Does Capitalism Bring Out the "Crookedness" in Every One?

The spectacular actions of the Fed, the Treasury, and their equivalents around the world, clearly drive home the point that Free Market Capitalism, broadly, has failed the public. Many, including managers, are calling for more regulations and oversight.
Mr. Bernard Madoff has provided another stellar example of capitalism driven crookedness. As BBC reports, "Some of the world's biggest banks have revealed they are victims of an alleged fraud which has lost $50bn (£33bn). Bernard Madoff, who was arrested on Thursday, has been charged with fraud in what is being described as one of the biggest-ever such cases. Among the banks that have been hit are Britain's HSBC and RBS, Spain's Santander and France's BNP Paribas. Other victims include film director Stephen Spielberg's Wunderkinder Foundation charity. One of the City's best-known fund managers has criticised US regulators for not detecting the alleged fraud. Nicola Horlick, boss of Bramdean investments, told the BBC: "I think now it is very difficult for people to invest in things that are meant to be regulated in America, because they have fallen down on the job." "This is the biggest financial scandal, probably in the history of the markets - $50bn is a huge amount of money," she said. Counting the cost Banks and financial institutions across the world had investments with Bernard Madoff, but not all have yet confirmed what their potential losses might be. Among the potential losers is Spain's largest bank, Santander, which owns the UK High Street banks Abbey, Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley. The bank had a direct exposure of 17m euros ($23m; £15m), but clients of its Optimal fund management unit have another 2.3bn euros invested in the firm run by Bernard Madoff Britain's HSBC said it had investments of about $1bn, which could be affected. Royal Bank of Scotland said it could potentially lose about £400m ($601m) if all its investments had to be written off. The French bank, Natixis, a subsidiary of Caisse d'Epargne and Banque Populaire, said it could potentially lose up to 450m euros (£402m; $605m). One of the world's biggest investment groups, Man, said it had invested about $360m through its RMF institutional fund of funds business, representing 0.5% of its total funds. Banking shares fell around the world, with Royal Bank of Scotland dropping 3.7%, HSBC losing 1.2% and banks making up the top four losers on New York's Dow Jones Industrial Average. 'Systemic failure' Meanwhile, some of the biggest private losers seem to have been members of the Palm Beach country club, where many of Mr Madoff's wealthy clients were recruited. According to some reports, the list of prominent victims include a New Jersey Senator, the owners of the New York Mets and the charities run by film director Stephen Spielberg and Nobel Prize winning writer Elie Wiesel."