Economic Desperation Breeding More Ponzi Schemes?

The Economist's daily chart highlights the growing number of exposed--and investigated--Ponzi and fraud schemes in the U.S., and the magazine suggests that the weak economy may be the cause. It writes that "lean economic times...make get-rich-quick schemes more tempting, and desperation breeds gullibility." And those schemes that do exist are often more easily exposed during tough economic times, "when it becomes clear who has been swimming naked."