The Collapse of the Madoff Pyramid

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Our economy has been built upon for decades creating growth within the business industry. Businesses provide jobs, finances, and security for individual’s within society and is a main source of what defines our prosperous country. Every business has an ethical responsibility to its members and employee’s and to society at large. Ethical responsibility is a major component in which society needs to reinforce because it helps create principles, values, and standards, all of which help to guide a person’s behavior (Ferrel et al. 2013). Ethics help to create balance which in turn will have positive results for the business versus negative results. It seems that no matter where we look today, companies like Enron, WorldCom, AIG and many, many others substantiate the lack of business ethics in this country. At no other time than the last few decades has the need for ethical business oversight been of such importance to the prosperity of our country. As an example, Bernard Madoff is known to be the executor of the most fraudulent and deceitful Ponzi scheme in history, creating a stark reminder that the corrosion of ethics and lack of basic moral principles have taken this country to the point where trust in institutions and the very market driven systems that make our society work are in imminent danger of collapse. The Bernie Madoff case is a clear example of what can occur when businesses ethics are not in place. This case outlines a business man who defrauded thousands of people for years and caused major problems for those involved and for society at large. This essay is going to outline the major aspects of the case which include the nature of the problem, who are the major stakeholders, what is the problem from each of the stake... ... middle of paper ... ...e Necessity of Natural Evils. Retrieved April 2014 from http://www.aquinasonline.com/Topics/probevil.html “Ponzi Scheme”. Investopedia. Web. 8 April 2014. URL: http://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/ponzischeme.asp#ixzz2D2ZfgzNC. "SEC Charges Bernard L. Madoff for Multi-Billion Dollar Ponzi Scheme (2008–293)". SEC.gov. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. December 11, 2008. Web. 8 April 2014. "The Madoff Case: A Timeline". The Wall Street Journal. March 6, 2009. Web. 8 April, 2014. URL:http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB112966954231272304?mod=googlenews_wsj&mg=reno64wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB112966954231272304.html%3Fmod%3Dgooglenews_wsj Weiner, Eric J. “What Goes Up: The Uncensored History of Modern Wall Street as Told by the Bankers, Brokers, CEOs, and Scoundrels who Made it Happen”. Little, Brown and Company. pp. 188–192. Print.

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