THE EARMARK

We’ve said it before, and now we’ll say it again.  Swindlers in the financial services industry: Stop preying on the most naive, foolish, vulnerable segment of our society — members of Congress!

Around this time last year, we called out the sub-prime mortgage thieves who caused foolhardy Rep. Laura Richardson (D-CA) to default on the loan for her third home.  The congresswoman was so distraught that she wound up abandoning her BMW at a Long Beach auto garage, and no amount of Greenpeace-funded smoothies could comfort her.

Now comes the news that the financial vultures have found another Congressional victim.  And that would be freshman Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL), who apparently wanted to show solidarity with Americans who were bilked by Ponzi schemes by falling for one himself…

Freshman Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) lost $3 million in a stock swindle between 2000 and 2005, a Florida television station reported this week.

According to Orlando’s Local 6, Grayson was an investor in a Ponzi scheme run by the company Derivium Capital. The scheme allowed Grayson and other investors to turn over stock to Derivium in exchange for cash loans and redeem the value later if the stock prices increased.

This news alone ought to be embarrassing enough for Grayson, his family, and the United States of America.  But what makes it even more pathetic is the fact that Grayson isn’t just a congressman — he’s on the House Financial Services Committee!  He’s supposed to be safeguarding the nation against fraud and instead he’s intertwining himself with bogus offers for instant cash loans.  And he’s been hiding it for four years!

Clearly humbled, Rep. Grayson has now decided that cash-loan-for-stock scams simply aren’t the best way to fritter away money in today’s economy.  So from now on, look for the congressman to get his dough the old fashioned way… in $50 million earmarks attached to cap-and-trade legislation.