Olbermann On Financial Meltdown: 'Not So Much Breaking Rules' As 'Breaking A System Of Rules' (VIDEO)

On last night's Countdown, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann offered up what amounted to an autopsy of the market collapse that is so densely well-informed that it defies a tidy paragraph of summation. Suffice it to say, it's the incredibly true story of how a whole system of regulations were thwarted and defused over a period of time, beginning most critically with the gutting of the Glass-Steagall Act, specifically the Banking Act of 1933, which mandated a distinction between commercial and investment banking. Naturally, the iron triangle of moneyed interest, lobbyists, and Congresscritter comes heavily into play. Frankly, it's that last group -- your elected officials -- that have perhaps dodged the blame that they are due for allowing the rules to be gutted and for taking their own regulatory eye off the ball. And who continue to do so. As Olbermann points out, the Obama team isn't shaping up in a way that signals a demonstrable refocus on rules:

OLBERMANN: That's all over with Republicans out of power, right? Except that Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner's chief of staff is a former Goldman Sachs lobbyist. Another Goldman Sachs veteran, Gary Gensler, is Mr. Obama's choice to head that same regulatory agency that once tried to oversee derivatives, but who, at his hearing last month, refused to apologize for having opposed regulation of derivatives. And except that, as of 2008, Democrats now get more Wall Street money than Republicans.

Big tip of the hat to Eric Friedman, who flagged this as a part of our Media Monitoring Project.

[WATCH.]

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Comments

[Anmbar]

01:41 PM on 03/11/2009

Olberman is right on the money so to speak. Those with money get to make the rules. This has been the mantra for far too long. The rich go on with their lives as usual now that the bubble has burst while the remainder of us suffer the consequenc­es for perhaps generation­s to come.

[Osmona]

09:06 AM on 03/11/2009

Our President is BRILLIANT!­!!!!!! He's got Geithner and Gensler on his team because they KNOW where the bodies are buried. Mark my words. President Obama is on the case.

Thanks Keith!!!!!

[TheSystemWorks]

02:53 AM on 03/11/2009

Keith was not bad here but WTF was that non-sequit­ar about stem cells about at the end? (Sometimes his bush-anger gets the best of him. Too bad.)

[sarabono]

02:44 AM on 03/11/2009

Anyone who listens to this guy --- well, lets say -- A fool and his money are soon parted

[londonexpat]

07:55 AM on 03/11/2009

had more people listened to him- we'd all be a lot better off. He had Bush/Chene­y figured out well before everyone else came around.

[TheSystemWorks]

02:42 AM on 03/11/2009

Barack gets an A+ and his staff gets a F- I think the Clintons orchestrat­ed this whole thing like always.

[Tim303]

02:22 AM on 03/11/2009

Watch and learn people!

[Renee27]

12:01 AM on 03/11/2009

God Bless you Keith. Americans needed to hear the truth. THANK YOU

[MosiahGarvey]

06:21 PM on 03/10/2009

Amen, I grade Obama's first 2 months and a bit a B-
1. Treasury dept is bare bones, Geithner may or may not be the right guy, but this guy was head of NY Fed, where the f was he when the sky was falling? Why is he hiring people who were at the investment banks, letting the fox guard the hen house? come on, look north (Canada), tough regulation doesn't preclude one from making money from the market.
2. All those tax issues are distractio­ns

[novowel4me]

11:59 PM on 03/10/2009

I don't know what anyone could do to get an A but a B- is so much better after eight year of F's.

[Tim303]

02:20 AM on 03/11/2009

...And FU's! to the non-ultra-­rich.

[Osmona]

09:07 AM on 03/11/2009

They know where the bodies are buried. Watch!!!

[Tulka2]

06:10 PM on 03/10/2009

Am glad to see this excellent little history lesson on Huff Post this morning. When i saw it on Countdown last night hoped it might show up here. Will send link to all my contacts.

[3dtrix]

06:09 PM on 03/10/2009

Every game has rules - if it were legal for NFL players to wield machetes on the playing field, it wouldn't be long before no one would step on the field without one.

We The People are allowed to set - and change, when necessary - the rules for playing our particular game - the American experiment­.

Most of us have the common sense to realize that ordinary mortals cannot be allowed access to enormous sums of money without many layers of rules (some call them laws) in place; watchers, watchers to watch the watchers, and watcher watcher watchers. That's how they do it at the casinos, and how many of them are in free-fall just now?

Fewer rules = more opportunit­y for mischief. It isn't rocket surgery.

I'm ready for my Nobel Prize in economics, Mr. DeMille...

[dave1111]

03:52 PM on 03/11/2009

Actually, casino stocks are doing about as well as bank stocks, which is to say, not very well.

[nogimmicks]

05:27 PM on 03/10/2009

Mind-boggl­ing..
Obama has hired the very people responsibl­e for that crisis, the most virulent mastermind­s of the gigantic Madoff-dwa­rfing self-enric­hment schemes, to design solutions and make decisions unwinding their own scheme.

[LibRS]

05:15 PM on 03/10/2009

you mean there are people who actually watch this idot?

probably the same folks who want al franken in office no doubt.

[IbeHappy]

05:37 PM on 03/10/2009

Yes, the people who elected Senator Franken probably do watch the well educated and erudite Keith Olbermann. And what is an "idot"? Duh.

[Tom Payned]

06:45 PM on 03/10/2009

Because people disagree with you and your views that makes them idiots?

Got news for you. Their are more people who disagree with you than support your views. Hence, the shift of power between blue and red.

Guess that makes you and yours the idiots.

As for Al, yeah, we want him in office, he won the election. Your guy wants a do over? Where is our do over for 2000?

[Samalabear]

04:55 PM on 03/10/2009

I so appreciate the "history tours" we get from Keith in a small amount of times. It is incredible­, valuable and should be required watching -- maybe at Harvard, where they've been churning out many of these bozos on Wall Street.

[Oseille]

11:32 PM on 03/10/2009

Well, may be you have forgotten but Obama is one of those Harvard affirmativ­e action product...­that should be required to watch this....

[IowaKid]

04:40 PM on 03/10/2009

I'm trying think what Keith says every night , I think it is and now we must tell the kids how daddy went to jail.

[rasthedestroyer]

04:14 PM on 03/10/2009

much respect Mr.O.