Even A Broken Clock...

Peter Schiff, whom the Ron Paulistas would like to challenge embattled Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd, insists that the very existence of the SEC enabled Bernie Madoff:

I mean, look, we've got the SEC. Get rid of it! ... Look at Bernie Madoff. People have gotten their life savings destroyed with Wall Street with the SEC protecting them, with FINRA protecting them. What the hell do we need these entities for? Get out of it. Let the free market function. Let the people do more due diligence. I'm sure that if there were no SEC, Bernie Madoff never could have existed. Because it was the SEC auditing him and saying that he was okay that made everybody think, "Oh, he must be good. The SEC is auditing him; he must be legit." There's no way he could have pulled off that Ponzi scheme without the SEC. Because people would have done their due diligence.

Supposedly Schiff's views have credibility because he predicted the crash. There is an old joke that an economist is someone who predicted five out of the last three recessions. Apparently an extreme libertarian is someone who predicted five out of the last three recessions AND can raise oodles of cash on the Internet from Ron Paul supporters.

UPDATE: Make Bernie Madoff Secretary of the Treasury?