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Dylan Ratigan Discusses The Stockholm Syndrome Relationship Between America And Wall Street
The only person who in the past made CNBC even remotely watchable, Dylan Ratigan, is out with a scathing review of the anti-symbiotic relationship between the American people and the Wall Street/DC Lobby/Regulatory complex, in a piece titled "Americans Have Been Taken Hostage."
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.
Zero Hedge applauds Dylan's effort to awake more people to the systemic threat that is not only the TBTF complex, but the effectively monopolistic concentration of every financial power imaginable in such glaring examples as Goldman Sachs, whose domination of sales, flow trading, prop trading, market making, liquidity provisioning, underwriting, corporate advisory, "analysis", and selective information release to key clients, all the while backstopped from any potential loss compliments of what has become an implicit balance sheet guarantee footed by the American people, is now nothing less than a monopolistic anti-trust issue.
Continuing with the Ratigan piece:
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.
A new generation of Americans has to emerge from behind the scenes: one that is untainted with the immense legacy conflicts of Wall Street lobby interests: individuals such as Ron Paul, Judge Rakoff, Elizabeth Warren, Alan Grayson, Senator Kaufman and many others, who we all know deep down inside speak the truth, and even if they have their own particular axe to grind, do so (at least for now) with the American public's interest at heart. Yet more have to step up to the plate. We welcome Dylan's piece as a rallying call for all those who share in the pursuit of integrity yet are ambivalent about the success of seeking truth in a world which rewards only cronyism, collusion, greed, speculation, fraud and excess. Those are not the qualities that have made America great, and if left unchecked, guarantee a decline and end in the American way of life, with nothing but a lasting memory of the virtues that drove America's founding fathers to make it the great country it once used to be.
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Oh Dylan, don't you know your rationality and common sense has no place in this country?
Look the Dow is going up! And American Idol is on!
Dylan,
It is the FEDERAL RESERVE Dylan not the politicians. Until you do do something about that my friend your rhetoric gets laughed at not only by those in Washington but our friends over in London that own the Federal Reserve. Politicians are whore's and if they see the money drying up they will abandon the Fed...till then I admire your calls but you have to come up with a few trillion dollares to out bid the private Central Bank for Congress. Concentrate on the real issue...
The congress gave the Fed their powers, it is the congress that must take it away.
The congress gave the Fed their powers, it is the congress that must take it away.
A correct statement of fact.
Unfortunately it's always easier to give something than to take it away. I don't think congress is up to the job quite yet.
When the people put a blowtorch to their feet... then maybe. What channel did that guy say Idol was on?
Article I Section 8 of the Constitution: The legistlative branch has the power to "coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures"
I ask how is it even constitutional for the Fed to exist?
Congress is stupid...that is why the Fed exists. They were not smart enough to carry out their constitutional duties as specified in Article I section 8, so they decided to appoint some "experts" which are the Fed. I think both lots are incompetent.
Article I Section 8 of the Constitution: The legistlative branch has the power to "coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures"
I ask how is it even constitutional for the Fed to exist? Noth
Article I Section 8 of the Constitution: The legistlative branch has the power to "coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures"
I ask how is it even constitutional for the Fed to exist? Not
Article I Section 8 of the Constitution: The legistlative branch has the power to "coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures"
I ask how is it even constitutional for the Fed to exist? Not that
Article I Section 8 of the Constitution: The legistlative branch has the power to "coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures"
I ask how is it even constitutional for the Fed to exist? Not that I
Article I Section 8 of the Constitution: The legistlative branch has the power to "coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures"
I ask how is it even constitutional for the Fed to exist? Not that I think
Article I Section 8 of the Constitution: The legistlative branch has the power to "coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures"
I ask how is it even constitutional for the Fed to exist? Not that I think Congress
Article I Section 8 of the Constitution: The legistlative branch has the power to "coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures"
I ask how is it even constitutional for the Fed to exist? Not that I think Congress would
Article I Section 8 of the Constitution: The legistlative branch has the power to "coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures"
I ask how is it even constitutional for the Fed to exist? Not that I think Congress would do
Article I Section 8 of the Constitution: The legistlative branch has the power to "coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures"
I ask how is it even constitutional for the Fed to exist? Not that I think Congress would do anything
SORRY FOR MULTIPLE POSTS - SOMETHING HAPPENED WITH MY KEYBOARD!!
Ha ha ha ha ha... we are tied at 10!
Same thing happened to me last week on Tyler's Rakoff piece. Each iteration had one extra word. Then I used edit to remove the text and put a dot (.) in. I don't feel so stupid now.
Welcome to the club!
Next Chapter In Rakoff - BofA - SEC Love Triangle Gets Interesting; Cuomo's Arrival Adds Another Vertex
LOL... Read Andrew Jackson and what he had to say about the SECOND Central Bank of the United States.
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/ajveto01.asp
But beware what might happen if we try to take down the Fed -
Richard Lawrence gave the doctors several reasons for the shooting. He had recently lost his job painting houses and somehow blamed Jackson. He claimed that with the President dead, "money would be more plenty" (a reference to Jackson’s struggle with the Bank of the United States) and that he "could not rise until the President fell." Finally, he informed his interrogators that he was actually a deposed English King—specifically, Richard III, dead since 1485—and that Jackson was merely his clerk. He was deemed insane, institutionalized, and never punished for his assassination attempt.
An amazing article - but even more amazing is where it was published in the very left of center HuffPost and more amazing than that - the hundreds of comments almost all in support of what Ratigan is saying - some comments decrying Pres. Obama's selections of Summers and friends -
As someone who has been somewhat left of center, I agree wholeheartedly with Ratigan. What "lefties" care about is the average guy not getting screwed by the elite. Many on the right fail to understand that.
No one really knows what right and left mean anymore, the masses have been conditioned only for conflict, righties go after lefties and vice versa. Divide and conquer is the elites' game plan and it's working but with almost everyone being conquered financially, I believe that many are waking up and seeing the folly that they have been acting out. It looks like more are coming out of a too-much-comfort induced sleep.
Petty squabbles about political philosophy are a luxury few can afford anymore, they just want this thing fixed before it gets worse, the wolf is at the door.
Right is the hand you use Monday, Wednesday and Saturday nights. Left is the hand you use Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. Friday is the day that hopefully you dont need either.
69025....get off your ever so pious high horse and realize something. IT IS NO LONGER A RIGHT vs. LEFT THING anymore. It is an US vs. THEM thing now. We are losing.
indeed! this is the haves vs. have not, period
...Pretty sure that's what he was saying...
Unfortunately still too many Americans are unaware of the extent that the peasant/elite dichotomy influences their lives and continue to get all riled up from the MSM promoting 'US vs. Them' liberal/conservative shtick.
I'm like you #69025, and I agree with you.
Interesting how some of the conservative types around here are starting to talk about us/them, peasants/elite. Sounds positively Marxist :)
Which is exactly the trap they would like you to fall into. Left/Right conflict fails, go class warfare.
I would refer you to the record of denigration that Sarah Palin was subjected to, mostly because she was one of 'us'. A chillbilly hockey mom with a penchant for check book balancing - we couldn't have THAT a mere heartbeat away. Some introspection needed on both sides.
It's all we got left as a country and an economy.
You know the game is over when the Chinese are better at capitalism than the rest of the world.
they have always been better. in the early 19th century, half the entire world supply of silver was in china, because the chinese economy was totally self sufficient and they would not trade for western goods. finally the british bombarded china with cannons to get them to open their market to opium, so they could get the chinese addicted to drugs as a way of fixing the trade imbalance.
His questions are naive. His demands will fall on deaf 'eyes'.
The speech that is really needed is the one NO ONE will make.
The one that instructs and directs us to action. Such as throwing out all incumbents, withdrawing moneys from global financial institutions, starving the beasts. Then asking for specific heads on the pikes like Henry Paulson, Joe Cassano, John Thain, Dick Fuld, Stan O'neal, Ken Lewis, Ken Linton, Tom Ollquist, Leslee Gelber, Lord Blankfein, Erin Callan, Angelo Mozilo, Christopher Cox, Robert Rubin, Zoe Cruz, Charles Prince, Neel Kashkari, Jeff Schaefer, Jamie Dimon.
What has Prince Charles got to do with this?
;)
You missed a step.
Most people are too afraid of losing what little they have left to do anything risky to the system on which they depend entirely.
The missing step is: We have to lose everything.
Only when all is lost will people turn in anger and demand change at the end of a sword.
Until then... dream on.
cougar
Freedom is just another word for noting left to lose.
A simple truth.
Or pitchfork... on sale at WalMart right now by the way!
the pitchforks at WalMart are made in China; what a suitable irony for the 2nd revolution.
Or maybe we are getting what we deserve.
I agree with this wholeheartedly but every fool right now is gaming the system as well by participating in this outright fraud...AND making money in the process. Nothing will change until shit hits the fan, thats when you will see some heads rolling on the floor.
Nothing changes until the game is up, the winners and losers are sorted, and the winners are found to be vulnerable, and the losers go after them.
Then, things change.
So long as everyone thinks they might be a winner, so long as the music plays and the number of chairs left looks about right, we go around. A big part of the "green shots" myth is about pretending that there are enough chairs for everyone when the music stops. Problem is, these are deck chairs on the Titanic and the entire system is sinking.
There will be no winners.
At worst, there won't even be any change. Just a total collapse of Everything and a gradual restoration of local economic processes operating at a human scale. My eggs for your bacon, on the street corner, and remembering the old days. Well I guess that isn't so bad really. Bring it on.
cougar
You just stole the Titanic analogy I was working on.
In the event of systemic collapse however I think you may be overly optimistic about restoration of economic processes. At least in urban areas. You are discounting the real possibility of social anarchy.
If L.A. was torched over the Rodney King verdict, how do you think the already marginalized are going to respond to this clusterf&ck?
They'll have to imprison a heck of a lot of people ... and the only thing that will evolve from that is a totalitarian police state.
But then again maybe I'm wrong...
Until mobs march on Goldman and stage huge sitins nothing will be done. They own Washington. And the entire industry hides behind the obfuscation of its esoteric,insider jargon that makes its function appear 'sophisticated' when in reality it is treacherous,criminal,treasonous and should be punishable by the death penalty. In China Blankfein would have been lined up against a wall without a moments notice.
If a protest occurred in Washington and the press wasn’t there to cover it ……
http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2009/sep/13/if-protest-occurred-washingto...
WTF? Looks like the 5 dudes (excluding Murdoch this time) that own the MSM are in collusion here.
A conspiracy of silence speaks louder than words.
Nobody who might be down enough to stage a sit-in knows who GS is, where they are located, or what role they have played in all this. To their credit, GS and their spokesdrones have done a great job of painting Congress and the Chinese as the culprits.
My guess is GS will skate. Congress will be emptied of incumbants over the next two elections, and nothing will change at all.
Or else, the economy will totally implode and GS will like the rest of us wake up one morning and nothing will be left of it. At which point the struggle will be to secure a supply of food and fuel as winter sets in and nobody will have the kind of spare cycles to stage a protest over something as abstract as corporate regulation.
cougar
now i suspect i can guess why he left CNBC. one he knew the ratings did not justify his passion, and second, he could no longer look himself in the mirror because he knew that what he reported and knew where different. he took a stand down a path where he could look himself in the mirror and move closer toward reporting truth. and while he had to stay under wraps as CNBC forced him to due to his non-compete, he was patient and now works toward his goals. i wish you well Dylan and no longer think you are an idiot reporter from CNBC. may your passion help you do great and right things.
+1
He was never an idiot reporter and continued to press on long after anyone cared about Goldman being made whole by AIG. He was also at the end of his contract. Ratigan was way too noisy as a voice of reason amid the cheerleaders. He stated shortly after he left that he was going to find a broader audience for his message. I wish him well.
He still draws a check from GE .. just sayin
Great article though. Now if only we could find a leader. 1000's of various blogs and such, everyone one of them with scores of pissed off commentors; if only there was some way to organize .. we could be a force to be reckoned with. Is there a John Conner out there?
Jonathan E.
I believe he left because at the end of his contract he wanted to do an investigation into Goldman's cheating ways.
3:27 PM Moody's delinquency tracker for commercial mortgage-backed securitiesticks up again, though by a smaller margin. But even Moody's isn't selling the "less bad" angle: "We expect that the monthly change in the delinquency rate will resume an upward trend over the next several months as troubles compound in the commercial real estate sector." (seechart)
-SeekingAlpha
I went to the rally in Fort Worth, Texas this weekend. Very well attended with 10k+ in pouring down rain. The most important thing for all of us is to get involved now so that our candidates can win their primaries in March. Down here, it only takes about 20k votes to win the primary. If a run-off is forced, there is typically an even lower turn-out.
Empty freighters off Indonesia means a whole bunch of nothing is for sale.
The line of slumbering rail cars near where I live recently went from being a mile long to almost two miles long. Has been there about a year and they keep piling up.
Singapore not Indonesia.
Look at a map. They are off the coast of Indonesia.
And hey, would you look at that, just across from Indonesia is Singapore.
So a boat could technically be off the coast of both at the same time!
We are on the same team, people.
Ratigan is the man. One of the very few people in front of the camera that understands, instead of distorts, reality.
Well said, dylan, my man!
A famous guy said, "A man who carries a cat home by the tail, learns a lesson he can learn no other way." if you give the man a fat armor, he won't learn the lesson. Instead, he will brag about his bravery.
if we never bail those bastards out, they will have been out of their jobs like Dick motherfucking Fuld. we don't have to come up with all those BS compensation and reform and other kinds of smelling shit. the country may have some spirit for rebuilding.
Among the "many others" are Dennis Kucinich in the House. Kucinich has been pushing this as hard from the left and Ron Paul from the right. Kucinich's economic advisor was Michael Hudson, who has been warning about the macro implications of debt-driven finance and continues to do so. It is the establishments of both parties that have been rented by Wall Street and other powerful interests, while people of both parties who have been calling for accountability and reform have been marginalized.
Until there is comprehensive reform that gets the money out of politics, legalized bribery in the form of campaign finance and lobbying will continue to dominate US domestic and foreign policy.
Dylan is saying in a left of center forum what Tyler and most of us have been saying for a year. Good stuff!
Oh well, it was nice knowing you, Dylan.
I am Chumbawamba.
The average person is still hostage to the system because the average person has their 401(k), their personal IRA and their company pension all tied into the stock/real estate/bond market.
The average Joe is so frightened of the possibility that it will all blow up that they're begging the powers that be to restore everything to what is once was.
This is the real power that is being held over the average Joe's head and exactly why the average Joe will do nothing, at least until they have nothing else to loose.
Until then, as long as the average Joe can be held hostage, the looting will continue. Everyone wants reform AFTER they are safely retired or at least not until their investment accounts have returned to the October 2007 highs.
The average ZH reader forgets how it feels to be uninformed and helpless when it comes to investing.
+1
u da man dylan. cheers to ya!!
Ok, great. A cliff notes version of what most of us here have known for well over a year. When is someone going to start blogging coordinated, non-symbolic methods by which to stop this?
The first person to do so in a serious, definitive way will be jailed and labeled a fruitcake.
I'm not ever remotely joking.
cougar
This is odd considering how Ratigan loved Obama and all his plans throughout the campaign. Now all of a sudden he is with the people? Wierd.
No, not wierd. It's the difference between being a thoughtful person attuned to the reality on the ground, and being part of a cult of personality.
Thoughtful people can and do change their mind.
cougar
Oh I am glad he changed his mind, but I would think a bright person would have known it up front thats all.
The United States Supreme Court (in the 'Hillary' case) is about to undo McCain-Feingold and remove all limitations on corporations' ability to own our elected class. By a vote of 5-4. The 5 consider themselves 'conservatives' and the upholders of the original America. Buying politicians is free speech, doncha know.
F. Horne
It very much is free speech, but it decends from the wrong premise.
The original premise was that corporations were granted most or all of the same rights as individuals by the passage of the 14th ammendment. After that decision, our doom was sealed.
Now the entire Constitution is tainted and will have to be thrown out and redone from basic principles. Among the basics must be the notion that freedom of speech accrues only to sentient beings -- real humans -- and not to synthetic entities like corporations.
We'll get that, after the next civil war. I give it 60 years.
cougar
so the answer is, pass some new regs, so that the feds and big corp become even more powerful? that is how we got into this situation in the first place.
ratigan is selling the State of Fear, i shall not buy. get rid of federalism and there will be more competition from growing companies, simple. you are no rebel if you want to be coddled by bureaucrats
TD, this is the sort of essential material the FaceBook crowd might be able to understand, along with Taibbi, etc. Is there a FaceBook link, a la YouTube, I'm not aware of to get this sort of thing more easily out to the HoiPolloi? MySpace obviously unnecessary. Or do we wish ZH HQ to remain more 'exclusive'? Though I'd argue the math Captcha largely solves that.
Click on the green square below the post for bookmark links including facebook.
I was also impressed with Obama's speech and "change we can believe in" shit too, until the banks bailouts and all the other programs for the banks. Now is the healthcare reform. Obama won't get anything done right. That's why many people feel like being cheated and got fucked at their ass, and they are furious now.
Sweet.
What I fail to comprehend is why the likes of yourself, TD, and KD at market ticker are not gaining more traction in exposing the theft and corruption at the heart of the washington/wall st., axis. Are 99% of Americans dumb, deaf and blind to how their childerns' future has been destroyed by these parasites!
Most Americans also don't buy into the idea that the planet is being warmed by CO2 emissions (including probably every single reader here, if the averages hold) nor are they aware that more people are killed in auto accidents than by terrorists, gangs, and drug dealers.
It's not because they are stupid. It's because the media is working with the government and corporations to keep people doing the things they need to do to maintain all-important BAU.
Because there is money in it.
A man will not take a stand on a subject in which he has a personal financial investment, other than to improve his personal return.
cougar
I could be wrong but...
I'll shave myself bald if the global tropospheric temperature does not fall below the 1979 temps within the next 12 months. It made it there in 2008 already!
http://www.drroyspencer.com/wp-content/uploads/UAH_LT_1979_thru_Aug_091.jpg
Goldman is all for the trillion dollar carbon markets. That should be a clue... but you are correct about the rest Coug.
Where's Bruce Willis when you need him?
Isn't this a little like a chef-owner of a steakhouse pointing out the virtues of going vegan?
Thievery pays. All you need is a wad of cash and a willing orifice.
I'm sorry but did I miss a class? When did this mediocrity become Thomas Jefferson?
Dylan Ratigan. The new Keith Olberman.
Dylan Ratigan - Superman (for truth, justice & the American Way).
I can't believe what I'm reading here. Ratigan is a member of the same group of financial "journalists" that sat there and said nothing until finally it was too late. Now that he's moved to another network he's has an epiphany. Okey Dokey.
You won't find truth on television. And if you watch too much your brains turn to mush.
Is brain mush good to eat?
This is the endgame of the kleptocracy, where the looting is conducted out in plain sight because speed is of the essence. There's not much time left. Corruption is in your face, whatcha gonna do about it, huh? Plenty of cops to pull you over and steal $300 bucks from you for expired vehicle inspection, but no one to keep Wall Street from stealing $20 Trillion from you.
A new generation of Americans has to emerge from behind the scenes: one that is untainted
I think rather we need a new generation that is undaunted, and unafraid. Fear is "their" most potent weapon, and they are using it liberally. Our generation is still trying to cling to our comfortable lifestyles, our stuff, and (y)our trophy women. When we reach the stage of geniunely pledging our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor, then we will be willing to do what is needed to actually reclaim our liberty, and our future along with it.
Please start thinking about it.
Reminds one of the cattle car scene in "Schindler's List". All the hopeless oven destined party mop-ups screaming for water in the blazing sun. Schindler turns a hose on them, quenching some thirst.
While german officers laughed,"Oscar you are more cruel than we. You're giving them hope."
Welcome to USA cattle car, doomed on the Usury track line.
Default, War, reorganization of the global monetary system, complete disenfranchisement, tyranny--are the only items on the menu.
#69156 said:
"What I fail to comprehend is why the likes of yourself, TD, and KD at market ticker are not gaining more traction in exposing the theft and corruption at the heart of the washington/wall st., axis. Are 99% of Americans dumb, deaf and blind to how their childerns' future has been destroyed by these parasites!"
I have started a personal campaign to educate every blue-collar person I can find concerning what is happening. I am pleased to report that, without exception, every person I have talked to is aware they are being screwed, they are becoming increasing unwilling to allow it to continue, and they can grasp the general ideas of who and how. If each of us can enlighten a few folks each week and even 10% of them carry the message on, things will change and soon, with or without MSM.
Keep up the good work guys!
Have no fear.
It will soon be 1789 again.
Think of New York as Paris and 85 Broad St.(HQ Goldman
Sachs) as the new Bastille.
And I will be there to watch Paulson, Bernacke, Dimon, Blankfein, Thain, and the others make their appointment
with the "National Razor"...
Debtor revolt: Woman refuses to pay back Bank of America:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGC1mCS4OVo