[Infowarrior] - OpEd: Dylan Ratigan on the Economy

[Richard Forno]

(Ratigan departed CNBC last spring under circumstances many believe  
were not he result of his contract coming up for renewal but because  
he started speaking out against what he was seeing from his perch at  
CNBC. --rf)

Americans Have Been Taken Hostage
Dylan Ratigan  Host of "Morning Meeting with Dylan Ratigan" on MSNBC
Posted: September 13, 2009 11:28 PM

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dylan-ratigan/americans-have-been-taken_b_285225.html
The American people have been taken hostage to a broken system.

It is a system that remains in place to this day.

A system where bank lobbyists have been spending in record numbers to  
make sure it stays that way.

A system that corrupts the most basic principles of competition and  
fair play, principles upon which this country was built.

It is a system that so far has forced the taxpayer to provide the  
banks with the use of $14 trillion from the Federal Reserve, much of  
the $7 trillion outstanding at the US Treasury and $2.3 trillion at  
the FDIC.

A system partially built by the very people who currently advise our  
President, run our Treasury Department and are charged with its reform.

And most stunningly -- it is a system that no one in our government  
has yet made any effort to fundamentally change.

Like health care, this is a referendum on our government's ability to  
function on behalf of the American people. Ask yourself how long you  
are willing to be held hostage? How long will you let our elected  
officials be the agents of those whose business it is to exploit our  
government and the American people at any cost?

As hostages -- was there any sum of money we wouldn't have given AIG?

Why did we pay Goldman Sachs and all the other banks 100 cents on the  
dollar for their contracts with AIG, using taxpayer money, while we  
forced GM and others to take massive payment cuts?

Why hasn't any of the bonus money paid to the CEOs that built this  
financial nuclear bomb been clawed back?

And more than anything else -- why does the US Congress refuse to  
outlaw the most anti-competitive structure known to our economy, one  
summed up as TOO BIG TOO FAIL?

It has become startlingly clear that we as a country, and I as a  
journalist, had made a grave error in affording those who built and  
ran those banks and insurance companies the honorable treatment of  
being called capitalists. When in fact the exact opposite was true,  
these people were more like vampires using the threat of Too Big Too  
Fail to hold us hostage and collect ongoing ransom from the US  
Government and the American taxpayer.

This was no unlucky accident. The massive spike in unemployment, the  
utter destruction of retirement wealth, the collapse in the value of  
our homes, the worst recession since the Great Depression all resulted  
directly from these actions.

Even with all that -- the only changes that have been made, have been  
made to prop up and hide the massive flaws on behalf of those who  
perpetuated them. Still utterly nothing has been done to disclose the  
flaws in this system, improve it or rebuild it.

Last fall was an awakening for me, as it was for many in our country.

And yet, our Congress has yet to open its eyes, much less do anything  
about it. In fact conditions have never been better for the banks or  
worse for the rest of us.

Why is this? Who does our Government work for? How much longer will we  
as Americans tolerate it? And what, if anything, can we do about it?

As we approach the anniversary of the bailouts for our banks and  
insurers -- and watch the multi-trillion taxpayer-funded programs at  
the Federal Reserve continue to support banks and subsidize their  
multibillion bonus pools, we must ask if our politicians represent the  
interests of America? Or those who would rob America of its money and  
its future?

As a country, we must demand that our politicians stop serving those  
whose business models are based on systemic theft and start serving  
those who seek to create value for others -- the workers, innovators  
and investors who have made this country great.