When money and power go too far

<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;"> The majority of the world wants to live the "good" life. We watch "Cribs" on MTV and "The Fabulous Life of..." on VH1 to catch a glimpse of how the "other" side lives. The rags-to-riches stories play out before our very eyes as our favorite celebrities buy everything from Audemars Piguet watches to Bugatti vehicles. The downside of this is that sometimes, we also watch their riches-to-rags stories play out on E! True Hollywood Story or TMZ. </span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;"> So what is the cause of a person who is on &ldquo;top&rdquo; falling from grace? The first and most obvious cause could be their own personal greed just like the case of Bernie Madoff. Madoff grew up in Queens, NY, and in 1960, founded the Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, LLC in 1960. In March of this year, he pleaded guilty to 11 felonies and admitted that his company was a huge Ponzi scheme that stole an estimated $18 billion dollars from thousands of investors. Madoff took what could have been the &ldquo;American dream&rdquo; of coming from meager beginnings to becoming financially independent and poisoned not only his life and his family's lives, but also the lives of countless others who trusted his counsel.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;"> Concerning Henry T. Nicholas III, the co-founder of Broadcom, fame and vices could also lead to a person's downfall. Nicholas was born into the upper middle class lifestyle with an IRS attorney for a father and a teacher for a mother. He went on to graduate from UCLA with a Masters and a Ph.D. In Electrical Engineering. In 1991, he and business partner, Dr. Henry Samueli co-founded Broadcom. </span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;"> The networking equipment that was made at Broadcom produced chips that help revolutionize digital cable boxes, the iPhone, and the Wii among other things. From Nicholas's own brilliant mind, he was able to become a billionaire, unfortunately, money for him wasn't enough. Henry Nicholas is facing trial next February for 21 federal charges of backdating stock options. This means that he gave employees company stock, but valued this stock at a previously higher dollar amount than the current price the stock actually is; the money from this transaction is unknowingly funded by the company's stockholders and in a nutshell, &ldquo;Nicholas stole from the poor and gave to the rich&rdquo;. He also faces trial on felony drug charges stemming from cocaine and Ecstasy, and there are allegations of him being involved with several prostitutes.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;"> Is there one person or one incident that is to blame for the atrocious behavior of these men or people like them? Why do people such as Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr.(b.k.a. Lil' Wayne) come from modest or poor backgrounds, establish themselves as wealthy members of society, and then commence to ruining their public image and their reputation? Many will consider Wayne to be &ldquo;just a rapper&rdquo;, but how many people do you know drop out of school at age 14, and are still able to produce the kind of wealth many college graduates don't enjoy?</