Bernie Madoff Goes to the Clink

Bernie Madoff, Ponzi schemer and charity swindler, had his bail revoked today in a packed NYC courtroom. He'll be spending quality time in prison sharing Pruno recipes with his cellmates and trying not to drop the soap. His crime of ripping off an estimated $65 Billion is equivalent to the GDP of Croatia or Belarus and about 1/10th of the Obama stimulus package (just to give you some perspective on the enormity of this wad of cash). WSJ had a pretty good "moral of the story":

It wouldn't be the worst idea if managers at our trading houses put on every trader's desk a small plaque with those too-easily forgotten words, "Due Diligence." History attests that the world of too-good-to-be-true can smother due diligence, making any financial system vulnerable to thieves, dreamers and plungers.

Or, alternatively, there's only one job in the world where you can get a lot of money by lying on your back...and it has nothing to do with hedge funds.