citigroup
GRITtv: The F Word: Hard At Work Figuring Out Imbalance
For a little balance on the deal reached between New York City's residential building owners and their hard working janitors and doormen, it's not as if the doormen and women are the only hard workers in the building. GRITtv dug up the records on an apartment tower, 15 Central Park West in Manhattan. The condo tower is home to Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs and Sandy Weill of Citigroup, two hard-working bankers. Weill bought one of the penthouses for $45 million. Others for whom doormen open the doors are the hard-working performers Sting, Denzel Washington and Bob Costas, who also paid millions for their digs. Baseball great A-Rod rents his apartment there, for $30,000 a month. Under the new contract, union doormen -- and women -- will be bringing in around $30 -40,000 a year. Hard workers all. In a hard-working city. Hard at work trying to figure out just how things turned out this way, and how long the imbalance can endure. The F Word is a regular commentary by Laura Flanders, the host of GRITtv which broadcasts weekdays on satellite TV (Dish Network Ch. 9415 Free Speech TV) on cable, and online at GRITtv.org and TheNation.com. Support us by signing up for our podcast, and follow GRITtv or GRITlaura on Twitter.com. Distributed by Tubemogul.
Email this pageGRITtv: Mar. 31 2010: Moscow's "Black Widow" Bombings
This Monday, suicide bombings rocked two stations in the Moscow Metro, killing 39 people. This is only the latest in a series of attacks on Russian civilians, stemming from the conflict over the Russian occupation of Chechnya. Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor and publisher of The Nation, joins us to talk about the attacks, "Black Widow" suicide bombers, the tension between Prime Minister Putin and President Medvedev, and how all of this affects U.S.-Russia relations. GRITtv's media panel returns! This week, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Karen Hunter and Newsweek's Karen Fragala Smith join us once again to break down the good, bad, and ugly in this week's media--in this case, CNN's Haiti coverage and failing ratings, Sarah Palin's possible TV stardom, and Karl Rove's inability to handle anyone's disagreement with him. We'll leave you to judge which is good, bad, or ugly. We report, you decide. To put people back to work and end the "jobless" part of the "jobless recovery," our friends at ColorLines brought us this video, featuring Chris Rabb of Afro-Netizen. He looks at the ways that communities are organizing to define what green jobs are for them, and creating those jobs in their neighborhoods. Finally, Laura takes a closer look at the problems with banks and state revenue streams.
GRITtv: The F Word: Gambling States Down the Drain
Does it seem right to you that a state's ability to stay afloat should be the stuff of secretive betting pools? No? Well that's just what's going on. As states like California struggle to pay their bills, traders are gambling, buying credit default swaps, on the fate of our biggest state. And it's worse. The same banks that sell and profit off the swaps, at the same time underwrite and price the state's assets -- their municipal bonds. GRITtv with Laura Flanders brings participatory democracy onto your computer screen and into your living room, bridging the gap between audience and advocates. Watch any show, at any time: http://grittv.org. Distributed by Tubemogul.
GRITtv: Fixing Capitalism: Are Regulations Enough?
The economy seems to be stabilizing a bit, but as we've discussed many times, people are still suffering and jobless. Yet Citigroup is getting more tax breaks, and Ben Bernanke is Time's Person of the Year. Matthew Yglesias writes: It demonstrates a very specific class skew--extraordinary intervention into the marketplace just long enough to fix the situation from the point of view of asset-owners while leaving wage-earners holding the bag. Are we just returning to pre-recession levels, or something better -- or worse? Nicole Gelinas, fellow at the Manhattan Institute and author of "After the Fall: Saving Capitalism from Wall Street and Washington and Max Fraad Wolff of the New School," join us to talk about regulation, government and private industry, and where to go from here.
GRITtv: Dec. 16, 2009
Breaking News: Citigroup is getting more tax breaks, and Ben Bernanke is Time’s Person of the Year. The recession's over! Not so fast. Are we just returning to pre-recession levels, or something better--or worse? Nicole Gelinas and Max Fraad Wolff talk about regulation, government and private industry and where to go from here. Reinhold Martin discusses housing, urban and rural living. Jennifer Utz files a video report on Cole Miller, who founded No More Victims to support children in Iraq wounded by the war and without access to basic health care. Kambale Musavuli of Friends of the Congo stopped by to remind us of the situation in Congo and our responsibilities there. Plus Brave New Films' "Rethink Afghanistan" and Bob Dylan's Christmas album for charity.
