Arianna: Time For Criminal Prosecutions Over Mining Disaster (VIDEO)

Arianna appeared on MSNBC's "The Dylan Ratigan Show" this afternoon to discuss what's underlying the anger of the tea party movement, as well as the wisdom of continuing to pour so much blood and treasure into a seemingly endless war in Afghanistan when the threat from terrorists is more widely dispersed around the globe (al-Qaida's presence in Yemen, for example.)

She also said it's time for criminal prosecutions in the explosion that killed 29 miners, and connected the broken regulatory system of the mine with the broken regulatory system of Wall Street:

It's not that there were no regulations; there were plenty of regulations at the mine. Indeed, the day of the explosion, the day of the collapse, there was a regulator who gave the mine a clean bill of health in the same way that there were plenty of regulators at Lehman Brothers, at AIG, at Fannie and Freddie. But there were so many loopholes... I was glad to see the President today did not rule out criminal prosecutions. That is the key. It's the key at the mines. It's the key on Wall Street. it's unconscionable that we haven't had any criminal prosecutions.

Regarding the tea party movement, Arianna said that the members are scapegoating President Obama for their growing economic insecurity and anxiety:

There's a growing economic anxiety, this downward mobility. In this latest poll that you and Mark referred to, the majority of tea partiers considered themselves middle class. The middle class has been so hit by this economic crisis in terms of job losses, in terms of foreclosures, on terms of credit card debt -- even if they themselves have not been affected they know someone who has. And I think a lot of this anger is really fueled by economic anxiety.