A Moment of Truth with Bill Moyers, Marcy Kaptur, and Simon Johnson
Read More:
Banks, Bill Moyers, Economic Reform, Economy, Marcy Kaptur, Pbs, Simon Johnson, Wall Street,
Business News
What's Your Reaction?
Bill Moyers' show is always illuminating, but tonight's is one that no one should miss. When I spoke to Bill yesterday he described it as "a moment of truth-telling that could ignite the public's passion for Wall Street reforms that have been strangled in the crib by the big banks and their bought-and-paid-for politicians."
Below are two clips from the show and the transcript of an exchange Moyers has with Kaptur and Johnson about the special phone-a-friend relationship Tim Geithner has with the heads of Citigroup, J.P. Morgan, Goldman Sachs, and what it says about how the system works -- for Wall Street. And tune in to PBS tonight at 9:00 pm ET to watch.
BILL MOYERS: Let -- let's look at this story that just-- I just read from the Associated Press this week about how Treasury Secretary Geithner is on the phone several times a day with a select group of very powerful Wall Street bankers, especially Citigroup, J.P. Morgan, Goldman Sachs. He will talk to them when Members of Congress have to leave a message on the answering machine. And these are the bankers who helped bring on this calamity and who are now benefiting from it. What does that say to you?
MARCY KAPTUR: That says to me that-- Wall Street and Washington is a circuit. And because Mr. Geithner headed the New York Fed that that historic relationship, unfortunately, continues. And it gives them special access and special power to influence policy.
SIMON JOHNSON: Well, I think it really tells you how the-- the system works. The system is based on access and is based on-- on what-- on Wall Street shaping Washington's view of what's important. It's the people who are very close to Mr. Geithner before-- when he was the head of the New York Fed. Before he became Treasury Secretary. These people have unparalleled access. And in a crisis, when everything is up for grabs, you don't know what's going on, the people who-- who will take your phone calls, right, in government-- and people who are gonna be standing in the oval office, making the key decisions. That-- that's the-- that's the heart of the system. That's the-- the heart of how-- you get your agenda through, by changing their worldview.
MARCY KAPTUR: And they also move people. In other words, Mr. Geithner came from the New York Fed, he came from Wall Street, and he becomes Secretary of the Treasury. His-- his-- predecessor, Mr. Paulson, came from Goldman Sachs, and he becomes Secretary of Treasury. You can go back decades, and you will see that there's this-- revolving door between Wall Street and Washington. And I recently asked Chairman Bernanke of the Federal Reserve, "Let me ask you a question. Would you be willing to consider a reform where the Cleveland Fed would have equal power to the New York Fed, in terms of how the Fed is run?" And his answer was, "No."
BILL MOYERS: And why did you ask that question?
MARCY KAPTUR: Because I think we need to democratize the Fed. I think that my region of the country, which is suffering so heavily from these decisions that were made by Wall Street and Washington, we need to have voice. And our bankers, who didn't do the bad things. Our community bankers, who are having to pay higher fees-- shouldn't be treated this way. Why should the people who did it right be penalized for those that did it wrong?
Follow Arianna Huffington on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ariannahuff
Related News On Huffington Post:
Related Blogs On Huffington Post:
Loading comments…
Most Popular on HuffingtonPost
13mG%2Bb8O7Qj6sSp5mixgxctZJqrouI7RdbSquPot61AhAvBsoB8DBgvP7%2B8PUHL8EnlcRCdDUUPCnsxe0rOTtuEBVF3E6b7r
FMRf%2F5fuWk7NMQLglWpf2HtK%2Bx5aktsIvjKlCVkx7Nn9gENtWcJY%2Bg%3D%3D
1 of 2
Don't Miss HuffPost Bloggers
1 of 2
Huffington Post Apps and Feeds
Want to reply to a comment? Hint: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to
Interesting special, but isn't it amazing that there isn't one mention of Ron Paul, the guy who has been the most vocal opponent of this connection between Wall Street and the government, and for 30+ years at that! Even the Congresswoman has signed onto his HR1207 bill. Why doesn't Moyers get Paul on the show to discuss this subject, he is the only Congressmen today who even has a clue about the subject of economics. While these two both touch on understanding, and I applaud their voices of concern, their solutions won't help a bit.
Just watched B. Moyers show with M. Kaptur and realized that a glimmer of hope still exists. More, more and more of the same is needed until enough people get the message. I hope M. Kaptur wants to run for president. About 90 percent of the people I know would vote for her.
Thank you Bill Moyers! The last honest reporter of news we need to know.
Some say public campaign finance reform, others say get rid of the lobbyists, still others want Geithner or someone else to go. Ya know, I'm not opposed to any or all of these changes, but I think corporate capitalism, as it has evolved in our so-called democracy, is so thoroughly corrupt that none of this, or all of it, will not make any difference ultimately. We will still be beset by politicos with access to corporate money. Some on Wall Street (certainly not the parts we bailed out) are worried enough about this that they agree that an international body as proposed by some in Europe should regulate to some extent. Why? Because corrupting congress is too easy. We can all hope the politician savior of the moment will help us out. I don't think so.
I felt extremely depressed after Moyers. How do we ever expect to combat this problem. It is an arena we cannot even stick our toe in. It seems Kaptur should have the Presidents ear. She is one smart chick!
Kaptur should BE the President.
Great show! Bill Moyers wins MY Nobel prize for honesty and integrity!
Maybe the mainstream media will soon realize with great reporting like this that their "collusion in silence" will soon leave them without their shoes and those of their own children too!
Except, the show was essentially dishonest.
SJ is wrong about the GS deal in China. There is absolutely nothing untoward or out of the ordinary about a Secretary of the Treasury making phone calls to Wall Street bankers during a financial crisis.
Geithner would deserve to be sacked if he were not talking to Wall Street banks.
Except Geithner's not talking to "Wall St. banks." He's talking to the CEOs of the three most powerful investment banks several times per day, while other parties, especially in Congress and elsewhere in gov't, involved in this crisis didn't have that kind of access. It shows that Geithner is more tied to Wall St. than he is to the government.
Moyers needs to be mainstreamed so people can actually learn something!!
If he was mainstreamed then he would be under the rules of corporate America who pays for MSM
Unfortunately the majority of the people will never watch this newscast, because they watch the MSM.
Time for revolution.
No, Time to BAN all donations from corporations and know who you are voting for. Im looking at you libertarians!
Wow, the extent of the greed and corruption is almost endless. We're fighting a losing battle and something drastic needs to be done to show those with power that we're not playing their version of monopoly anymore. /if we don't we'll continue down this path and we'll be a nation of only extremely rich and extremely poor. Something needs to to be done fast. If not it will be too late, I fear it is already, but we voted for a man who was supposed to have OUR best interests in mind. If he doesn't get it, we need to push, and Congress severely needs an overhaul.
We need to treat these people and these corporations the same way be treat cancers.
After all that is exactly what they are.
Absolutely.
What I also find depressing is only 417 comments posted on this story. Please spread the word ...everyone (left/right and all inbetween) should watch that episode of Moyers, esp the Tea Baggers so they can channel their outrage towards the correct theives: Wall Street bankers who STILL think theyre the smartest guys in the room. Taking us all for smucks.
That's why I say the Repubs are the BEST at fooling their constituents into backing policies that ultimately hurt them. The teabaggers and us aren't that different, but where we do differ is as wide as the Atlantic Ocean. Instead of being mad at taxes or healthcare, they should be down on Wall St, and in North Carolina, and in Sioux Falls and San Francisco.
I know what you mean. The story just isn't show-biz enough to get people's interest. No wonder change is so hard
I am SO GRATEFUL that Huffpost posted this!
I saw Bill Moyers last night and, as usual, hoped Obama himself and his top aides were watching too, INCLUDING TIm Geithner so that they know that they HAVE to step in. Such an outrage that, as Simon noted, the big bankers not only wanted to save their firms but ALSO their big pensions/salaries/way of doing business. Taking taxpayers $ of the rest of us. As the final cartoon said, a JOBLESS recovery is no recovery. Kicking people out of their homes when they were lied and swindled with phony "reverse mortgages", hidden balloon rates, and no one to call to renegotiate their loans etc etc is just wrong. When Michael Moore tried to explain this to Sean Hannity, he was johnny one note on "personal responsibility" and they should've read the fine print or hired a lawyer to. jerk.
Bill Moyers IS my hero (and now Marcy Kaptur too). But I fear for Moyer's health. I know he's getting up there in age and pray he stays healthy to keep exposing the truth.
I don't know what his show's rating are, but every week I find myself hopeing WH is watching! If . If not, it's really depressing that the truth is only being told on PBS...(and dismissed by media as "left wing" in a false equity w/ "right wing" fox news.) It is so obvious the best news, the truth, comes from PBS.
Rahm Emmanuel probably broke a few teeth while gritting them watching Moyers' show.
Do not do business with Chase...simple.
I bank with my local bank...no big boys.
I agree with you but if you travel you need a bank that is all over the place.
Why? I travel, I just use my Debit card...or sometimes buy traveler's checks if overseas.
Find a credit union where you are part owner. Go to the meetings. Keep an eye on things.
Bullseye!
I am all for regulation and getting the banks under control so that 30-1
reserves don't happen, I hope all the fraud is stopped, I hope they
actually write regulations for future fraud schemes except for one
thing, the time for asking "what can be done" is over. The banks
are not solvent they are making it look like they are. The reason
Geithner is in there is b/c of access and IT IS TO LATE TO LOOK
ALL INTELLIGENT and ask how or why or to think about putting
Paulson in jail or Hank Greenberg or Casano of AIG. Greenberg is guilty as sin but
is too old and will be dead before he goes to jail. I think that it is possible that Geithner
will fail and that Obama will fail but the only way out is to
stumble through and hope and to hell with regrets and furrowed brows.
Bill Moyers has been a respected journalist all of my adult life. How fortunate for us and our kids he has evolved into a national treasure of consciences, insight, compassion, intellect, and morality. It's a shame that so many who should listen to him don't, and therefore don't benefit from his counsel.
You are right on target and isn't it odd that he has been repeatedly trashed by an envious competitor, Mr. Bill O'Reilly, who has the audacity to write books for our kids? We are in big trouble!
Just imagine what a better country this would be if people watched Bill Moyers instead of Bill O'Reilly...
Bill O'Reilly is no competitor to Bill Moyers.
.
Oh I so agree with you. I'm a baby boomer and I remember Mr. Moyers from as they say "way back in the day" and my respect for him has grown over the years. I'm sad to say, that unfortunately, for many of those whom I respected many years ago; the opposite has happened. May we have many more years with Mr. Moyers in our midst !
It is as obvious as what you just saw on this program.....our government no longer works for us...we are no longer the government, we are subjects yet again to the royalty of this nation who are the wealthy, WE dropped the ball and allowed this to happen, while bickering amongst ourselves over quotas and who was going to get the crumbs off the floor to take home to their hungry children, they have been storing up the steaks and potatoes, fruits and vegetables and bread to take home to theirs. It's our fault, but it is still not too late to change it.
Yep. Indeed.
They "shorted" the entire economy of the United States! Concentration of wealth ALWAYS unleashes economic suicide as the financial markets become margin call falling dominoes interconnected gambling casinos. 1907, 1929, 1987, 2008. There are always new games of chance (all kinds of derivatives and short selling schemes in this concentration) when financial markets of people's real world life savings and pension funds have become Las Vegas casinos. The history of the world is the history of the mass suicide of criminal elites living in a bubble who have become deranged sociopaths as a social class. It always ends badly. So it goes.
Here is a good link on how short selling went totally pathological!
http://www.deepcapture.com/why-the-apparatchiki-of-finance-didnt-see-it-coming/
I thought naked short selling was already outlawed. It is thievery.
Even short selling should be prohibited. It is another way to manipulate the market
as much as insider trading. It is selling something you borrowed with intent to pay
the purchase price later. Sure sounds like grand theft to me.
The Supremes dropped the ball when they allowed the status of personhood for the corporations and granted them the right of free speech. That "little" decision opened the flood gates of corrupt money into our government.We need someone smarter than me that could get that decision reversed!
1. Personhood for corporations
2. The legality of bribery (lobbying)
The one-two punch - where can we go without these two being reversed?
Once we get healthcare with a ROBUST public option (and the Wyden amendment extending choice to those who already have employer based insurance) passed, I think economic policy should be the next priority for grassroots pressure on the president. It will be a monumental missed opportunity if we do not make the real changes we need on Wall Street and throughout the banking industry. I think it's going to be up to the grassroots to make Obama do it.
YES...and that's the only way it's going to happen. Obama can't do it alone, but if he is the only one standing between Wall Street and "our pitchforks" real change can be made!
It'll never happen. It ought to be clear by now, even to the most ardent Obama supporter, that even if HE hasn't been "bought" by the banks, Wall Street, the Insurance Cos & big Pharma, that Congress HAS been. We are in for a LOOOONNGG drawn out jobless "recovery" where the gap between the ultra-rich and the poor expands even more and the middle class is destroyed.
You must be logged in to comment. Log in or connect with
