Dylan Ratigan Rant: Debt Negotiations 'Reckless, Irresponsible And Stupid'

WASHINGTON -- Speaking with a show panel on the country's debt and credit rating on Tuesday, MSNBC's Dylan Ratigan decried economic plans put forth by Democrats and Republicans alike, calling them "reckless, irresponsible and stupid."

After lawmakers on Aug. 2 agreed to raise the country’s $14.3 trillion debt ceiling and cut $2.4 trillion in spending over the next 10 years, national debate has centered on how that's less than the $4 trillion Standard and Poor's said it wanted when it downgraded the long-term U.S. rating from AAA to AA-plus on Aug. 5.

That conversation, Ratigan said, misses the point entirely.

"Tens of trillions of dollars are being extracted from the United States of America. Democrats aren’t doing it, Republicans are not doing it, an entire integrated system, financial system, trading system, taxing system, that was created by both parties over a period of two decades is at work on our entire country right now," said Ratigan. "We’re sitting here arguing about whether we should do the $4 trillion plan that kicks the can down the road for the president for 2017, or burn the place to the ground, both of which are reckless, irresponsible and stupid."

After the show, lobbyist Jimmy Williams, who sat on Tuesday's MSNBC panel, wrote to Ratigan to express support for his angry tirade. "I'm proud of you," wrote Williams in an email obtained by The Huffington Post. "Someone just texted me and said, 'You didn't get to say anything!' My response: 'I didn't need to.'"

"Money in politics is pure, unadulterated corruption," Williams continued. "Get rid of campaign contributions and the political parties will cease to exist because policy will prevail or politics. We have amended the US Constitution twice with regard to liquor but not once with regard to the buying and selling of our politicians. What's wrong with this picture?"

A viewer wrote in to say she had written a song on the subject, and suggested they collaborate on a video to draw attention to the issue.

In his rant Tuesday, Ratigan blamed not only both houses of Congress but also the president for failing to address the root of the country's economic problem. He said of President Obama, according to an MSNBC transcript:

I would like him to go to the people of the United States of America and say, “People of the United States of America, your Congress is bought, your Congress is incapable of making legislation on healthcare, banking, trade, or taxes because if they do it, they will lose their political funding and they won’t do it. But I’m the President of the United States, and I won’t have a country that is run by a bought Congress. So I’m not going to work with a bought Congress and try to be Mr. Big Guy ... I’m going to abandon the bought Congress like Teddy Roosevelt did, and I’m going to go to the people of the United States get rid of the bought Congress." ... Until a President says that’s the problem and says he’s going to fix it, there is no policy that I can possibly see no matter how brilliant your idea may be or your idea or my idea or her idea or your idea at home, is that idea will not happen as long as there’s a capacity to basically fire a politician who disagrees with me by taking funding away from him. Is that a fair assessment?

In conversations with The Huffington Post Tuesday night, Ratigan contextualized the comments, calling the rant his truest and most piercing and emotional expression of fact since he's been in broadcasting. He also said he hoped the president was up to the task of addressing the real economic issues.

"In a nutshell, Hope without Courage is Lost," he told HuffPost in an email correspondence Tuesday night. "And I don't mean the destructive cowboy bravado of the Republican Party either! I mean true courage to observe truth and work through it together."

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Comments

[Dave DeBois]

07:26 PM on 08/28/2011

We have sat on the sidelines too long America. Too many of us have played by the rules only to be financially and morally manipulated by Wall Street, soaring healthcare cost, crooked politicians and a media base that is either controlled or afraid to shout out the truth. I applaud Mr. Ratigan's outspoken rant. But this call to the street will again fall on dead ears. The initial term of the President speaks in volumes of his limitations that he his capable of accomplishing. It is up to the American citizens to work together to develop a plan that will fix this country. We need experts throughout all public and private sectors to work in unison - without politics, without agendas, without prejudice. We need to change America from "we the lemmings" back to "We The People".
The numbers are real, the implications have not yet been felt. Today we need to get together to fix this great country. For the sake of my family, friends and neighbors... I'm in!

[terragazelle60]

02:33 PM on 08/24/2011

I am sick of his loud rants..his show is the same thing each day, and he gives me a headach.
Enough is enough...I can put one of his shows on a video and play it every day....and not miss a thing.

I watch msnbc every day and I usually walk out of the room and get other stuff done while The Dylan Ratigan how is on.

[ImmanuelKant]

10:52 AM on 09/04/2011

Really Terra-
Unless and until you hear him I suppose you will continue to put him on "ignore". You should listen because his repititive statements need to break through in the American Politic. I say Ratigan for President, perhaps that's what his book is leading to.

[Jurgen Karl]

01:11 AM on 08/24/2011

Apparently frustration is on the rise. what Mr. Dylan Ratigan expressed in his "Rant" has signifcance and is a sad truth but nothing new. the difference today is that the bow is over extended. The machinery of media provides such extreme polarization blue-red that repuplicans watch Fox, liberals Msnbc, bystanders flip through PBS, CNN etc. Who delivers the truth??? The minority of people is willing to research and filter reports; most people want to be entertained - Palin, - Bachman etc. Even President Obama speaks and says nothing but "God Bless America". The fact is we do not hold our politicians accountable for wht they do, G.W.Bush build through tax cuts for the super rich, inhertance tax unfunded programs like Medicare etc a defficit of over 44.7%. The Economic Growth in 2008 was MINUS 8.9%.
hOW IN THE WORLD CAN A "JUNIOR PRESIDENT" FIX THAT. Everybody forgets, President Obama is at the end of the rope! Unfortunately taking without saying something if delivered in mass moving slogans gets you elected. Now what? It is amazing that the deal for debt ceiling was signed WHAT WHERE YOU THINKING????? mr. PRESIDENT. You jeopardize the middle class-the BACKBONE- OF OUR COUNTRY. You are not in Vegas to gamble us away, STOP THE PEOPLE PLEASING ACROSS THE AILE AT ALL COST. Apparently you can't do it! GET SOME HELP! We have a flag in the winds be the pole from where it flies!!!

[MadMadMan]

09:33 AM on 08/20/2011

This guy is the best and most insightful thing to happen to MSNBC in a long time. Any wonder they have him hidden at a time of day when most Americans can't watch?? Yet we have Al Dullton in the Midwest prime time slot formerly occupied by Big Ed and another Metrosexual to take the place of Olberman? And THIS is supposed to be the liberal station.

[live by the golden rule]

07:42 AM on 08/15/2011

The Republicans' Supreme Court, with its corporations-are-people Citizens United ruling, as just made the bought-and-sold Congress problem much worse. We cannot solve the problem with a Republican majority on the Supreme Court. The Republicans are the root of the worst of the problems. We had shared prosperity under Clinton. To paint all members of Congress with the same brush is too easy. We have to pay more attention to what everyone actually votes for, and to who actually pays for their manipulative ads. If we as voters don't do that, then we are more to blame than the Congress we elect.

[dv77]

03:18 AM on 08/17/2011

You are missing the point. Dylan understands what the problem is and he is trying to educate us. All you need to do is pretend you're an objective person, for a minute or two, and listen. As a nation, if we want to survive financially we need to start to educate ourselves as to what the real problem is - our system! When money can buy votes and when voters can vote themselves goodies we end up having a whole bunch of Politicians (on the right and left!) that are “motivated” by things other than doing what's right.

To start, we need the following: term limits, elimination of special interest, an educated populous that is willing to sacrifice, and educated Politicians. As far as educated Politicians - how about each politician be required to take and pass econ101 and 102 before they can pass any laws that affect our countries financial system? That would be a novel idea! Imagine that, people that we elect to hold office and “make laws” that affect the financial health of our country would have to know something about the subject they are making laws about?

[ljlu]

01:14 AM on 08/13/2011

I just hope the new conservative owners of MSNBC do not decide to tell Dylan to 'Tone it down" as they have with the young Turk in the past..Thank goodness, he told them No way and walked away from them. Media is a huge part of this issue. Media should be ashamed of itself ABC,CBS,especially Fox news..they're the worst in lies to the public and unchallenged 'facts"..by those running for office. The world is watching us people, and we'd better show them people like Palin, Bachman, Paulenty, Perry, and the rest of the GOP jokes running for office, don't stand a chance in a sane America.

[BemusedOne]

02:40 PM on 08/12/2011

That was a refreshing rant. What I'm not seeing discussed here much is the "extraction" that Ratigan is talking about. Is he referring to the fact that the US's largest corporations don't pay any income tax? The expatriation of billions/trillions offshore by the shadowy subsidiaries of the financial industry and LearJet flying hedge fund kings? There's always gonna be Wharton grads with clever ways of gaming the system no matter what Congress does, but at least we can try to get a few guys in there that won't cater to them. Wow, where's Jimmy Stewart when you need him?

[nootrope]

10:21 AM on 08/12/2011

Welcome to Corporate Rule, Dylan. Glad you're finally catching on to what we progressives on the left have been saying for decades. If you listened to us then, we wouldn't these problems now.

[lc1]

12:46 AM on 08/17/2011

OMG, you completely missed the point that both sides are the problem. do you just filter out anything that you dont like to hear?

[wetbonder]

10:14 AM on 08/12/2011

“The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. Leadership means that ‘the buck stops here.’ Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership . Americans deserve better. I therefore intend to oppose the effort to increase America’s debt limit.”

Bite me, Radigan.

What craphole AOL has turned into.

[ljlu]

01:21 AM on 08/13/2011

Quoting Fox news is really pathetic. They've been voted as 'The network that lies to it's viewers the most"...and people like you who buy their message make it harder to get to the facts. Bush caused this, it took 8 years for him to ruin America. Obama can't fix it in 2 years with a Republican House that says NO, to programs that are made up from their OWN!! Obama used their old programs to get them through and just to be contrary they said 'NO"..Try checking facts..Debt isn't the problem, no jobs, jobs being taken off shore, oil co welfare, no taxes paid by billionaires is the problem causing a shortages in income paid into taxes by the wealthy, companies making billions..THAT is the cause of the debt. We have less revenue coming in and a lot of things went up like two Bush wars not paid for etc. etc..

[wetbonder]

08:32 AM on 08/13/2011

You liberals know so much that isn't so. The quote above is from Barack Obama in 2006.

Bush caused this? Nonsense. Bush had the deficit down to $160 billion in 2007. The tax cuts resulted in increased tax revenues, not less. In 2008 Bush became the victim of the financial/housing collapse. That was caused by Clinton, Rubin and Cuomo. Cuomo made predatory lending legal. Clinton had Rubin rewrite CRA to force banks to make bad loans. Ruibn later created "too big to fail". Cuomo pushed Fannie into buying 50% of subprime mortgages.

THAT is what caused this mess. Not Bush.

3/4 of Bush's tax cuts went to those under $250K. That cost the country an estimated $2,4 trillion over ten years. The cuts for those over $250K? About $700 billion over ten years. That's $70 billion a year. That wouldn't make a dent in the deficit, which is over $1 trillion for third time under Obama.

You really ought to stop hating everyone who has a dollar more than you.They create the jobs. Not you.

[margaretcolvin]

09:52 AM on 08/12/2011

Epic WIN. When you haven't eaten in 10 years milktoast just isn't going to cut it. Writing isn't going to do it. A time is coming when we will be in the streets in D.C. Mark my words. I'll see ya there.

[OneGreater]

03:25 AM on 08/12/2011

We keep electing boneheads to Congress. And Obama in not the leader we thought he might be. He wants to play nice with evil people, instead of focusing on what's really important; slaying the evil structure that has power and control over the common man lives and doing it in a Ron Paul fashion by speaking truth to the masses. Telling it like it really is.

By and large, our financial situation is largely the result of too many Americans leaders (most notably Republicans) are agents of big money and their own self interest.

As far as some of them are concerned, the country can go to hell. They just want to keep, get, and hold onto power, money and influence.

[pmag88]

03:24 AM on 08/12/2011

Lets try it just like he said it and then see which party says no to 99% of what needs to happen.

[lc1]

12:51 AM on 08/17/2011

right now the house controls the votes so anything they bring to the table they vote yes. the sentate is the one saying no, all bills DOA. The senate is controlled by dems and they are not bringing any bills in to vote. so the new party of no is the dems.

[MadMadMan]

09:52 AM on 08/20/2011

That's just mindless - revenue and budget bills have to originate in the House.

[cbobfly]

08:32 PM on 08/11/2011

There should be no compromise, stop spending money you don't have! It is simple, not easy or pleasent, but simple. Bring the troops home, cut 15% of the federal payroll, provide only fundemental services until the economy turns around and simplify the tax code. Yes many folks wouldn't like this radical approach, but it could save our nation for our children and grandchildren.

If we had tort reform Obama care wouldn't be an issue, like the lawyers would ever let this happen.

[belladio]

08:24 AM on 08/12/2011

If we had health coverage live every other freaking developed nation, the health industry wouldn't be one of the 6 Dylan Ratigan knows control this land. People complain about "socialist" nations that provide for their people but when you take into account what we pay out the arse for and they get for free it's no comparison. We're getting screwed over but your manipulated low tax percentage gives you a false sense of getting the better deal/

[probo]

10:04 AM on 08/17/2011

Not interested in being your friend...stay away from me .

[ljlu]

01:44 AM on 08/13/2011

FYI, The entire Tort reform came from a woman who was scolded w/coffee..She was silenced by the corp, simply asked for her medical costs to be paid..She wasn't driving, worked full time, wasn't HER FAULT! 7 other people were also scolded, the coffee machine had a temp flaw burned off her skin, literally!! Down to the bone and muscle!!!. The whole "Tort reform" was jumped on and she was made to be the cause. Corp think ALL of us are trying to take their money and they all jumped on board, until one of them kills YOU or your child and you find that to them ALL of us are hassles who file a wrongful act lawsuit, even when they are dead wrong..Millions bought into the coffee scam by corporations who want to pay nothing. They lied, claimed it raised their insurance,. Tort reform did nothing to lesson Insurance costs for anyone of them!! NOT A PENNY! They just didn't want to pay anything at all. Facts escape people and corp win by lies, uninformed people bought it all..Keep falling for their lies until their pollution or waste chemicals kills you or your child and you find you can not file a suit any more, or if U do you get nothing that will pay your medical bills, or they walk away scott free I wish this country had more informed people, watched fox less, didn't quote things they obviously NEVER bothered to check into.

[Tray117]

06:27 PM on 08/11/2011

Here here! Wish more truth was broadcast on "news" programs.

[cocoislerealty]

06:23 PM on 08/11/2011

A thing most people won't admit is that the Constitution is not sacred, it needs serious fixing, it was created, developed, and formed by well-intended people -- correctly for the times they were in and revolutionary -- the document is no longer revolutionary but has led to be more akin to what the Founders revolted against -- "were they around today," (a true cliche, like the one we hear about Jesus) THEY would probably be capable of doing it again -- but the result would be quite different -- and unlike the pre-electronic one suited to the horse and buggy, appropriately fitting with those times but not the current ones.

TERM LIMITS, TAKE THE MONEY OUT OF FEDERAL ELECTIONS, RE-INSTATE THE WAR TIME DRAFT all against the back drop of a new Constitutional Convention.

[morbius]

10:53 AM on 08/12/2011

One more thing: make lobbying a felony, on any level.

[ljlu]

01:55 AM on 08/13/2011

I believe they need to keep Thomas Jeffersons quote of 'There shall be a WALL OF SEPARATION between church and state"..but like the bible, people only choose which parts they agree with. I have a copy of the constitution, Have you read it lately. I wouldn't change a thing, except Congressional term limits and definitely House term Limits. No one had issues back then w/corp handing out millions b/c corp weren't "people" back then at all until republicans made them 'people"!! That fairly recent change needs to be reversed asap..THAT is the problem, Corp money buying our congress and the countries rights so they can poison us, ruin, pollute at will without laws or an EPA to protect us all. Or an FDA to keep food and drugs safe..etc..But the House GOP just cut funding for these important things, for their corp buddies who bought them lock stock and most of these are republicans!!.

[cocoislerealty]

07:31 AM on 08/13/2011

"That fairly recent change needs to be reversed asap..."
-----------------
Check out the book "What Would Jefferson Do" in the section on Citizens United, and how a retired railroad executive serving as a Supreme Court clerk after the civil war re-wrote a Header on a SCOTUS decision to reflect, for corporate friends, that the ruling in the case gives Corporations the rights of persons, even though they do not die biologically and cannot be jailed-- An unpopular idea pushed then and avoided by Justices, so surreptitiously got inserted as the synopsis (so you don't have to read the actual proceedings), and attorneys and judges when referring to that case today only read the (false) Header, and it was used by the current SCOTUS as a justification for Citizens United. Somebody who gets this the air of day, like Bill O'Reilly in book form, could get CU reversed right away -- yes, THAT Bill O'Reilly, the corporate guy, may be too busy or re-writing some of his own Headers. It would have gotten fixed, but the Chief Justice passed away. That event is your entry to the Corporocracy into which our kids are being born, where the ability to pay & control technical communications overwhelms the free will of an actual human person.