Compromised Fed Captured by Bankers

When Mother Jones and the Wall Street Journal come to the same conclusion regarding Wall Street's control over the Federal Government, there's a truth unveiled that goes beyond partisan politics. Yet real reform is far from being instituted. Mother Jones' Kevin Drum and David Corn discuss with Bill Moyers the intellectual as well as regulatory capture that the banking industry has over the complex issues which control our economy in this fiery podcast.

Moyers, who has maintained a calm interview style in the past, has come out punching in his last few shows. He will be retiring his show in March and it will be fascinating to see where he next moves. His strongest passion has been for campaign finance reform as envisioned by FairVote.org.


Excerpt from Jan. 8, 2010 show:

MOTHER JONES political blogger Kevin Drum explained the phenomenon using a term used by economist Simon Johnson:

It goes beyond regulatory capture, where, say the banks control the S.E.C. That's one thing. "Intellectual capture" means that essentially the financial industry has convinced us — you know, in the '50s what was good for General Motors was good for America — now it's what's good for Wall Street is good for America. And they've somehow convinced us that we shouldn't ask about what's right or what works or what's good for America. We should ask what's productive, what's efficient, what helps grow the economy.

It is this "intellectual capture" that prevents a reform movement from taking hold. David Corn, Washington bureau chief for MOTHER JONES, explains:

While [people are] angry at Wall Street, particularly on the corporate compensation front — which is very easy to get angry about — they also are fearful of taking Wall Street on, because they've been taught that if the Dow falls, if you take on the big banks, it's going to be bad for all of us. So, it really is this "Stockholm Syndrome," where we're forced to identify with people who are holding us hostage without our interest in mind.

Durbin Asserts Campaign Finance Reform the Cure for What Ails D.C.

A recent report from the Center for Public Integrity shows that the 25 largest originators of subprime mortgages also spent more than $370 million over the last ten years lobbying the legislators in Washington to ease up on regulation that would have restrained the risky investment behavior that has resulted in the meltdown. And now, at least 21 of the 25 ventures are backed or owned by banks now receiving bailout money.

Bill Moyers talks with Senator Dick Durbin who describes the influence of lobbyists on Washington in this video. Earlier this year, Durbin authored a bill in which it would become easier for people facing foreclosure to renegotiate their loans. After 12 Democrats crossed the aisle to vote against it earlier this month, the amendment to the bill failed. Durbin, himself a beneficiary of those mighty lobbying dollars, has since come out swinging.

On a local radio station, Durbin said:

The banks -- hard to believe in a time when we're facing a banking crisis that many of the banks created -- are still the most powerful lobby on Capitol Hill. And they frankly own the place.

Durbin also recently introduced a bi-partisan bill with Senator Arlen Specter to create a voluntary public financing system for members of both chambers of Congress. As he tells Bill Moyers on the JOURNAL: "I think that is a good move for our democracy, and it's one which we ought to acknowledge is at the heart of many of the issues we face."

Modeled after successful fair election bills of several states including Connecticut, Maine, Arizona, and North Carolina, the Fair Elections Now Act seeks to diminish corporate influence removing the need to go "dialing for dollars".

Senators Durbin and Spector introduce Fair Elections Now Act on March 3, 2009
in this video

transcript of Moyers-Durbin show

Pecora Inspired Trials Offer Perspective on Bank Regulation

In this podcast, Bill Moyers speaks with economist Simon Johnson and Ferdinand Pecora biographer and legal scholar Michael Perino. Johnson is a former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and a professor at MIT Sloan School of Management, and Perino is a professor of law at St. John's University and has been an advisor to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

This interview offers a deep historical perspective on the conditions within the banking industry that led to its failure in 1929 and the subsequent regulations which ensued. Many of the regulations have been dismantled over the last decade, leading to the economic meltdown.

Transcription:

Like thunderheads roiling on the horizon, the clamor has been building as more and more Americans want to know exactly what, and who, brought on the worst economic crisis since the great depression. What happened and how do we keep it from happening again?

Congress has finally acknowledged the outcry and is supporting some 21st century version of the "Pecora hearings."

"Pecora hearings?" That's right, as in Ferdinand Pecora, the savvy immigrant from Sicily who became a Manhattan prosecutor with a memory for facts and figures that proved the undoing of a Wall Street banking world gone berserk with greed and fraud.

Click for more transcript.

Progressives Don Lite Shades in the Obama Glow

Bill Moyers provides a Progressive critique of the fledgling Obama Administration in this post-inauguration show. David Sirota, author of "The Uprising" and Wall Street Journalist Thomas Frank describe their excitement over the new administration but also their caution. While President Obama has privately indicated progressive values, , both these writers contend that the reaching across the aisle has gone further than necessary.

The second segment features a discussion with Columbia law professor and Nation columnist Patricia Williams and Princeton politics and African American studies professor Melissa Harris-Lacewell. They discuss the ramifications for the nation in electing its first President of color. While the world hangs on to the hope, the pundits variously push and praise Obama's seizure upon this opportunity.

Bill Moyers Interviews Andrew Bacevich

Bacevich encourages viewers to take a step back and connect the dots between U.S. foreign policy, consumerism, politics, and militarism in this Bill Moyers interview.