When executives on Wall Street announced that they would be paying themselves $140 billion dollars in bonuses last year in spite of being on government welfare, there was barely a whimper of outrage coming from the American public. After all, this is the kind of behavior that we’ve come to expect from the corrupt, greed-driven industry that sank our economy. But if their bonuses weren’t enough to get your blood boiling, than how about the fact that some of the largest financial institutions in America swindled the government like a common street hustler, and left the American taxpayers footing the bill. Mike Papantonio talks about how the swindle occurred and who perpetrated it with Rolling Stone’s Matt Taibbi.
Subscribe to the Ring of Fire podcast for the full interview!
I’m glad Mike talked to Matt Taibbi about how the American people keep getting ripped off. I have a little better understanding about the 7 ways banks are jobbing the system at the tax payers expense. The basis of their money making schemes feature 2 mechanisms–collusion with the Secretary of the Treasury and inside trading because these Wall Street execs sit on the board of the SEC. They know how to job the system with information directly from the government. Just like they wouldn’t listen to Harry Markopolos about Madoff. Harry knew there were crimes being committed but the government agency didn’t want to hear it. See Harry’s interview from The Daily Show with Jon Stewart here at this link:
http://www.thedailyshow.com/
Insider trading–people used to get put in jail for that. Not anymore I guess. Involved in one of the 7 steps was flooding the economy with 1.7 trillion dollars that was just printed to give to Wall Street and in the process further devalue the dollar.
Just a thought…..are people still getting freebies here? I noticed this video clip with Matt Taibbi. What is the difference between the paid and the unpaid access here?
Colleen,
There’s a little message underneath this video saying:
“Subscribe to the Ring of Fire podcast for the full interview!”
So, since you and I are members, we get the *full* interview!!! (The only thing I wish is that the *full* video were able to also available to subscribers, not just the full audio).
At any rate….Colleen, I like your new, Beatles gravatar!!!!!
Colleen, others,
That same Daily Show that has Harry Markopolos has a HILARIOUS John Oliver clip on the Iraq War/Oscars….
http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/mon-march-8-2010-harry-markopolos
This interview between Mike and Matt is really interesting, but here’s a guest suggestion for RoF:
the same guy that’s on the clip from the Daily Show:
Harry Markopolos.
Please get him on RoF if possible! I would LOVE to hear Mike interview him!!!!!!
He has some harsh words for lawyers, but only the kind that allowed the SEC to allow Bernie Madoff to do what he did.
He’s just great. I could see that he cuts to the chase. Mike’s anger and his anger seem similar to me, and it would be so awesome to hear both of them talk about Madoff and the other sh*t that’s going down.
Here’s what Markopolos has to say about politics, from wikipedia:
“”I’m definitely not in the running for any public office. I know I have been approached already, and have said no and will continue to say no. It is not in my future. I’m apolitical. I support all third party candidates. I think they have a voice that needs to be heard, I wish America would listen to voices outside the two major parties. I think it is time for change. We’ve had Democratic and Republican parties in existence for well over a century each and maybe it’s time for something new, something different. It is time to embody a party that really reflects America’s core values.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Markopolos
What really offends me is that Stewart’s audience seemed to be be offended at the plain-speaking and direct scorn that Markopolos has for the SEC and Madoff.
Something is cracked, here. People are so used to corruption, that even liberals and dems and the kind of people who make up Jon Stewart’s Daily Show audience get annoyed when straight-talkers don’t mince words.
F**k that attitude, I say.
Give it to me straight. I am Hungry for the kind of anger I hear from Markopolos (and Mike).
What is WRONG with people!!!!???!!!!!
Markopolos called Madoff a sociopath.
We NEED to understand and to listen to those men – like this Harry Markopolos and Mike Papantonio – who see the sh*t and don’t piss around pretending it doesn’t exist or trying to sugar-coat it in anyway.
And I most certainly put Mike’s guest, Matt Taibbi into that category of truth tellers, as well. ANGRY truth tellers.
WE SHOULD BE ANGRY!!!!!
Mara,
Thanks for the info regarding RoF interviews. I’m a little “whippy” today. Glad you like my Beatles gravatar, but I can’t see it on my end yet.
Mara, I did see that clip with John Oliver…..hilarious, but he got the point across….because that’s the size of it!
Mara,
I agree with your post and I couldn’t of said it better myself! I like truth tellers just like you do. Harry Markopolos should be interviewed on RoF. I was bummed about Jon’s audience that night too. What’s wrong with people is right! I also want Harry’s book and the title of his book says it all.
PS….I can see my new gravatar on Scott’s notebook computer.
I want to see it here!
When it comes to corporations and banks like Goldman Sachs, it reminds me of this one Seinfeld episode where Jerry is in the rental car shop and his reservation had not been held on to, where the car rental agent said that she doesn’t necessarily hold the reservation, she just takes it, and Jerry Seinfeld said, “you do know how to take the reservation, you just don’t know how to HOLD the reservation – anyone can take it!” and snaps his fingers in the air.
All in all, it’s been about plutocratic capitalism for quite a long time. And, given that it is in our human nature to be greedy, here’s a couple of youtube videos of a greedy monkey, which most likely reiterates the evolution theory:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lwADSTSuP0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1rmC1ZjcwU
Furthermore, I’m also reminded of at the beginning of the movie “Idiocracy”, the narrator mentioned that “human evolution doesn’t necessarily reward intelligence…” BTW, Mara and/or Colleen and anyone viewing the ROFR blog, have you actually seen or rented the movie “Idiocracy”? It certainly is a wake up call to our intelligence and motivation.
…Also, I was just thinking that Mike ought to be a panelist on Real Time with Bill Maher sometime. Can he fit that in his schedule, Farron?
NR,
Loved the greedy monkey videos!!! Humans do act just like that. No, I have never seen the movie “Idiocracy” but it sounds like I should.
Yes, Mike should be on Bill Maher.
Colleen,
Your new gravatar is way Cool!!!!
I might try a Beatles one, myself, at some point. Maybe this one, or a John Lennon one.
NR, very hilarious and also quite True, all that you wrote here, and also those monkey clips.
I would get so mad if I was bending down to speak “baby-talk” or some other similar nonsense to a “sweet” little monkey, and damn thing hit me in the face!
I’d kick that monkey’s a$$ for him; you all KNOW I would!
(And I’m the biggest coward you are likely to find, for sure. I’m afraid of my own damn shadow, but when I get riled up, my habitual caution often gets tossed to the winds).
Damn monkeys…..
I LIKE the really greedy monkey who grabbed all that stuff on the fence railing to eat! That was funny!!!!
Sure, evolution favors greed, but also more noble qualities, too, I like to think.
I do get a little frustrated, that evolution is used to explain Everything. I don’t like to reduce humans down to Only evolutionary tactics, but I also don’t like to Deny evolution like the far righters do.
Your points are well taken, NR. I love the reference to the Seinfeld show, too. One of my friends never liked that show because the characters in it are not particularly likable. That’s true, but they Are funny!!! (And often the humor targeted really stupid sh*t in life, like that bogus “we don’t Hold the reservation, we just take it” cr@p. That is the corporatist attitude, in a nutshell, I think).
Really, NR (and others), when you think about it, an animal – can we Really say an animal is “greedy”? I wonder. I don’t know. Animals can’t go shopping for stuff like We can.
Sh*t. Like we USED to be able to! In this economy, that pastime is severely curtailed for many of US.
A friend asked me last night if it’s wise to call people sociopaths, since it seems to be the new thing: everyone is a sociopath.
I could see where my friend is coming from on this. We call people who rob, rape and steal sociopaths, and they may well be, but it Also gives our society an easy out:
we don’t have to fix things, make neighborhoods better, give poor people a chance, fix racism (which still exists) and do so much more to prevent people from growing up in hideous conditions that mark them from life and often make them very hardened.
On the other hand, probably there Are sociopaths that just are born that way? But, if so, how responsible can we even hold Them?
After all, if you are born Unable to empathize w/people, then how can you truly Know you are doing wrong????
That said, we still need to Prevent sociopaths and criminals from abusing people.
Too bad, then, that many of them are in high office.
And I wonder how useful it is to hold a religious viewpoint re: Evil????
I like the concept of a religious p.o.v. on evil. I don’t like religion, per se, to tell me what is to be evil (like abortion or birth control or not going to church on sundays, etc).
But I Do like (or find useful; that’s a more relevant way to phrase it) the idea that there is evil people do that might come from something other than evolution or brain damage (sociopaths, who are “born that way”) or even growing up in impoverished *war zones* (inner cities) that produce criminality.
I think all the above is True, but what about people like Bernie Madoff, who do not grow up in hardened conditions? What about Bush? What about all these people in the world, running things, who Knowingly and Willingly enact evil?
Religion explains why evil exists (the Fall, which I don’t really resonate to. the idea of not eating from a “tree of knowledge” seems insane to me, even as a fable to teach people something. The “tree of knowledge is Exactly the tree I’d be heading for. To me, religion mainly seems to want people to eat from the “tree of unknowing” and I think this is the very same tree that the media is feeing US from, too).
That said, there is evil of such a degree in this world that it seems almost that a metaphysical dimension or origin is necessary to explain it, or even to just try to comprehend it.
Or, maybe that is merely My need. Lots of atheists exist who are very intelligent, ethical, decent people.
I don’t know how one can explain evil, though.
People can get very detached in this world. Detachment is almost mandatory, to survive, but we also worship detachment, be it in religion or medicine or the law.
You know the kind of person who is most detached? The one who tortures and/or orders torture.
We fear emotion, and we split off emotion from reason and deem reason to be higher, just as we deem the brain to be more important than the mind and the body to be less important than both, even though there is a concept of “mindbody” that takes in the Whole.
Colleen,
Since you’re from Wisconsin, you might find interesting the fact that artist/sculptor Nancy Metz White, who’s from your state, has created a *Tree of Life* sculpture (and well as a *Magic Tree Grove* one). They are in parks in Wisconsin.
What a Cool, Great, Wonderful idea!!!!!
Here’s an image (I hope it works):
http://milwaukeedailyphoto.com/2008/09/mitchell-boulevard-park.html
This is so great:
“Nancy Metz White is an artist from Wisconsin. She has large-scale outdoor sculptures installed in two Milwaukee parks. White uses brightly painted welded steel and forge flashings recycled from Milwaukee heavy industry to produce colorful tree forms. “Tree of Life,” which is 2½ stories high, was erected in Mitchell Boulevard Park in 2002. “Magic Grove,” a grouping of three tree forms, was installed in Enderis Playfield in 2006. Conceived as a community gathering place, “Magic Grove” includes benches designed by the artist and a commemorative brick walkway. In both “Tree of Life” and “Magic Grove,” bird forms perch amid the tree branches, adding a fanciful touch.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Metz_White
Now, here’s an artist who is making a “political statement” w/her art simply by using recycled elements, and she’s creating community spaces for people to sit at, in parks.
And she’s not sacrificing beauty for intellectualism (I hate art that is only idea stuff, and divorced from beauty).
Well, I guess I have written enough, for now.
Except, here is one more tree I found, that I like alot:
http://pole.uchicago.edu/blog/kathryn/2007/12/like-no-other.html
Mara,
People like Madoff and Bush—proves that evil can come from any walk of life. Evil can be rich or poor. Being rich doesn’t mean you are kind or generous or intelligent. (I ought to know, given what I do for a living) That’s why their kids are good for shit—I know about that also. Speaking of…I wish I could get the clip of how Bill Maher ended his show last night. He was very upset that Obama is for just firing all teachers and starting from scratch. (I heard about this on Mike Moore’s web site and saw the video out of New Hampshire—the teachers were crying and everything) This is Obama’s version of Bush’s “No Child Left Behind.” Maher said “why is everything the teacher’s fault. Look at the parents!” Bravo Bill! I was cheering from my couch!
Mara,
Thanks for that picture! That tree is way cool! That is located at what us locals call “Brewer Hill.” That is where Miller Park (our baseball stadium)is located. That’s where the Miller Brewery is.
Thanks for your interest in my state!
We do have some good things here.
Colleen,
Great feedback (and yes, please post that Maher clip if you can). I had not heard about this latest Obama travesty. It sounds horrible.
As for your state, those sculptures are AWESOME!!!! What a treat, to be able to visit those parks on a regular basis and visit those tree sculptures. I love it SO MUCH when sculpture can fit into the landscape yet also add something unique to it, and those trees are so colorful! And whimisical. And used from recycled metal.
Don’t forget, Colleen, YOU and your husband Scott are 2 very Good, Excellent “things” from your state, too!!!!
Hey, NR, did you hear what RFK Jr. had to say about Evolution on today’s show? It’s very interesting, and I can’t be surprised that Bobby, a man of religion, is also a man of great intelligence and depth. He doesn’t need to deny Evolution.
(And neither do I. I wasn’t dissing Evolution, I just don’t like when it’s Constantly used to explain behavior, but I also don’t like, much, when human behavior and thought is reduced to Only chemicals and synapses, too. Just my view of it)….
I meant to write when Evolution (and/or chemicals and synapses) are ONLY or MAINLY the driving force behind understanding ourselves as human beings. That’s too reductionist for me – way too reductionist – but NR, your monkey clips are Great and I Do see how much they are like us – and We are like Them, too!!!!
Mara,
I didn’t hear the show today but you know I will catch the podcasts and comment then. If I can find that Maher clip, I will post it.
Glad you like WI’s sculptures!
Thanks, as always, for the kind words for Scott and I. (blush)
Mara,
This is an alert for you. On PBS on March 22nd they have something you will want to see–guaranteed. The special is called “A Ripple of Hope.” It’s about RFK Sr.’s speech in Indianapolis the night of MLK’s assassination. We plan on watching it.
Here’s an article on the assult on Education and what happened in RI and Texas concerning Public Schools.
http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/03/14/history-revised-teachers-sacked-the-book-wars-in-texas-and-bey/