PBS icon, Bill Moyers on his new program Moyers and Company discussing Wall Streets ownership of both political parties:

We've already made our choice for the best headline of the year, so far: "Citigroup Replaces JPMorgan as White House Chief of Staff."

When we saw it on the website Gawker.com we had to smile -- but the smile didn't last long. There's simply too much truth in that headline; it says a lot about how Wall Street and Washington have colluded to create the winner-take-all economy that rewards the very few at the expense of everyone else.

The story behind it is that Jack Lew is President Obama's new chief of staff -- arguably the most powerful office in the White House that isn't shaped like an oval. He used to work for the giant banking conglomerate Citigroup. His predecessor as chief of staff is Bill Daley, who used to work at the giant banking conglomerate JPMorgan Chase, where he was maestro of the bank's global lobbying and chief liaison to the White House. Daley replaced Obama's first chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, who once worked as a rainmaker for the investment bank now known as Wasserstein & Company, where in less than three years he was paid a reported eighteen and a half million dollars.

The new guy, Jack Lew -- said by those who know to be a skilled and principled public servant -- ran hedge funds and private equity at Citigroup, which means he's a member of the Wall Street gang, too. His last job was as head of President Obama's Office of Management and Budget, where he replaced Peter Orzag, who now works as vice chairman for global banking at -- hold on to your deposit slip -- Citigroup.

Still with us? It's startling the number of high-ranking Obama officials who have spun through the revolving door between the White House and the sacred halls of investment banking. Sure, you can argue that it makes sense that the chief executive of the nation would look to other executives for the expertise you need to build back from the disastrous collapse of the banks in the final year of the Bush Administration. Remember -- it was Bush and Cheney with their cronies in big business who helped walk us right into the blast furnace of financial meltdown, then rushed to save the banks with taxpayer money. That little fact seems to have been overlooked in the current primaries.

All this brings back memories of Hank Paulson, doesn't it? Hank Paulson, the $700 million man who became secretary of the treasury for President Bush. Paulson had been head of Goldman Sachs, the rich investment bank. As his successor at Goldman Sachs, Paulson chose Lloyd Blankfein. Several times, according to Bloomberg News, Rolling Stone, and Paulson's own memoir, the treasury secretary made sure Blankfein and Goldman got privileged inside information.

But Bush and Cheney aren't the only ones to have a soft spot for financiers. President Obama may call bankers "fat cats" and stir the rabble against them with populist rhetoric when it serves his interest, but after the fiscal fiasco, he allowed the culprits to escape virtually scot-free. When he's in New York he dines with them frequently and eagerly accepts their big contributions. Like his predecessors, his administration also has provided them with billions of taxpayer dollars -- low-cost money that they used for high-yielding investments to make big profits. The largest banks are bigger than they were when he took office and earned more in the first two-and-a-half years of his term than they did during the entire eight years of the Bush administration. That's confirmed by industry data.

And get this. It turns out, according to The New York Times, that as President Obama's inner circle has been shrinking, his "rare new best friend" is Robert Wolf. They play basketball, golf, and talk economics when Wolf is not raising money for the president's campaign.

Robert Wolf runs the U.S. branch of the giant Swiss bank UBS, which participated in schemes to help rich Americans evade their taxes. During hearings in 2009, Michigan's Senator Carl Levin, chairman of the permanent subcommittee on investigations, described some of the tricks used by UBS: "Swiss bankers aided and abetted violations of U.S. tax law by traveling to this country with client code names, encrypted computers, counter-surveillance training, and all the rest of it, to enable U.S. residents to hide assets and money in Swiss accounts.

"The bankers then returned to Switzerland and treated their conduct as blameless since Swiss law says tax evasion is no crime. The Swiss bank before us deliberately entered United States, actively sought U.S. clients and secretly helped those U.S. clients defraud the United States of America."

And so it goes, the revolving door between government service and big money in the private sector spinning so fast it becomes an irresistible force hurling politics and high finance together so completely it's impossible to tell one from the other.

I would invite everyone to start watching this program on PBS, or free online at BillMoyers.com

BullBearMS: Both sides are the bad, so vote Republican.

Philip Francis Queeg: BullBearMS: Both sides are the bad, so vote Republican stop voting for both of them.

Ever wonder why it seems like Wall Street owns the White House?

Sleeping Monkey: BullBearMS: Ever wonder why it seems like Wall Street owns the White House the government?

/Fixed for reality

That would require many more graphics.

However the really neat thing about owning the White House in particular is that the Justice Department is part of the Executive Branch.

This explains the answer to that catchy question, "Why isn't Wall Street in Jail?"

BullBearMS: Philip Francis Queeg: BullBearMS: Both sides are the bad, so vote Republican stop voting for both of them.

Go tell your fellow rightists that instead of spewing it as invective to demoralize people who don't vote R and maybe we'll take you seriously.

A Dark Evil Omen: BullBearMS: Philip Francis Queeg: BullBearMS: Both sides are the bad, so vote Republican stop voting for both of them.

Go tell your fellow rightists that instead of spewing it as invective to demoralize people who don't vote R and maybe we'll take you seriously.

Stop being a party shill and liberals who don't feel their most important function in life is to be a party apologist and sane people will take you seriously.

BullBearMS: A Dark Evil Omen: BullBearMS: Philip Francis Queeg: BullBearMS: Both sides are the bad, so vote Republican stop voting for both of them.

Go tell your fellow rightists that instead of spewing it as invective to demoralize people who don't vote R and maybe we'll take you seriously.

Stop being a party shill and liberals who don't feel their most important function in life is to be a party apologist and sane people will take you seriously.

Caught sayof? Anyway, a far-right knob like you has no business talking about sanity. You can't even see it from where you are.

BullBearMS: PBS icon, Bill Moyers on his new program Moyers and Company discussing Wall Streets ownership of both political parties:

Protip: the reason you can make links is so you don't have to post the entire screed.

Just so you know.

BullBearMS: Ever wonder why it seems like Wall Street owns the White House?

[dl.dropbox.com image 581x612]

[dl.dropbox.com image 267x590]

Those farkers at the University of California and Harvard have been controlling this country long enough!

BullBearMS: A Dark Evil Omen: BullBearMS: Philip Francis Queeg: BullBearMS: Both sides are the bad, so vote Republican stop voting for both of them.

Go tell your fellow rightists that instead of spewing it as invective to demoralize people who don't vote R and maybe we'll take you seriously.

Stop being a party shill and liberals who don't feel their most important function in life is to be a party apologist and sane people will take you seriously.

Easily the most ironic post I've ever seen on Fark.

Corporations are people.Get over it.

//waiting for the next "intellectual" fad among left-wing college students

BullBearMS: Philip Francis Queeg: BullBearMS: Both sides are the bad, so vote Republican stop voting for both of them.

So who are you planning on voting for, champ?

CitizensUnited: Corporations are people.Get over it.

//waiting for the next "intellectual" fad among left-wing college students

You still suck. Go away.

CitizensUnited: Corporations are people.Get over it.

//waiting for the next "intellectual" fad among left-wing college students

0/10 - You really are the least effective troll in the history of Fark. The only way it could be redeemed is if it were part of Andy Kaufmann-esque anti-troll deconstruction act, but that would still be a terrible way to spend your Christmas Eve.

LucklessWonder: CitizensUnited: Corporations are people.Get over it.

//waiting for the next "intellectual" fad among left-wing college students

0/10 - You really are the least effective troll in the history of Fark. The only way it could be redeemed is if it were part of Andy Kaufmann-esque anti-troll deconstruction act, but that would still be a terrible way to spend your Christmas Eve.

His family doesn't love him. Q_Q

Sleeping Monkey: Why do well-informed, non-rich, non-fundie Americans even still vote republican. I can't wrap my head around it.

Because they are still pissed off about hippies back in the 60's

A Dark Evil Omen: LucklessWonder: CitizensUnited: Corporations are people.Get over it.

//waiting for the next "intellectual" fad among left-wing college students

0/10 - You really are the least effective troll in the history of Fark. The only way it could be redeemed is if it were part of Andy Kaufmann-esque anti-troll deconstruction act, but that would still be a terrible way to spend your Christmas Eve.

His family doesn't love him. Q_Q

Can you blame them?

Jesus fark, Romney is a bank furry.

I bet he has art of himself in a three-way with Citi-tan and Bank-of-America-tan on Deviantart.

Bloody William: Jesus fark, Romney is a bank furry.

I bet he has art of himself in a three-way with Citi-tan and Bank-of-America-tan on Deviantart.

Oh dear god.

A Dark Evil Omen: Bloody William: Jesus fark, Romney is a bank furry.

I bet he has art of himself in a three-way with Citi-tan and Bank-of-America-tan on Deviantart.

Oh dear god.

Yes let the image crawl into your head. Know the horrors of my imagination.

Bloody William: A Dark Evil Omen: Bloody William: Jesus fark, Romney is a bank furry.

I bet he has art of himself in a three-way with Citi-tan and Bank-of-America-tan on Deviantart.

Oh dear god.

Yes let the image crawl into your head. Know the horrors of my imagination.

I'm literally imagining a golden shower...of Ameros...

Bloody William: Jesus fark, Romney is a bank furry.

I bet he has art of himself in a three-way with Citi-tan and Bank-of-America-tan on Deviantart.

Banks don't have fur, duh. I thought you were an expert on this stuff.

Romney is a "bricky".

Bloody William: A Dark Evil Omen: Bloody William: Jesus fark, Romney is a bank furry.

I bet he has art of himself in a three-way with Citi-tan and Bank-of-America-tan on Deviantart.

Oh dear god.

Yes let the image crawl into your head. Know the horrors of my imagination.

IT'S NOT FRIDAY YET

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD

A Dark Evil Omen: Bloody William: A Dark Evil Omen: Bloody William: Jesus fark, Romney is a bank furry.

I bet he has art of himself in a three-way with Citi-tan and Bank-of-America-tan on Deviantart.

Oh dear god.

Yes let the image crawl into your head. Know the horrors of my imagination.

IT'S NOT FRIDAY YET

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD

"The banks are scared to death, of course," he said. "They're feeling the same thing that you're feeling. And so they just want to pretend that all this is just going to get paid some day."


JPMorgan Chase, the second-largest U.S. bank by assets, reported a 13 percent jump in profits, to $5.4 billion

Funny, I don't recall feeling a 13% jump in income in any given quarter in my life.

LucklessWonder: A Dark Evil Omen: Bloody William: A Dark Evil Omen: Bloody William: Jesus fark, Romney is a bank furry.

I bet he has art of himself in a three-way with Citi-tan and Bank-of-America-tan on Deviantart.

Oh dear god.

Yes let the image crawl into your head. Know the horrors of my imagination.

IT'S NOT FRIDAY YET

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD

Stupid Fark, throwing away my images

"The banks are scared to death, of course," he said. "They're feeling the same thing that you're feeling. And so they just want to pretend that all this is just going to get paid some day."

Sweet Joseph Smith, Jr., Romney believes they are actual people. With feelings and hopes and their own keys.

So, basically, a man who has, for virtually his entire life, been defined by his immersion in a system that has rewarded him for cynically manipulating the loopholes inherent in a nearly unfettered capitalist system doesn't see anything wrong with institutions which succeed by cynically manipulating the loopholes inherent in a nearly unfettered capitalist system?

Absolute shock is that look I think you're trying to imagine.

I don't understand why people don't get this. There is not necessarily anything wrong with him being mega-rich, and we can even debate the merits of how he became mega-rich, but to refuse to even stop and consider the fact that this is a man who has lived a lifestyle that is only shared by about 20,000 other Americans, and who wants to lead all 300,000,000+, is absolutely mind-boggling.

Mitt Romney cannot conceivably understand what it means to be a middle class citizen. He cannot know the values, benefits, or challenges of living that type of lifestyle, the hardships inherent in living in those conditions in this country, or the availability of options to improve beyond those conditions. For example, this man cannot possibly understand what it means to face a financially-crippling illness because even though that is a real risk of something that could instantly and permanently ruin the lives of hundreds of millions of us, it's not even a possibility in his world. He will make $20,000 in less than half an hour. A visit to the ER for a heart attack is to him as a footlong value meal at Subway is to tens of millions of Americans. Just think about that for a minute.

Mitt Romney cannot possibly be expected to understand what it means to be an American for more than 99% of all Americans because Mitt Romney has never lived in conditions even remotely close to what they do. And, yet, we are seriously considering the possibility of having him lead us? That is just absolute insanity.

Splinshints: So, basically, a man who has, for virtually his entire life, been defined by his immersionMitt Romney cannot possibly be expected to understand what it means to be an American for more than 99% of all Americans because Mitt Romney has never lived in conditions even remotely close to what they do. And, yet, we are seriously considering the possibility of having him lead us? That is just absolute insanity.

That's not fair. He had to duck out of going to Vietnam just like the middle class guys did.

TFA: Romney was standing outside a Fannie Mae foreclosed home in a struggling neighborhood telling a small crowd why they're having so much trouble. "In this case, it's because of the banks," he explained. "Well, the banks aren't bad people. They're just overwhelmed right now."..."The banks are scared to death, of course," he said. "They're feeling the same thing that you're feeling. And so they just want to pretend that all this is just going to get paid some day."

Just when I thought Romney could not get more out of touch with his audience, he does this. People don't want to hear about how banks are the good guys in all this - not when default swaps caused the crash, and especially not from Richie Rich. This might even be up there with Dukakis' flubbed answer to the "if you wife was raped, would you support the death penalty" question.

CitizensUnited: Corporations are people.Get over it.

//waiting for the next "intellectual" fad among left-wing college students

So where do YOU practice dentistry?

You could do that with anything.

"Well, the banks t3rrorists aren't bad people. They're just overwhelmed right now."

BullBearMS: I would invite everyone to start watching this program on PBS, or free online at BillMoyers.com

PBS!?!? Haven't we destroyed that commie organization for freedom's sake yet?

Needlessly Complicated: CitizensUnited: Corporations are people.Get over it.

//waiting for the next "intellectual" fad among left-wing college students

So where do YOU practice dentistry?

On the internet. Duh.

Philip Francis Queeg: BullBearMS: Both sides are the bad, so vote Republican.

Really? That's the message you got from Bill freaking Moyers?

blahpers: Philip Francis Queeg: BullBearMS: Both sides are the bad, so vote Republican.

Really? That's the message you got from Bill freaking Moyers?

No that's the message I got from BullBearMS posting the quote in a thread about Mitt Romney's statement.

A Dark Evil Omen: Bloody William: A Dark Evil Omen: Bloody William: Jesus fark, Romney is a bank furry.

I bet he has art of himself in a three-way with Citi-tan and Bank-of-America-tan on Deviantart.

Oh dear god.

Yes let the image crawl into your head. Know the horrors of my imagination.

IT'S NOT FRIDAY YET

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD

So this is what it feels like to rape someone's psyche through the Internet. Excellent.

Philip Francis Queeg: blahpers: Philip Francis Queeg: BullBearMS: Both sides are the bad, so vote Republican.

Really? That's the message you got from Bill freaking Moyers?

No that's the message I got from BullBearMS posting the quote in a thread about Mitt Romney's statement.

Go ahead and watch this segment of the new PBS program, Moyers and Company.

You get to see Bill Moyers who was one of the founders of the Peace Corps under Kennedy and then served as LBJ's press secretary, and David Stockman who was a Republican member of the House and later director of the Office of Management and Budget under Regan discuss the fact that both parties are completely owned by the rich and have betrayed all of Americans who aren't obscenely wealthy.

If you're a fan of Occupy Wall Street, you need to see this and to convince your friends to see this as well.

A Dark Evil Omen: Go tell your fellow rightists

Serious question: considering I could imagine seeing every single word by bullbear appearing on a Glenn Greenwald or Matt Taibbi article, what makes you believe he is a right winger?

I haven't colored him as a teatard or threadshiatter yet, so he hasn't raised any flags in the past with me.

Cubicle Jockey: A Dark Evil Omen: Go tell your fellow rightists

Serious question: considering I could imagine seeing every single word by bullbear appearing on a Glenn Greenwald or Matt Taibbi article, what makes you believe he is a right winger?

I haven't colored him as a teatard or threadshiatter yet, so he hasn't raised any flags in the past with me.

When the Democrats do the same wrong things the Republicans do, I don't try to find excuses as to why that's suddenly OK.

[derp] Liberals who aren't party shills must be Republicans! [/derp]

BullBearMS: Philip Francis Queeg: blahpers: Philip Francis Queeg: BullBearMS: Both sides are the bad, so vote Republican.

Really? That's the message you got from Bill freaking Moyers?

No that's the message I got from BullBearMS posting the quote in a thread about Mitt Romney's statement.

Go ahead and watch this segment of the new PBS program, Moyers and Company.

You get to see Bill Moyers who was one of the founders of the Peace Corps under Kennedy and then served as LBJ's press secretary, and David Stockman who was a Republican member of the House and later director of the Office of Management and Budget under Regan discuss the fact that both parties are completely owned by the rich and have betrayed all of Americans who aren't obscenely wealthy.

If you're a fan of Occupy Wall Street, you need to see this and to convince your friends to see this as well.

Again I ask, Who are you going to vote for, champ?

Philip Francis Queeg: BullBearMS: Philip Francis Queeg: blahpers: Philip Francis Queeg: BullBearMS: Both sides are the bad, so vote Republican.

Really? That's the message you got from Bill freaking Moyers?

No that's the message I got from BullBearMS posting the quote in a thread about Mitt Romney's statement.

Go ahead and watch this segment of the new PBS program, Moyers and Company.

You get to see Bill Moyers who was one of the founders of the Peace Corps under Kennedy and then served as LBJ's press secretary, and David Stockman who was a Republican member of the House and later director of the Office of Management and Budget under Regan discuss the fact that both parties are completely owned by the rich and have betrayed all of Americans who aren't obscenely wealthy.

If you're a fan of Occupy Wall Street, you need to see this and to convince your friends to see this as well.

Again I ask, Who are you going to vote for, champ?

Let's see who the Greens, Libertarians and Socialists nominate. If I don't like any of them, I'll write in Elizabeth Warren.

Cubicle Jockey: I haven't colored him as a teatard or threadshiatter yet, so he hasn't raised any flags in the past with me.

Despite his self-aggrandizing explanation, he just basically goes out of his way to pretend Both Sides Are Bad to the point of dragging threads into a deep and inescapable level of intractable absurdity until the entire discussion is mired so badly in his ridiculous and increasingly silly attempts to prove his original "point" that the original purpose is entirely lost.

On more than one occasion I've had to just roll my eyes and move on because he was clawing desperately for increasingly ridiculous comparisons to make it seem like democrats and republicans are always on the same level of evil. It gets annoying.

Did he really just say that the banks are scared?