>> everything about bernie madoff was good to be true. the returns, the consistency of the returns and the fact that nobody seemed to be knowing how he was investing the money. so all in all it turned out that if it really is too good to be true you should stay away. >> why did you write about bernie madoff? was there a fascination? >> i wrote a story back in 2001 questioning his returns and asking how he managed to run this billion dollar hedge fund and no one had ever heard of before. the story ran and nothing happened. seven years went by and then last december 08 he was arrested so i was approached by pain when to write a book. >> when you were writing in 2001, why? >> hedge funds were on the rise. i wanted to write about somebody under the radar so to speak. i knew that hedge funds were going to be a big deal and as we see today they are everywhere. and they are here to stay. and they are probably going to be regulated by congress pretty soon. back then bernie madoff was unknown on the street, and he never lost money and i wanted to

who can forget bernie madoff? many of us never invested in him or heard of him before his unbelievable ponzi scheme dominated headlines but for the victims, the devastation will last a lifetime. many lost everything they secured with him. and the trust in the institutions that were supposed to protect them. adam shapiro of the fox business network has more. >> 2009 was the year madoff became a household name. >> to ponzi scheme wiped out billions of dollars. victims worldwide are still trying to recover. >> everybody in my life has been demolished. it's not about the rich and famous. it's about the life work of many people. >> reporter: people who say the year of scheme, scam and fraud, not only stole money -- >> this was far more than the loss of money. but there was also a tremendous violation of trust. >> reporter: trust in the very institutions that were designed to protect american investors. >> can i trust wall street? >> absolutely not. >> can i trust sipc? >> absolutely not. they have proven themselves to

some of them were so incompetent that even when whistleblowers came and said that bernie madoff is running a ponzi scheme, even when someone told them what was going on they didn't have the guts or time or intelligence to investigate it. but being willfully blind ought not to be something to boast about anymore. going forward we want effective regulation. regulation is not a four-letter word. the lack of regulation caused this crash in many ways and cost $15 trillion to the american family. i'm not suggesting overregulation. i am saying when you have certain areas that are regulatory in this government to make sure the free market system works, and works well, and that when people commit fouls in the free market system in this area of competition there's somebody there with a whistle in a striped shirt to blow the whistle and say that's a foul. if you don't have that, the system doesn't work. the system gets completely haywired and that's what happened in the next decade. that's not a technical term, that haywire issue. we have the opportunity to get this right now. i say to the president,

. >> "too good to be true" is the name of the book by erin arvedlund, the rise and fall of bernie madoffms. erin arvedlund what is too good to be true? >> everything about mcduff was too good to be true, the returns, the consistency of the returns and the fact that nobody seemed to be, seem to know how he was investing the money. so, all and all, it turned out that if it really is too good to be true then he should just stay away. >> why did you, why did you write about bernie madoff? was there a fascination? do you know fibro the stories forebearance magazine back in 2001, questioning his returns and asking you know how he managed the million dollar hedge fund that no one had ever heard of before. the story ran, and nothing happened. seven years went by and last december of 08 he was arrested so i was approached by penguin to write a book. >> when you were writing in 2001, why? >> hedge funds ronde the rise. i wanted to write about someone who was really under the radar so to speak. i knew that hedge funds were going to be a big deal as we see today. they are everywhere and they are her

bernie madoff.n, oh, man. changed the culture. he will go to his grave, he will never tell the truth about what happened. but is it a question of do we need more federal regulation? or are rich people too gullible to see the reality? it is a problem that will never resolve but taught us a lesson that we will be paying attention to in 2010. >> number two, the first latina on the u.s. supreme court. sonia sotomayor. >> the beginning of the year, after the inauguration, everyone kind of thought it was john paul steechbs. he didn't resign. justice souter resigned. justice sotomayor, first hispanic female sitting on the supreme court. enormous legal chapter last year. >> the number one most serious legal story, khalid sheikh mohammed. the trial will be held right by where the world trade center once stood. >> from a legal perspective, a great move by attorney general eric holder. this is where the case belongs. unlike iran and china where they do things in secret. we do not. and we will get in 2010 a con

and just bernie madoff is spending his life and i think many more lifetimes in prison. this is generally what happens to people who buried the iron laws of business success that all of that exist basically because what business depends upon is providing people with some service or product that they choose. that brings the two big lie number four. big lie number four says, small business is good, big business is bad. you alluded to that in the rasmussen poll. i have several bits of polling data that suggest that small business is among the most popular institutions and trusted institutions in america, and big business is among the least popular and trusted. this is truly peculiar. it is truly peculiar. why? because every single small business in the country, wants to get bigger a small business is generally a business that hasn't gotten big yet, or a business that hasn't been particularly successful. that's the nature of the. every big business in the country, almost without exception, started off as a small business. the traditional definition of a small business and bi

bernie madoff pleads guilty to a massive fraud that apparently stole 65 billion or so dollars from investorsmichael jackson, the king of pop dies in los angeles. army psychologist nidal hasan opens fire on military personnel in fort hood texas killing 14. and the coverage that january on january 20th when barack obama was sworn in as the 44th president of the united states. jim, you're chomping at the bit. >> i would connect two of those, obama and fort hood. i think that the obama administration's response or lack of response to the fort hood shooting and all the discoveries we've made about muslim jihadist infiltration into the united states is going to prove to be the biggest story of 2009 and frankly, obama's term in office. >> jon: judy. >> i think that the phenomenon of home grown radicalization will be certainly the national security story of 2009. i have to agree with you, jim. >> jon: all right. you're jumping a little bit ahead of us because we're going to get into that. ellis, your take on president obama and his year just completed. >> well, it reminds you that a really huge stor

a big fish was caught in new york, bernie madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison june 29th.adoff pleaded guilty to what is believed to be wall street's biggest ever investment fraud case of up to 65 billion dollars. the health care reform effort really picked up steam over the summer. on the night of friday, july 31st, house democrats pushed a reform bill through the key energy and commerce committee. >> you want to be-- you want to be led-- you want to be led out of here, you're welcomed to go. >> bret: meanwhile, all across the country, you remember this, emotions flared at town hall meetings often features democratic lawmakers trying to defend health care reform to outraged constituents. one lawmaker refused to hold any town hall meeting, citing what he called a lynch mob mentality. the house passed the health care reform bill and on christmas eve day the senate followed suit. that's our third top story for 2009. sure to carry over and be a topic of a lot of discussion this year as well. we're back with the panel. charles, health care reform appears to be on a track to th

to which bernie madoff said, i could do better than that. >> joe baca is no longer planning the nomination to give tiger woods a medal. he said, instead, i'm recommending he run for congress. >> tiger woods' popularity has dropped from 85% to 33%. president obama's popularity is also at 33% but tiger had more fun getting there. >> you think the republicans can take back the house. >> we're going to try our best to do it. >> the republican party will take both houses of congress. >> you know his prediction will come true because he got it from that creepy old gypsy woman. >> and we'll be right back. that creepy old gypsy woman. >> and we'll will right back. morning.that's our program this thanks for joining us. have a great week. so long.

that's bernie madoff accounting. the other issue that i really was disappointed in was the president's solution to the earmarking and pork barrelling was to put it all on a webpage. that's -- we all know what earmarking and pork barreling does. finally his proposal for next year, 2011, to eliminate $15 billion in spending and meanwhile is proposing another stimulus bill that ranges between 80 and $115 billion additionally on the debt. it doesn't work. >> larry: we'll have more with senator john mccain after this. sfx: coin drop want to hear how more families are saving money, saving time and saving for the future? it's regions lifegreen checking and savings. these accounts come with a personal savings review, up to a $250 annual savings account bonus, and free online and mobile banking for simple and safe banking anytime, anywhere. just drop by or visit regions.com/open to open your accounts, and get into the rhythm of saving. reons it's time to expect more. >> larry: we're back from the rotunda in capitol hill with

different but think it arted off this decade with thgs like the enron, and you ended itof course, th bernie madoffand the collse of wall street. d so i think fundamentally what we arseeing politilly too is sort of the rise of the invidual, that institutions now e no longer as trusted, includi politicians. >> i was going to say,he begiing of the decade coincided with the most condition teed election of oulifetime. >> thas right. and so you started offhere, you kn, but what i thought was really interesng too was when you look atarty identification in 2 thousand d now compare it to where we are now, looking athe pew, poll, of course, the number of people who identify themselves as independen has jumped six points. it's not that the number o people who identify themlves as democrats has gone ueither. thisumber looks almost exactly the sames in 1992, where we had somof those same elements coming io play. frusation with the statusco, ere was scandal in washington there s obviously economic upheava and so think what we are seeing botin campaigns, and the way liticians talk about things, it fls very perot

is there are bernie madoff's in this world but he's spending the rest of his life and i think several of their lifetimes in prison and this is generally what happens to people who very the iran laws of business success. that exists basically because of a business depends upon is providing people with some service or product they choose. that brings me to the big lie number four. the big line number four says small business is good. big business is bad. you elated to that in the rossin poll. i have several bits of polling data that suggest small business is among the most popular institutions and trust institutions of america and big business is among the least popular and trusted. this is truly a peculiar. it is peculiar. why? every small business in the country wants to get big. a small business is generally a business that hasn't gotten big yet or a business that hasn't been particularly successful. that is the nature of it. every big business in the country almost without exception started off as a small business. the traditional definition of a small business and big business woul

you wait until the last five days of the campaign to say my opponent was a business partner of bernie madoffou might think about that if people are not going to have their ballots and the voting. the second thing i want you to think about is a identifying your voter groups. who are these people who are going to vote early? is it a state like california where you don't do anything about it? is a state where you have to register people every year? what kind of people might vote early? democrats are really good at going after senior citizens. i like the background noise. democrats go into a senior citizen home and you have a bunch of people who are not able to drive themselves. those might be good targets to have vote early. i saw a great program in california of young republicans and professional women. if moms are a great group of early voters you think about the average mother's day peepers little they get up and make lunch and feed everybody breakfast and load the kids into the minivan and have ten minutes to get one kid to day care and they go to work for eight hours and on the way home st

. -- bernie made of -- bernie madoff stole went to israel. the federal reserve is nothing but a ponzi scheme. we need to round them up and send them back to israel. they are all jewish, are they not? host: joe, republican line. caller: i hear a lot of these callers blaming the government for this problem. they are to blame and there is no doubt about it. individual people are just as much to blame. they did not budget. they thought that housing would always go up. they told their congressmen that they wanted no money down home loans. they do all of these things and they blame it on someone else. but the problem is that everyone is blaming everyone else nowadays. if i was a bank, i would look at the typical attitude conveyed by your callers and say -- heck with it. they would be blamed for being a racist or whenever. host: 5 more minutes on the role of federal regulations, preventing crisises. the house is back on tuesday, on january 12. the senate returns on the 20 at the january. new republicans reporting on line this morning, boarding a "wi

need 60 -- let me say this week, people who think 40 out of 100 is a w3majority are using the bernie madoffounting, it just doesn't fly the american people understand that out of 100, a majority is 51. so that is an option on the table. it is an option -- if you read your constitution on how many votes it takes, that is what the constitution says. >> when will the decision be made by leadership in both the house and senate on the way forward on health care? >> i think in the next few weeks certainly you will have a decision based on input from our caucus. and they are receiving input from constituents. and we will be brought the best way forward. host: next on colorado -- guest: let me just say, there is a lot of talk about the massachusetts election. the fact of the matter is the day after the election use all health care premiums going up just as fast as the day before the election. you saw people denied insurance because of pre-existing conditions the day after, just the day before. so, the need for health-care reform has not gone away and the american people, if you ask them about the c

they failed to get bernie madoff about five years before he actually got caught. they repeal the glass-steagall act. how many agencies doing need to regulate the banks and financial institutions which congress passes the laws to do? or like national security where we have nine or 10 agencies to should have protected us from the under-pants bomber and now they have failed. one last thing, the president himself said the democrats control both houses. they only the republicans, so they have blocked the amount. host: one speck of the speech getting a lot of discussion was when the president talked about the recent supreme court decision -- one aspect of the speech -- let's listen. it is the reaction from justice samuel only to. >> last week the supreme court reversed a century of law. i believe it will open the floodgates to special interests. including foreign corporations. the fed it without limit and our election. [applause] i and the american elections should be bankrolled by america's most powerful interests, or worse, by foreign entities. they should be decided

. -- bernie made of -- bernie madoff stole went to israel. the federal reserve is nothing but a ponzi scheme. we need to round them up and send them back to israel. they are all jewish, are they not? host: joe, republican line. caller: i hear a lot of these callers blaming the government for this problem. they are to blame and there is no doubt about it. individual people are just as much to blame. they did not budget. they thought that housing would always go up. they told their congressmen that they wanted no money down home loans. they do all of these things and they blame it on someone else. but the problem is that everyone is blaming everyone else nowadays. if i was a bank, i would look at the typical attitude conveyed by your callers and say -- heck with it. they would be blamed for being a racist or whenever. host: 5 more minutes on the role of federal regulations, preventing crisises. the house is back on tuesday, on january 12. the senate returns on the 20 at the january. new republicans reporting on line this morning, boarding a "wi

. >> when is the first time you heard of bernie madoff? >> the night he was arrested. i was sitting in new york next to my colleague. we had just finished reporting on rod blagojevich, the governor of illinois and his prevailed. my friend got an e-mail from the fbi saying bernard madoff arrested, $50 billion can. i said, i don't know who he is. that's a typo. it can be 50 billion. that would be the biggest in history. i soon found out. >> what kind of resources did you and your unit turn over to this investigation? >> well, we had the entire abc news investigative unit immunologic of action, much of it for broadcast but there were so many great details that just could not fit into the world news or nightline, 2020 and we ended up doing this book the first book i've written. >> it is her first book? >> i'm a rookie at this. but i enjoyed. it usually consists of a minute and a half or a minute fortify. and here i had as much other wanted. >> so how did you fit right in this book into your working? >> 4:30 a.m. was a good time to write, and they gave me a few days off ove

stomach acid of the investigative unit for adc when is the first time you heard of bernie madoff? >> the night he was arrested i was sitting in new york next to my colleague. we just finished reporting on the governor from illinois, and my friend got an e-mail from the fbi saying bernard madoff arrested, $50 billion dam. i said i don't know who he is but that is a typo. it can't be 50 billion because that would be the biggest in history. well, i soon found out. >> what kind of resources to you in your unit turned over to this investigation? >> we had the entire abc news' investigative unit and launched into action much of it from broadcast. but there was so much great detail and facts that it couldn't fit into the world news or might want or 2020. so we ended up doing this book. it's the first book i've written. >> it is your first book. >> i am a rookie at this but i'm enjoying it. i'm used to the concession of one minute 45 and here i had as much as i wanted. >> how did you fit writing this book into your work day? >> 4:3 in the morning was a good time to write and they gave me