bankers

"We're seeing a populist wave right now that's going to go through 2012," says James Mumm of National People's Action, who says he's seeing "big ideas and bold demands" from progressive groups around the country. National People's Action is part of a coalition that shut down a Bank of America this week and protested at the National Association of Attorney Generals conference, and then took the fight to John Boehner and Mitch McConnell's offices in Congress. James and Bobby Tolbert of VOCAL-New York join Laura in studio the day after their successful protest action to talk about next steps, about Bank of America's tax refund from hell, and about the new wave of protest movements that are going to keep building beyond the next election. Distributed by Tubemogul.

James Mumm of National People's Action discusses Bank of America's tax return from hell and "The Big Bank Tax Drain" report. Watch the full conversation at http://grittv.org Distributed by Tubemogul.

"We need to shine a light on the big banks and all their different tentacles," says Sarah Ludwig of the Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project, noting that all too many of the programs put in place to encourage banks to help homeowners fight foreclosure are voluntary, rendering them toothless. Instead, she calls for citizens to be aware of the banks' practices and to think about where we put our money. Sarah joins us to bring us up to date on the ongoing crisis in foreclosures in the U.S.--one million in 2010--and to discuss the different solutions, as well as WikiLeaks' promised disclosure of documents from a major bank. Distributed by Tubemogul.

"NATO is losing the war in Afghanistan in every quantifiable way," says Rick Rowley of Big Noise Films, recently returned from a reporting trip to that country. And what's more, he notes, what's clear from the WikiLeaks cables is that the coalition governments are not as deluded as they would like their people to be about the reality on the ground in Afghanistan.Rick joins us in studio to discuss the realities he saw on the ground in Afghanistan, the death of special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke, and more.Rick Rowley is just one of the unembedded, independent reporters trying to bring the real story from Afghanistan to the American people. Our friends at Brave New Films also have teams of independent media makers in that country, and this segment takes us inside their dangerous work."In truth, we face the sobering reality that capitalism’s latest crisis — complete with bank failures, corporate bailouts, rising unemployment, and declining wages — has aided the right, not the left. How can we explain the capacity of the right to benefit from and redirect the bitterness and discontent that derives from capitalism’s own failures?" Peter Bratsis wrote a provocative piece for The Indypendent about the Tea Party movement and the crisis on the left--and he joins Laura in studio to discuss it. Are we missing passion and emotional appeals in our quest to be rational?Finally, there's a new blockbuster out just in time for the holidays: Harry Potter and the Bailed-Out Banks. Laura has a synopsis.