it takes a pillage
GRITtv: Financial Reform: Throwing Junk in the Attic
Nomi Prins, former Wall Street trader and author of "It Takes a Pillage," says that the current financial reform legislation is like throwing your extra junk in the attic and pretending that your house is clean. She says that it allows banks to keep all sorts of securities off their balance sheets--that it does nothing to prevent, in short, the kind of shady dealings that helped land us in this financial mess to begin with. Together with Roosevelt Institute Fellow and blogger Mike Konczal, Nomi joins Laura in studio to discuss the financial reform legislation, its chances of passage, and what it would do--and wouldn't.
Email this pageGRITtv: Still Waiting on Our Bailout: The Foreclosure Crisis Still Getting Worse
The New York Times is reporting that bankers are feeling "put-upon" by the Obama administration's fierce rhetoric over the economic crisis, but in the meantime, the majority of Americans are still suffering the aftershocks of the meltdown that shook Wall Street. Bankers might be back to making, as one fundraiser noted in the Times piece, $1 million to $200 million a year, but hundreds of thousands of Americans are still fighting foreclosure around the country and the administration is busy fundraising. We talk to Sarah Ludwig, Nomi Prins, Jennifer Gonnerman, and Heather Booth, veteran grassroots organizer of 40 years, now serving as executive director of the new coalition, Americans for Financial Reform. They tell us what's really going on in the rest of America, the ones who aren't invited to fancy fundraisers.
GRITtv: Nomi Prins: It Takes a Pillage
Nomi Prins, author of "It Takes a Pillage: Behind the Bailouts, Bonuses, and Backroom Deals from Washington to Wall Street" explains why the banks are getting bigger, who really runs Washington, and post-bailout capitalism.
GRITtv: Walmart's Brave New World, Christianity and Capitalism, and Nomi Prins on the Post-Bailout Economy
Walmart is the nation's largest employer and also has the largest number of employees who receive Medicaid, food stamps and state public assistance. In essence, federal tax dollars are being used to subsidize Walmart so they can pay their employees low wages and rake in massive profits. Reports today that Congress is floating a proposal to issue tax credits to businesses that create jobs sounds good. But what kind of jobs? Walmart jobs or real jobs? Pat O'Neill, Mark Moore and Matt Ryan discuss alternatives to the Walmart model. Bethany Moreton, David Harvey and Alexander Cockburn on real alternatives to the current economic order. And Nomi Prins on why the banks are getting bigger, who really runs Washington, and post-bailout capitalism.
GRITtv: October 7, 2009
Walmart is the nation’s largest employer, and federal tax dollars are being used to subsidize it so it can pay its employees low wages and rake in massive profits. Pat O’Neill, Mark Moore and Matt Ryan discuss alternatives to the Walmart model. Author Bethany Moreton tells how Walmart has effectively married capitalism and Christianity, and David Harvey and Alexander Cockburn on real alternatives to the current economic order.
GRITtv: Why the Banks are Winning: Nomi Prins, Dean Baker, and James Mumm
Earlier this month and one year after the financial collapse Barack Obama told a group of Wall Street executives that he would not allow them to return to an age of excessive risk and disregard for the consequences of financial speculation. If only those words were true. Laura Flanders talks with Nomi Prins, Dean Baker and James Mumm about why banks keep getting bigger.
GRITtv: September 29 2009
Today's stories include a film about shill Dick Morris, Jeff Shalet wonders why the left doesn't take the right more seriously, an update on the Stella D'Oro/Goldman Sachs debacle; and on the F-Word, the real reason big business is now getting behind cap and trade. GRITtv is a daily news and arts discussion program.
