Dylan Ratigan: Americans Have Been Taken Hostage By Wall Street, K Street Lobbyists & A Broken Political System
The truth hurts. Ratigan raises the issues we choke on everyday. Your retaliation will come at the ballot box in November 2010. Candidates and incumbents who support the banking oligarchy and the Wall Street bailouts must be thrown out into the street. My fear however, is that they will end up unscathed and smiling on K Street, peddling their malignant, anti-taxpayer influence to the detriment of all but their banking bastard buddies.
We've been screaming for 8 months for a high-profile mainstream journalist to take up your cause. Above all others, Dylan Ratigan has responded as he continues to drive the hammer via any outlet he can find. Yesterday it was an impressive op-ed at the Huffington Post. We have the complete, systemic thrashing after the jump.
From Dylan Ratigan via the Huffington Post:
The American people have been taken hostage to a broken system.
It is a system that remains in place to this day.
A system where bank lobbyists have been spending in record numbers to make sure it stays that way.
A system that corrupts the most basic principles of competition and fair play, principles upon which this country was built.
It is a system that so far has forced the taxpayer to provide the banks with the use of $14 trillion from the Federal Reserve, much of the $7 trillion outstanding at the US Treasury and $2.3 trillion at the FDIC.
A system partially built by the very people who currently advise our President, run our Treasury Department and are charged with its reform.
And most stunningly -- it is a system that no one in our government has yet made any effort to fundamentally change.
Like health care, this is a referendum on our government's ability to function on behalf of the American people. Ask yourself how long you are willing to be held hostage? How long will you let our elected officials be the agents of those whose business it is to exploit our government and the American people at any cost?
As hostages -- was there any sum of money we wouldn't have given AIG?
Why did we pay Goldman Sachs and all the other banks 100 cents on the dollar for their contracts with AIG, using taxpayer money, while we forced GM and others to take massive payment cuts?
Why hasn't any of the bonus money paid to the CEOs that built this financial nuclear bomb been clawed back?
And more than anything else -- why does the US Congress refuse to outlaw the most anti-competitive structure known to our economy, one summed up as TOO BIG TOO FAIL?
It has become startlingly clear that we as a country, and I as a journalist, had made a grave error in affording those who built and ran those banks and insurance companies the honorable treatment of being called capitalists. When in fact the exact opposite was true, these people were more like vampires using the threat of Too Big Too Fail to hold us hostage and collect ongoing ransom from the US Government and the American taxpayer.
This was no unlucky accident. The massive spike in unemployment, the utter destruction of retirement wealth, the collapse in the value of our homes, the worst recession since the Great Depression all resulted directly from these actions.
Even with all that -- the only changes that have been made, have been made to prop up and hide the massive flaws on behalf of those who perpetuated them. Still utterly nothing has been done to disclose the flaws in this system, improve it or rebuild it.
Last fall was an awakening for me, as it was for many in our country.
And yet, our Congress has yet to open its eyes, much less do anything about it. In fact conditions have never been better for the banks or worse for the rest of us.
Why is this? Who does our Government work for? How much longer will we as Americans tolerate it? And what, if anything, can we do about it?
As we approach the anniversary of the bailouts for our banks and insurers -- and watch the multi-trillion taxpayer-funded programs at the Federal Reserve continue to support banks and subsidize their multibillion bonus pools, we must ask if our politicians represent the interests of America? Or those who would rob America of its money and its future?
As a country, we must demand that our politicians stop serving those whose business models are based on systemic theft and start serving those who seek to create value for others -- the workers, innovators and investors who have made this country great.
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DB here. The truth hurts. Ratigan raises the issues we choke on everyday. Your retaliation will come at the ballot box in November 2010. Candidates and incumbents who support the banking oligarchy and the Wall Street bailouts must be thrown out of office. This will be our rallying cry for the next 14 months as we approach next November.
Sep 15, 2009 at 4:41 PM
Reader Comments (12)
Last Days of Lehman: Robbed by the Bank
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/15/opinion/15pedreira.html
Former Lehman employee will not stop whining...she feels an unalienable sense of bailout entitlement...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ilcr6akrwoE&feature=player_embedded#t=539
Andrew Jackson quotes:
The bold effort the present (central) bank had made to control the government ... are but premonitions of the fate that await the American people should they be deluded into a perpetuation of this institution or the establishment of another like it.
Every man is equally entitled to protection by law; but when the laws undertake to add… artificial distinctions, to grant titles, gratuities, and exclusive privileges, to make the rich richer and the potent more powerful, the humble members of society -- the farmers, mechanics, and laborers -- who have neither the time nor the means of securing like favors to themselves, have a right to complain of the injustice of their government.
Gentlemen, I have had men watching you for a long time and I am convinced that you have used the funds of the bank to speculate in the breadstuffs of the country. When you won, you divided the profits amongst you, and when you lost, you charged it to the bank. You tell me that if I take the deposits from the bank and annul its charter, I shall ruin ten thousand families. That may be true, gentlemen, but that is your sin! Should I let you go on, you will ruin fifty thousand families, and that would be my sin! You are a den of vipers and thieves.
The brave man inattentive to his duty, is worth little more to his country than the coward who deserts her in the hour of danger.
You are a den of vipers and thieves. I intend to rout you out, and by the grace of the Eternal God, will rout you out.
If Congress has the right under the Constitution to issue paper money, it was given to be used by themselves, not to be delegated to individuals or corporations.
It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their selfish purposes.
As long as our government is administered for the good of the people, and is regulated by their will; as long as it secures to us the rights of persons and of property, liberty of conscience and of the press, it will be worth defending.
I am one of those who do not believe that a national debt is a national blessing, but rather a curse to a republic; inasmuch as it is calculated to raise around the administration a moneyed aristocracy dangerous to the liberties of the country.
Obama: The young lady seems like a perfectly nice person. She's getting her award. What's he doing up there?
He's a jackass. (Laughter)
No, now -- this -- all this stuff -- I'm assuming all this stuff. Where's the pool? Come on guys. Cut the president some slack. I got a lot of other stuff on my plate. Yeah. Cause I remember last time it was the fly thing. Now that was the highlight of (trails off)
I have had to edit almost every one of your umpteen comments today to make them readable...it's turning into a full-time job...please do me 2 favors: stop posting the same messages on multiple stories!...I'm serious...I'm tired of editing the same stuff on board after board...
Also, have some personal respect about the comments you leave; make them readable for Heaven's sake...you don't seem to understand that your messages get skipped over by 90% of readers because they are a jumbled mess. It sort of defeats the whole purpose of what you're trying to achieve if no one reads your message. Be smart.
@Gobias.
I'd be happy to respond but I have absolutely no idea what you're message is trying to convey...Acorn is a shady organization...always has been...
I think part of the problem is that we have people that are seeing conspiracies in everything. For example, the world looks at the 9/12 protests and sees that half of the 75k there are batshit crazy. They look at that and say "I'm not having anything to do with them". And on the other side, we have people that just aren't paying attention...they know something is wrong but they don't know where to direct their anger because the issues have been confused and mixed in with nutty stuff (as evidenced by some of the comments here). We have people that won't accept facts and tar entire groups of people and organizations with a very broad brush. Completely counter-productive. The only thing we can do is what we are already doing- trying to pressure Congress to do the right thing and acting and debating issues like grownups.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dylan-ratigan/americans-have-been-taken_b_285225.html
I took a look at HUFF Po but there are 26 pages of comments and I'm about 16 stories behind in posting for this week...do you mind sharing a few of the decent ideas you saw being discussed there...?
Thanks...
CBS/The New Republic called the DC Protest the “Great American Scream”…This is their attempt at being grownup…”On Saturday, September 12, America threw a gigantic temper tantrum in Washington D.C. Organizers called it the "largest gathering of fiscal conservatives in history," and they're probably right. But for an angry, anti-government fit, the march was remarkably civil.” I don’t see them calling half of the crowd batshit crazy, maybe you should let them know what you think you know. Are remarkably civil people also batshit crazy? Robert, if you wish to taken seriously, you have to show that you are serious. You are not pleading for civility. If anyone is confused by the “nutty stuff”, it appears to be you. If anyone is angry, it is you. If you wish to honestly “debate the issues”, I would start by not insulting the people who don’t share your views. You could also be a bit more clear and concise. For instance, what are you talking about when you say, “We have people that won't accept facts and tar entire groups of people and organizations with a very broad brush.” So, I am “paying attention”, please, tell me what’s wrong…
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It's time for people to understand one absolute truth, you and I, the "little" guy have all the power!
Ask yourself this one question, how did these corps get "too big too fail"?
Answer: With our money, dollar by dollar.
Before you spend THINK! Stop spending your money thoughtlessly. They got rich on our hard earned dollars and that's all they care about. Govt isn't going to do squat because that dollar you so generously gave them for over-priced products/services, was then turned around and used to buy a politician to aide them in continuing to do whatever they like, with no fear of reprecussions and in the meantime spred the propaganda that we're powerless. And for a really long time you bought it. But they're business practices of free markets without regualtion will cure all ills, is false as we've seen and so short sighted. If they bankrupt the world then what?
So before you spend THINK! Focus on improving your local economy. YOU, ME, WE ALL HAVE SO MUCH MORE POWER THEN THEY WANT US TO KNOW (Example: WalMarts prices aren't much better then most others and you just may save more at your local farmers market, ect). Withhold your dollar as much as you can and ask how powerful will they be tomorrow? They may come up with ways to penalize a debtors revolution to discourage people from this form of protest but what will they do to force you to spend? THINK!
Get your money out of banks that are "too big to fail". Pay off your credit cards and stop using them. Join a credit union and transfer your car loan. Not only will you helping the little banks that didn't play Monopoly with your 401k, it will also be sticking it to the big banks that think they are too important and well connected to obey your silly laws.