Bill Moyers on Wall Street

"Bets & Side Bets & Bets on the Side Bets"

Wall Street has become a place where you don't lend money to improve local businesses and industry. You basically create new "instruments" -- "devices" -- to make money yourself. It's really turned into nothing except a casino, in which Wall Street lends money and then it makes bets and side bets and bets on the side bets about what's going to go up and down. So, a lot of the action is really, at the end of the day, not about providing credit and keeping capital flowing. It's about how they think they can make more money through more trades.

--David Corn (Mother Jones' Washington Bureau Chief); Bill Moyers Journal

What does it say when "Mother Jones" and the "Wall Street Journal" reach the same conclusion? That our government cannot stand up to the [financial] lobby even on an issue like derivatives, which were at the root of much of our problem over the last few years?

--Bill Moyers; Bill Moyers Journal

No, I don't regularly read -- or agree with -- Mother Jones; it's usually way too "left" for me.

But when it comes to its analysis of what Wall Street is about today, and how it has warped our financial system and broader economy, I think it is spot on.

In the last 2 years-plus, THE single best piece I've read or heard discussing today's financial debacle is Bill Moyers' 30 minute interview with Kevin Drum, political blogger at "Mother Jones," and David Corn, "Mother Jones'" Washington Bureau Chief.

Their diagnosis of the problem, explanation for why so little has happened to correct it, and policy prescriptions going forward -- all superb! And give Moyers a(nother) Peabody award -- his thoughtfulness, intelligence, and integrity are something for the rest of us to aspire to.

If you want to know what it's really all about . . . watch the video (click on the link to "Bill Moyers Journal").