Bill Moyers & Simon Johnson on Financial Crisis

[RedEarth]

.........video and transcript here.......

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/02/bill-moyers-simon-johnson-financial-crisis/

BILL MOYERS: Welcome to the Journal.

The battle is joined as they say — and here’s the headline that framed it: “High Noon: Geithner v. The American Oligarchs.” The headline is in one of the most informative new sites in the blogosphere called: baselinescenario.com. Here’s the quote that grabbed me:

“There comes a time in every economic crisis, or more specifically, in every struggle to recover from a crisis, when someone steps up to the podium to promise the policies that — they say — will deliver you back to growth. The person has political support, a strong track record, and every incentive to enter the history books. But one nagging question remains. Can this person, your new economic strategist, really break with the vested elites that got you into this much trouble?”

And here’s the man who asked that question. Simon Johnson is former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund. He now teaches global economics and management at MIT’s Sloan School of Management and is a senior fellow of the Peterson Institute. He is co-founder of that website I quoted — baselinescenario.com — where he analyzes the global economic and financial crisis.

Welcome, Simon Johnson to the Journal.

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/02/bill-moyers-simon-johnson-financial-crisis/

[bemildred]

1. Well, Mr Johnson is much too nice about it.

They can have reform or they can have revolution, take your pick.

[shireen]

2. that is scary

it makes me angry .... those scum hold so much power, even in the Obama administration. We need to campaign finance reform desperately. It's the only way to start purging big money out of power.