“Countdown” guest host David Shuster and Rolling Stone contributing editor Matt Taibbi discuss the “Rogue Trader” scandal at UBS. Kweku Adoboli, a 31-year-old trader for the Swiss bank, is under arrest in London on charges of losing $2 billion in unauthorized trading. Taibbi says the financial industry is too powerful in Washington right now for politicians to pass any meaningful legislation that might prevent this kind of scandal.
Watch “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” live each weeknight at 8/7c on Current TV. Click here to find the show in your area.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Sarah Palin's Alleged Drug Use Hypocrisy
Tony Newman, Alternet
Excerpt: "I have mixed feelings when I hear about Palin and other politicians' drug use. The revelations are beneficial by helping shatter the myth that if you try drugs you are going to be an unproductive person who ruins your life. But the hypocrisy is infuriating. Our prisons are exploding with more than 500,000 people behind bars for nonviolent drug offenses - and these politicians are perpetuating the policies that created this catastrophe."
READ MORE
FBI Raid Involving Walker Campaign Records May Foretell Bigger Threat
By Roger Bybee
Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin and his Republican allies have been conducting themselves with contempt toward those opposing their policies. This contempt includes an utter disregard not just for labor and Democratic legislators, but the vast majority of Wisconsin citizens, judging from polls about the right to a union voice for public workers and Walker’s 59 percent disapproval rating. But an FBI raid on the Madison home of a former top Walker aide—who served him both during his term as Milwaukee County executive and as governor—may signal big trouble for the governor and might also diminish his "I'm-on-a-mission-from-God" zealotry. The biggest step thus far
READ MORE
Geithner Ignored Obama Order to Dissolve Citigroup
By Justin Sink, The Hill
16 September 11
A new book by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ron Suskind reveals that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner ignored a direct order from President Obama for the reconstruction of major banks during the financial crisis. The reports call into question the president's leadership and financial savvy at a time when the president is most vulnerable on those topics, with poll numbers on his handling of the economy hitting record lows. According to reports Friday, Geithner ignored a March 2009 order that asked the Treasury Department to consider dissolving Citigroup, one of the nation's largest financial services companies. Citigroup was among the worst hit by the financial crisis in 2008, and needed billions in bailout money to stay afloat. Many have criticized the Obama administration - and Geithner, the former president of the New York Federal Reserve, specifically - of being too focused on helping the banking industry after the recession. Critics on both the left and right argue that the government should not have bailed out banks that submarined the economy after issuing bad mortgages. READ MORE
Report: What Happens if the Tea Party Wins
Friday 16 September 2011
by: Ian Millhiser, ThinkProgress
Before President Obama entered the White House, there was a widespread consensus — even among leading conservatives — that the Constitution leaves most decisions to We the People and the leaders we elect. The election of a center-left president eager to move the nation in a progressive direction, however, killed many conservatives’ belief that democracy is a good thing. As an alternative, Tea Partiers embraced tentherism, the belief that everything fromSocial Security to Medicare to child labor laws to the Affordable Care Act violates the Constitution. Watch a brief compilation of leading lawmakers declaring that virtually everything is unconstitutional:
READ MORE
Former Senator Bob Graham Urges Obama to Reopen Investigation into Saudi Role in 9/11 Attacks
Former Florida governor and senator Bob Graham is calling on President Obama to reopen the investigation into the Sept. 11 attacks after new information has emerged about the possible role of prominent Saudis in the 9/11 plot. According to recent news reports, a wealthy young Saudi couple fled their home in a gated community in Sarasota, Florida, just a week or so before Sept. 11, 2001, leaving behind three cars and nearly all of their possessions. The FBI was tipped off about the couple but never passed the information on to the 9/11 Commission investigating the attacks, even though phone records showed the couple had ties to Mohamed Atta and at least 10 other al-Qaeda suspects. Graham joins us to discuss the news he’s called "the most important thing about 9/11 to surface in the last seven or eight years." As the former chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, a post he held on September 11, 2001, Graham chaired the Congressional Joint Inquiry into the attacks. He’s just written a novel called "Keys to the Kingdom,” which follows a fictitious former senator and co-chair of the 9/11 congressional inquiry who is murdered near his Florida home after he uncovers an international conspiracy linking the Saudi Kingdom to Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda. Graham says he chose to write the novel after his 2004 non-fiction book, "Intelligence Matters," was heavily censored. [includes rush transcript]
Thom Hartmann & Jim Hightower - a Texan's view of Governor Rick Perry
Thom Hartmann hosts National radio commentator, writer, public speaker, and author Jim Hightower ! They show us how Gov. Perry puts the "Guber" in gubernatorial.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)