Bad government from top down

So Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox wants an investigation into why his commission did not investigate Bernard L. Madoff after so many red flags. (“Critics assail watchdog’s lax oversight,” Dec. 18.)

Cox is the same SEC commissioner who, when the subprime mortgage disaster first came to public light, said that maybe having a self-regulating financial industry wasn’t such a great idea after all, or words to that effect.

This “Heck of a job, Brownie!” president we’re still saddled with and his infamous, ignoble loyalty to Cox and anyone in his administration further harm this country every day he remains in office.

Steven Parker

La Quinta

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Perhaps the most cogent and meaningful summation not only of the Madoff fiasco but of the entire failure of oversight was summarized in one quote by Barbara Roper of the Consumer Federation of America:

“This is what government looks like when it’s entrusted to people who don’t believe in government.”

Dan Pellow

Los Angeles