a success, but the Hedge Funds would never trust me with their money and I would have to hire him as a "virtual CFO" for a 6 figure consultant fee, per year. I told him he was right about not trusting me with managing this senseless multi-layered scheme, and that I was wondering when we were going talk about "making something" and then "selling it". I thanked him for his time and couldn't get to my car fast enough. By the way, this multi-media project has been a fabulous financial success.

And another thing. Chris Cox's statement yesterday is worth a little less than wiping paper and should be used as such and not used as evidence as to why Madoff did what he did. You can wallpaper it with Lehman Brothers stock. This will require a little more investigation than the vittles dribbling out of the SEC.

Cox is taking questions now from the press. All softballs.

F***ing A****le.