A must watch, in my opinion. As I’ve pointed out in several posts now, the financial crisis is a result of systemic fraud throughout the financial system. In this interview, Bill Moyers talks with William K. Black, author of “The Best Way to Rob a Bank Is to Own One,” and has him explain how the fraud began in the board rooms and CEO offices of the most elite institutions in the US and how our government is complicit in covering it up.

“WILLIAM K. BLACK: …we don’t want to change the bankers, because if we do, if we put honest people in, who didn’t cause the problem, their first job would be to find the scope of the problem. And that would destroy the cover up. [snip]

Geithner is charging, is covering up. Just like Paulson did before him. [snip]

BILL MOYERS: How is this happening? I mean why is it happening?

WILLIAM K. BLACK: Until you get the facts, it’s harder to blow all this up. And, of course, the entire strategy is to keep people from getting the facts. [snip]

I don’t know whether we’ve lost our capability of outrage. Or whether the cover up has been so successful that people just don’t have the facts to react to it. [snip]

If you leave the failed CEOs in place, it isn’t just that they’re terrible business people, though they are. It isn’t just that they lack integrity, though they do. Because they were engaged in these frauds. But they’re not going to disclose the truth about the assets.

BILL MOYERS: And we have to know that, in order to know what?

WILLIAM K. BLACK: To know everything. To know who committed the frauds. Whose bonuses we should recover. How much the assets are worth. How much they should be sold for. Is the bank insolvent, such that we should resolve it in this way? It’s the predicate, right? You need to know the facts to make intelligent decisions.

They’re deliberately leaving in place the people that caused the problem, because they don’t want the facts. And this is not new. The Reagan Administration’s central priority, at all times, during the Savings and Loan crisis, was covering up the losses.

BILL MOYERS: So, you’re saying that people in power, political power, and financial power, act in concert when their own behinds are in the ringer, right?

WILLIAM K. BLACK: That’s right. And it’s particularly a crisis that brings this out, because then the class of the banker says, “You’ve got to keep the information away from the public or everything will collapse. If they understand how bad it is, they’ll run for the exits.”

(Full transcript here.)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rz1b__MdtHY

These videos capture particular pulses of this economic crisis, from one real face of homelessness, to a Great Depression cooking class, to a hilarious bit from Jon Stewart on the Daily Show about why we should think twice, or a billion times, before listening to CNBC’s financial advice.

Arlyn Royce Was Here #10

One young woman’s quiet, personal, matter-of-fact — and therefore delicately touching — recounting and tour of the streets in Hollywood where she slept in her car — homeless for 5 months straight from April through September 2008.

Great Depression Cooking with Clara: Peppers & Eggs

This charming 93-year-old cook and great grandmother, Clara, recounts her childhood during the Great Depression as she prepares meals from the era.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4IjNV3lZkQ

And because laughter is good for you … The Daily Show with Jon Stewart: CNBC Gives Financial Advice

CNBC’s Rick Santelli is angry that those loser homeowners are going to get bailed out.
“Ah, if I’d only followed CNBC’s advice,” says Stewart, “I’d have a million dollars today — provided I started with a hundred million dollars.”

Fear-mongering doesn’t get any more obvious than this. Congressman Brad Sherman (D-CA, Sherman Oaks, Northridge) despite intense pressure, stood up in the House and told the world that members of Congress had been threatened by the White House with Martial Law if they voted NO on the bailout bill. Martial Law. It seems my reference to “virtual guns” in my last blog post was incorrect — correction: they were real guns.

“The only way they can pass this bill is by creating and sustaining a panic atmosphere.”

www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaG9d_4zij8

Read Rep. Sherman’s breakdown of the bailout bill.

Thank Rep. Sherman here.