Ratigan: How to Fight ‘Greedy Bastards’

Have you ever wondered how all of a sudden you can buy a new car at a price many thousands lower? Was the dealer over charging you before? Why can you buy a prescription drug in Mexico for 1/3 of the price in the USA, or at 1/2 the price in Austrailia al from the same company, Is there maybe a little Greed or is it out right abuse?

If we in this country could ever get beyond labels and work with each other we could get some of the ideas passed. The Tea Party and the OWS crowd both believe that we should never have a company so big it is too big to fail. Both groups would probably agree that our political systems are corrupt as they now stand. Someone has to figure out how to bridge the gap between these two different groups, because once they figure it out we absolutely could change our current system. But you notice Ratigan makes fun of the tea party and hates them to the core. That’s a good example of the problem. We can’t overcome the corruption when we keep bashing each others side, even when there are policy elements that we all agree on.

Whatever one thinks of Ratigan, there is at least some truth in what he is saying. The large financial corporations and the big multinationals are too frequently permitted to function as monopolies in restraint of trade. We do not have a free market, or even a regulated market, but a captive market.

I'm halfway through this book and it is *not* a political book. Stop trying to make it fit into the media-created blue vs. red categories. People at all points on the political spectrum agree that "America is on the wrong course" and Ratigan explores how and why, as well as propose solutions.

I agree with the points made by the article. Ultimately, however, the question is - does anyone in government actually want to fix these problems?

Other than a few exceptions (e.g. Ron Paul) I would say the answer is NO. Most of the people in government are basically in it for the money or power and will continue to pass laws which favor a few special interests at the expense of the majority.

The system as desiged works. It fails when our politicians (DEMS & Repubs) are bought and paid for. Until Integrity, Honesty and Compassion are more than mere words in both our government and our society NOTHING will prevent these types of financial crises from re-occurring.

I do not understand 50% what he is talking about in details. But based on our current economic problems, I think definitely there are something wrong with the system and regulations. We have to change the fundamental ways of implementing capitalism. Otherwise, out system is like colonism to exploit people and public trust.

I agree with Ratigan on principle. His belief though that our elected officials have a snowball's chance in hell of fixing the poisoned system though is off base unfortunately. Politicians are too busy feeding at the poisoned trough to care about fixing anything.

To Big A's comment. A financial contribution is not speech, despite the supreme court ruling. There's a substantive difference between being able to say what you want and purchasing it.

"There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance---that principle is contempt prior to investigation."
---Herbert Spencer
Will you go to heaven when you die? Here's a quick test. Have you ever told a lie,
stolen anything, or used God's name in vain? Jesus said, "Whoever looks at a woman
to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart." Have you looked
with lust? Will you be guilty on Judgement Day? If you have done those things, God
sees you as a lying, thieving, blasphemous, adulterer at heart (the heart of the matter
is the matter of the heart). The Bible warns that if you are guilty you will end up in hell.
That's not God's will. He sent His Son to suffer and die on the cross for you. You broke
God's Law, but Jesus paid your fine. That means He can legally dismiss your case. He
can commute your death sentence. Jesus also said, "For God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have
everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it."
Then He rose from the dead and defeated death. Please repent (turn from sin) today and
trust alone in Jesus, and God will grant you the gift of everlasting life. Then read the Bible
daily and obey it. There is nothing more important than your eternal salvation!
2 Corinthians 4:3-6 states: "And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age(satan) has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ."

According to Mary Bottari of the CMD Wall Street has received trillions of tax dollars and the public is on the hook for trillions more. Here are some facts:

1) $4.6 Trillion in Taxpayer Funds Have Been Disbursed
All together, $4.6 trillion of taxpayer funds have been disbursed in the form of direct loans to Wall Street companies and banks, purchases of toxic assets, and support for the mortgage and mortgage-backed securities markets through federal housing agencies. This is an astonishing 32% of our GDP (2008) 130% of the federal budget (FY 2009).

2) TARP vs. Non-TARP Funding
Most accountings of the financial bailout focus on the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), enacted by Congress with the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. However, a complete analysis of the activities of all the agencies involved in the bailout including the FDIC, Federal Reserve and the Treasury reveals that TARP, which ended up disbursing about $410 billion, was less than a tenth of the total U.S. government effort to contain the financial crisis. TARP funds only account for about 20% of the maximum commitments made through the bailout and less than 10% of the actual funds disbursed.

3) The Federal Reserve has played the Primary Role in the Bailout
The Federal Reserve has provided by far the bulk of the funding for the bailout in the form of loans -- $3.8 trillion in total. Little information has been disclosed about what collateral taxpayers have received in return for many of these loans. Bloomberg News is suing the Federal Reserve to make this information public. On March 19, 2010 Bloomberg won its suit in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, but it is not clear if this case will continue to be litigated to the Supreme Court.

4) Federal Support for the Housing Market is on the Rise
A key component of the bailout has been the federal support for mortgages and mortgage-backed securities, primarily through the Federal Reserve. All together, the government has disbursed more than $1.5 trillion in non-TARP funds to directly support the mortgage and housing market since 2007.

We are still being fleeced by Wall Street. It is about time someone noticed. I am surprised that the public isn't DEMANDING prosecution of every bad actor in the financial industry.

Our economic system has evolved over the centuries, but a core principle remains. Money has always moves toward the center. A poor person likely cannot buy a home, but certainly can rent one from a richer person. A poor person likely cannot start his/her own business, but certainly can work for a richer person who can. And so on. The richer person will invest in activities of still richer people (the stock market, for instance), all money flowing inexorably from those at the bottom (often those creating the wealth) toward the top (those that collect the resultant wealth). Fair? Depends on your point of view, I suppose. Equitable? Often not at all. Corporations can exploit global labor to feed the markets of the developed countries. A guy running a machine in India might make $10 a day, an equivalent guy in Indiana running an equivalent machine might make $200 a day. The guy collecting the money from this work activity might make $20,000 a day. Of course, you need enough guys making $200 a day to make the system function because those guys making $10 a day can't.

Our "career" politicians live a life in isolation from the citizenry, surrounded by privilege and payoff. The first step in righting the ship is to ENACT TERM LIMITS. Once legislators see that they must live under the system they enact, there will be incentive to work for the common good, not just the monied interests.

Even I, a 1%-er who voted for Bush (first time around), am still sickened by the sight of Bush shaking Hank Paulson's hand and their Cheshire cat looks, as they primarily bailed out Goldman Sachs( via Tarp)... how could anyone in their right mind fall for a Republican-Romney 1% agenda in 2012... the Republicans need to rehabilitate themselves after 8 years of of letting the criminal capitalist undermine the American middle class...until they do that, I am voting Democrat....

Dylan Ratigan is sharp. Discerning between capitalism that creates value and capitalism that extracts wealth is an important consideration for every American. Imagine, if in the mid 2000s, banks offered mortgages at fixed (non-vampire) rates, imagine if home builders built green energy homes (tell Opec where to stick its oil), imagine if AIG and the banksters had not played chicken with CDSs, imagine if Americans had remembered the Tulip story and never fallen for the fantasy that Real Estate value never goes down--imagine all this and we'd have a happier, healthier economy.

Yes! Let's censor this guy! How DARE he tell the truth!!! I, for one, don't want to hear the truth. At best, the truth makes me uncomfortable. At worst, the truth makes me angry, fearful, and causes me to question my view of economic reality. Not gonna happen!

good points but he interrupts his guesst too much

For once someone had the cajonas to say the truth,greedy mofos bleeding us dry.

I'm gonna buy this guy's book. Otis (Houston), two big thumbs up buddy. There is a slim nexus of consensus between the Tea Party and OWS when it comes to financial and goverment corruption. Perhaps that nexus can form the basis of eliminating the cancer that is eating at all of our institutions - both goverment and private industry. Unfortunately both parties are guilty of feeding at the contribution trough.

leech from it, manipulate it to extract rents. Joplin, Missouri had a tornado. A new school will be built. Contracts could not go to giant companies. The company winning the contract has a history of government contracts. Look at the "subcontractors" of this company. They are large companies who could not get the contract alone. The government entity (ACoE) letting out the contract just added "packing profit" for the "small contractor". It is legal, but not what was intended.