you just had to say. "the dylan ratigan show" begins right now. well, the big story today is gridlock. nice to see you. tuesday afternoon here in new york city. productive time of the year, to say the least. i'm dylan ratigan and you know in this town that the u.n. general assembly is in new york city when manhattan becomes an unadulterated parking lot. every time a world dignitary so much as crosses the street or even feigns to blow their nose, there is gridlock everywhere. that same gridlock exists behind closed doors as well. a deal to avert a very public showdown at the united on the issue of palestinian statehood, looking more and more unlikely. no deal to avert a very public event at the u.n. later this week. earlier, pro-israeli protesters opposing the palestinian public bid were arrested outside the

u.n. building. this as israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu says he wants to restart direct talks with palestinian president mahmoud abbas, as long as it is on the sidelines at the u.n. and not in public. both he and, of course, the u.s. are hoping abbas would drop the bid for statehood altogether, but no one is betting on that. right now abbas is working the room at the u.n., just a few blocks over, for support and still plans to file a request for statehood on friday. he will need just nine votes in the security council to get this, but bear in mind the u.s. holds veto power and is threatening to use it if it came down to that. the problem with that is, is that it runs counter, in many cases, to our own president's recent push for arab freedom and independence. here's a question. why is this the u.s. so deeply involved in the mideast peace

process? hint -- energy resources and stability. should we be? well, what's our alternative, i ask you. and after decades of attempts, does either side trust the united states or any third party to be a power broker? we start with aaron david miller, who has worked on the israeli/palestinian peace process for over 30 years, he's currently a fellow at the woodrow wilson center and was with us through the winter and spring period as we watched the developments out of the middle east. david harris with us in studio, executive director of the american jewish committee. david, it's a pleasure to have you here. >> thank you, dylan. >> we were going to talk yankees/red sox, but -- >> i wish. >> -- this came up. aaron, what's going on? what is the actual agenda -- what do you think is the palestinian agenda in this particular manipulation or exercise, what is the israeli counter-agenda, and how do the third parties, most notably the united states, relate to it?

>> the palestinians reached a conclusion that violence will not reach their aspirations and neither will negotiations. so they've shifted focus, from an arena where they have very little influence, negotiations with israel and the americans, to one where they think they have more, the international arena. so abbas, who is playing this very, very, very quietly in the sense that he has not yet said to anybody what precisely the palestinians will do is threatening to go to the security council. i suspect at the end of the day, since it just won't be the americans that will block this, but at least six others that abbas will not force the issue at the security council and will tack toward the u.n. general assembly to try to get a resolution that actually, in his view, might be even more useful to palestinian interests. so i think we're ginning this up into a level of crisis and

hysteria, but at the end of the day, dylan, everybody's going to lose. because the day after, no matter what happens in new york where you are, and i'm very thankful that you're there and not me and i'm not working on the arab/israeli peace process anymore, we're all going to face the same problem. there is no agreement right now to end the israeli/palestinian conflict. not on jerusalem, not on borders, not on security, and not on refugees. and that is the crisis that that's worth worrying about, because that crisis may well affect american interests. not this one. >> is there any context -- david, is there any context in which the push for palestinian statehood creates any positive leverage to resolve the core issues that aaron was just identifying, with jerusalem, with the settlements, with all the other issues that really are the unresolved issues? is there any way -- >> i think the answer in the short-term is no. that is, unless the israelis and palestinians sit down at the table, face to face, in direct talks, the answer is no. if the palestinians do an end run, it only further threatens

to trust, which is already in very short supply. in the longer term, who knows. so the goal has to be, and i think this is where the u.s. is focused, on trying to get abbas, who happens to be in new york, and netanyahu, who happens to be in new york, if they can navigate the traffic and the gridlock, to see if they can get them together. and meanwhile, the quartet, that is the u.s., the european union, russia, and the u.n. are feverishly trying to get together a statement that can provide a alternative course of action to the u.n. strategy. it may not work, we're coming down to the wire, but i wouldn't rule it out entirely, at least not yet. >> saying a counter-strategy from the interested third parties, that is an alternate path from the palestinian agenda on the floor. is that what you're saying? >> exactly. >> and what would that be, theoretically? >> that would be a formula to try and bring the parties back to the table. because at the end of the day, and we've done a lot of diplomacy on this over the last seven months, and probably 70 or more countries around the world, no one likes this idea of going

to the u.n. no one. by the way, not even the prime minister of the palestinian authority, salam fayyad, likes this idea. >> because it's inflammatory, as opposed to -- >> because it's inflammatory, and as aaron said as well, it's going to be counterproductive. the day after, dylan, nothing will have changed. so why go down this path if you know it's not going to work. >> is there any, is there anything that exists that you can think of, aaron, that could force the conversation between netanyahu and abbas in new york the next five days or could offer a path towards even the beginning of resolution on the issues that really matter, or are the point of contention -- i shouldn't say that actually matter, but are the point of contention? >> daiylan, no one ever lost moy betting against arab/israeli peace, and i'm not going to now. if the quartet produces a

statement that is somehow so ambiguous that it allows netanyahu and abbas to come back to the negotiating table, that is worse, frankly, than a resolution. >> why? >> that is worse. because what that will do is straddle this mirnladministrati with yet another false promise, another false start. it will create a situation where within a day, a week, a month of lateral negotiations, the israelis and palestinians not be able to reach an agreement -- no. look, this president has one priority. 70% of the american public thinks the country's running in the wrong direction. by next year, he has to reverse those figures. foreign policy and certainly not this issue isn't going to help him. and no investment in this. if abbas presents this to the security council, this president, it's veto bait. this president should veto it and not lose a night's sleep over it. our problem right now can't be fixed. and you know, i'd be insulted

your intelligence and david's if i suggested that there was some clever fix that would allow the this negotiation to actually succeed. >> if there were a magic bullet, we're not going to find it on the 4:00 hour ehere at msnbc, because they've been looking for it as long as there's been a problem. bigger. we've been through a lot in the middle east now. there's tremendous oppression in all those countries in various ways. saudi arabia, egypt, yemen, pick it, ten different ways. there is an underlying sense that the misaligned interests and exploitation in that region, away from the israeli/palestinian conflict is and whether continue to be confronted in the months and years to come on some level. how does what is going on away from israel/palestine either alter the dynamics, i should say, of the relevancy of this, making it the stakes higher or different, and/or harm it in

general, because it gets less attention, because people are distracted by cairo or whatever else? >> i think the first thing, dylan, is it explodes the myth, that has been around for many year, that the israeli/palestinian conflict is at the heart of all the problems in the middle east. people discover, wait a second, what's going on in syria and bahrain and yemen, all the countries that you mentioned, have absolutely nothing to do with israel or the israeli/palestinian conflict. it has everything to do with the denial of human rights, the denial of human freedom, denial of human dignity. >> rigged economics. >> you name it. that's the first thing. the second thing, in the short-term, it creates more uncertainty in israel about what exactly is happening around its borders and what kind of strategic environment it lives in. longer term, we want to hope, hope is not a policy, but nonetheless, we need hope. we want to believe that this will evolve in some way towards more security, more stability, more democracy, and that can ultimately mean a foundation for coexistence. but we're a long way away from there, and i'm not betting on

that one either quite yet, dylan. >> understood. you get the last word, aaron. put the -- same the question to you, though. the broader context. >> i mean, you know, the region until environment, in my judgment, and you know, i know i'm annoyingly negative on this, but i can't provide another alternative. because, you know, it was groucho marks who said, who are are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes? i see the egyptian peace treaty not collapsing, but fraying. i see an egyptian government that has a difficult time maintaini ining order in its ow streets. i see rising public opinion in the arab and muslim world now being able to express themselves in a way that is not only anti-american but anti-israel. for the short-term, buckle your seat belt, because we're in for a real wild ride. >> all right.

listen, candor is the rule of this program and i appreciate both of you to adhering to it, even in the face of being forced to articulate some rather pessimistic short-term views. what's the say welcome the truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off. that applies here. have a good afternoon, guys. coming up, don't ask anymore! gay rights groups celebrating the end of the military's don't ask, don't tell policy across the country today. plus, the end of one injustice as protesters stand up to another. demonstrators swarming wall street, now for days, demanding an end to a system of extraction. and on that note, stopping the greedy bastards, something i'm very excited about and i hope that you will be too. in minutes, we will unveil the cover point and publication date of our upcoming book, "greedy

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thanks to this change, i believe we move closer to achieving the goal at the foundation of the values that america's all about. equality, equal opportunity, and dignity for all americans. >> well, defense secretary leon pa net that there on the education separation of don't ask, don't tell, a move that gave voters one of obama's most supportive blocs have been

waiting for a long time. take a listen to the president on this subject as the megapanel joins in here. karen, susan, and jimmy are with us again. take a look at ft. hethe presid here. >> i think it is no secret that i am a fierce advocate for equality for gay and lesbian americans. it is something that i have been consistent on and something that i intend to continue to be consistent on during my presidency. >> jimmy, has he lived up to that? >> well, yeah. it's done. it's out. it's not law. listen, let's be honest about what don't ask, don't tell was. don't ask, don't tell said to everybody in the military, you have to lie. straight people, you have to lie. generals, you have to lie. colonels, enlisted men and women, gay people, you have to lie. everybody has to lie. and today, you can be in the

military, like most other militaries around the world, and you don't have to lie. this is so long in coming -- i mean, i'm a gay man. i'm an openly gay man. and the idea that i can't serve with my brothers and sisters, my citadel men and women, openly, is just crap. it makes me a lesser human being, not on the same level, and it's just -- it's the most farcical thing. and the president did it. and you've got crazies on the right out saying, you know, the president's not an ally of the gay community. i'm pretty dang sure in the eight years of the bush presidency, he didn't touch this, the congress didn't touch this. >> with republican support. >> no doubt about it. >> given everything that's happened in the last three years, it's this that gets bipartisan support? i mean -- >> you know why?

there are more gay republicans on capitol hill than there are gay democrats. i'll tell you, that's why. i've dated half of them. >> this was a really important issue -- >> that's an interesting point. what the heck?! we're sitting here, we can't get the two political parties to go near the banking system, can't get them anywhere on jobs, they collaborate just to kick the can down the road on the tax code. the health care thing was admirable in that it tried to create coverage, but they didn't want to deal with the insurance companies or the drug companies. but when it comes to gays in the military, they're like, we've got to do a deal on this. i don't understand. >> well, i think a couple of things, number one, i think we all knew from the beginning of don't ask, don't tell that it was just bad. it was wrong. but it was sort of -- that's what could be done, so it was done. and i think people have accepted that for a long time. i think the gay community actually deserves a tremendous amount of credit, and the straight community, for the legal process that they've gone through to actually push this and stay on it and make it happen. because the president did it, and that's great, but there are a lot of activists who have really worked very hard. >> and the other -- go ahead.

>> the other thing i would say, politically speaking, this was very important for the president, because when you look at younger people, as we did after 2008, they see gay rights as the civil issue of our generation. in the way that in the '60s it was about -- >> makes sense. >> and those are republicans and democrats. so politically speaking, it was -- it was the right thing to do. >> and he had to do something. because he's already on the record saying marriage is between a man and a woman, and given everything that's happened across the country with gay marriage passing in so many states, he needed some kind of win and this was a good one for him. >> last one to you. >> some of these activists you're talking about, the michelle behnkes of the world -- >> kirsten gillibrand. >> who have been working on this since day one, since the day dadt was signed into law, they worked to return it. and i just got goose bumps, i'm not an emotional person, but finally, at least in the military, if i were in the military, i would have equal

rights. but i still can't marry the dude i like. i still can't do that today. >> that's part of the issue too. remember that the next part of this battle is this issue that doma cuts into in terms of benefits. >> that's where that tribe turns their attention, that sort of whole organizational apparatus will focus -- >> well, you can chew gum and walk at the same time. >> i've heard. i've heard. we're kind of into this space, but i want to go deeper, specifically, into defense, away from don't ask, don't tell, and into deficit and all the rest of it. and i don't understand, still -- and we had -- were you guys here when joe sestak was on? he was an admiral, basically went ballistic, shall i say. a weird word to use with an admiral, i shouldn't do that. >> at this table? >> imagine somebody becoming impassioned at this table. >> not on "the dylan ratigan show". >> i would never. making a very explicit point.

we are spending an extraordinary sum of money on military resources that, by their definition, are not only not necessarily keeping us safer, we are spending ourselves into these resources at the expense of the development of resources and systems that could keep us safer. so it's not just that we're spending a bunch of money in order to have a big, fat military, because we want to feel like tough guys. we are spending a bunch of money on a gigantic military apparatus that does not and very well may not make us safer in the future, and may, in fact, actually imperil us by virtue of our failure to invest in actual surveillance and awareness of what is going on. susan? >> last bit of pork that's out there is military spending. that's what congress members and senators can bring home. and that's what they have, and that's why they develop things that we no longer need instead of looking towards other resources. >> the thing is, and when sestak was here, we talked about this,

there is a defense contract in every congressional district -- >> oh, sure, absolutely. >> -- in america. we talked -- and i said to him, i said, admiral, if you took the money out of politics, what would that do to the defense budget debate when you consider that every congressional district gets defense pork? >> right. >> he said, it would revolutionize it. is this one of those ones that as long as that pork system in every district is in place, the american people are basically powerless? >> you know, i think it's that. that's certainly part of it. there's also, there was a report that congress just took up last week, $60 billion in the last ten years, basically, fraudulently wasted on defense contract spending in iraq and afghanistan. $60 billion. >> well, we pay a third of all the money every day in afghanistan, at the khyber pass to just get our stuff in and

then they take the money to buy guns out of iran to shoot back at us. we are in crazyland, so let there be no mistake about that. >> but clearly, i think part of the problem, though, what this study found was that in the run-up to iraq and afghanistan, it was done so hastily, we don't even have the right way to actually -- >> there's no records. >> exactly. >> i want to be really clear. our intelligence community and 16 men killed osama bin laden. it didn't take a thousand troops, it didn't take us two years. it took our intelligence community and 16 men wearing weird-ass makeup and camouflage. >> i think some of our military would probably take issue at that. >> well, he's making a point -- i think he's making a -- >> listen, if there'd been women, i would have said. >> nobody -- >> and a huge -- there's a lot of support. >> but you know, i don't want a big military, i want a smart military. >> that's your point. last word. >> money in politics is also there when it comes to defense spending, but it's also about

jobs when you go into these congressional districts, and that's something that will not change. >> and we saw that with the air force base closings wherever it was, 15 or 20 years ago, everyone said, we need to close the air force bases and the list comes out and everyone with one in their district goes, we've got to close one, but close the one in gjimmy's, not dylans. put it on the list of things to solve. we'll fix that too. straight ahead, you've been tweeting me about it all week, protesters taking it to the street, and that is wall street. we'll have the very latest on no days of demonstrations downtown. ♪ i like dat ♪ ♪ i like dat, all right [ male announcer ] mio. a revolutionary water enhancer. add a little...or a lot. for a drink that's just the way you like it. make it yours. make it mio. [ horn honks ] ♪ oh, those were the best of days ♪ ♪ i still feel the summer rays

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people are coming from all over and all walks of life to send a message to wall street. >> capitalism as it is operating is just not working for many, many people. >> they want to preempt legal protests, because that could send an even larger message. and if there's even a minor disruption to the markets --

>> that, the voice of a growing class of americans educated, underemployed, and wondering what the government is going to do to realign the interests of the financial world with the main street economy. and this week, many of them have set up on wall street to protest what they see as a misalignometmisalignment of interests between the financial community and the economy. their chant all day, occupy wall street, it's been a largely peaceful demonstration with few arrests and those have been such reportedly outrageous crimes like writing in sidewalk chalk on the street, so it's hardly a violent crowd. how do, however -- forget the crowd for a second, but how do we forget the change that corpora corporate executives, individuals, wall street kpervegts, to align the investment community and a capital market that serves innovation in this country with investment in the american people? joining us once again, former president and ceo of verizon

wireless, a man who had to deal with the responsibilities of developing business while accessing the capital markets and putting this whole thing together, denny streegel, author of "managers, can you hear me now?" he is our specialist today. and denny, we always try to save our most controversial -- we want to make you as uncomfortable as we possibly can, as a good host. >> you're successful. >> jimmy has trouble automatically. so at the end of the day, there is a sense that the interests of the financial -- of the investment world are not aligned with the interests of the american economy. i agree with that. i believe that there is not capital requirements in that system enough that the people involved with it have the discipline to actually manage their risk in a way that works. what is the appropriate thing to do with the frustration? in other words. you can -- i can yell and scream on tv all day, it doesn't mean

anything. you can go to the internet, shoot your mouth off. you can come with an idea we can do this, do that, your idea can be wrong, it could have unintended consequences. there's all ideas with ideas and mechanics, if they're not in a broader scope. if the goals and principles have aligned interests, where would you begin? >> okay. so, first, let me comment. what a wonderful country, right? free speech, the right to assemble. you can protest anything. my question, i would flip it, is what are we really protesting here? we have a free enterprise system in this country. that is the financial underpinning of what we're all about. that is how we create wealth. it's how we create jobs. >> can i answer that question for you? >> sure, sure. >> i think there's a -- what -- it's a little speculative on my part, but i don't think it's that much. there is a sense that the free market, the market for innovation, the market for experimentation, the market for

opportunity has been rigged by virtue of the relationship between our government and money. and because

karen, go ahead. >> i'm going to respectfully disagree. and i'm going to -- >> are you going to -- >> no, no. you were here one time and i was a little bit disrespectfully disagreeing. anyway -- >> if you just look -- than ever before. >> corporations hoarding cash. people at the top making record amounts of money. the loss of wealth, the disparities in this country getting bigger and bigger, as 401(k)s tank, 401(k)s that are managed by some of these very companies. i don't see how we can say the system is working when we are seeing that kind of disparity growing in this country, so that people up here are doing fine,

but so many people down here are not. how -- that is not a capital society that's working. >> so i've been listening all day. and what i hear is that there is wealth at the top and there's less at the bottom, right? and there is a growing disparity. let me ask you a question. a very basic question. i don't understand it. isn't our democracy about the ability to create wealth? >> and by the way, i've seen figures used any which way. here's the factor of the matter. corporations today pay 39.2% federal income tax on average. it is the second highest in developed countries around the world. individuals who are wealthy, i don't mean $200,000 families, i mean, over $1 million family incomes. they pay 24.6% of the taxes, federal tax only. when you add to that, what they pay to the state, what they pay to the local government, 50 cents on every dollar goes to

taxes. >> but the issue is -- but there's a couple of things that come up when you say that. 50% of the money, 50% of the taxes, but control 80% of the money. so if i control 80% of the resources, shouldn't i be responsible for the 80% of the costs? or how is it that i should be able to control 80 to 90% of the resources, but only incur 40 to 50% of the costs, one. two, you say america has the right to create wealth. yes! my goodness, yes, through creating value. i mean, my god! help me, right? but there is a sinister distinction between getting money through extraction, selling insurance that you cannot pay the claims on and keeping the insurance money, as our insurance companies have done in this company in the financial community with the swaps market. selling or creating assets that do not create value, but, in fact, extract that value using the tax code traded banking and the line between the honorable

pursuit and the magical american pursuit of value creation, and getting rich playing games has blurred to the point where people all of a sudden are like, well, i'm just against rich people then, or i'm just against poor people, as opposed to it being for or against those who create value. and i think that is where this debate breaks down. >> okay. you are always going to have a bad apple, right? you're always going to have -- >> but we're not in a bad -- we have a system, we have a system of bad apples right now. >> you -- that's not true. dylan, that is not at all true. >> the swap market is a black -- >> wait a minute, what are we trying to do? create class warfare here? i've been hearing all day, we don't have class warfare in this country. >> i want to insert something here. the theory that we're creating class warfare, when you have people sitting there holding mortgages that are worth nothing. i don't think that that's class warfare. i think that's a financial product that's not worth crap. and i think that our government let our banking industry sell mortgages to people who should have read the fine print, first and foremost, and secondly,

should never been allowed to have that mortgage to begin with. >> i think the government caused it. >> i don't disagree with you. now, my point is this, it's not class warfare, it's just bad economic policy. >> but there's also nothing wrong with people making money. there's nothing -- the problem right now in this country is people don't have jobs, so that's where we really need to focus. >> people should get off $2 trillion in cash and stop laying off 30,000 people and start hiring 30,000. >> unless the government hired some -- >> so they elect rick perry and start hiring? >> last word? >> first of all, i think this is a great conversation, but rather than go to the ends of creating class warfare, why don't we get at the underlying issues of the problem? >> which is, quickly, what? >> education, training. >> and capital -- i'll give you education and training if you give me capital requirements and the banking -- >> and get money out of social -- >> but education and training -- >> you won't give me capital requirements?! >> listen, the banking system is already so overregulated today -- >> no, no, one regulation.

i'll get rid of every regulation you've ever had and say if you don't retain risk, you are not a k capitalist. i'll leave it on that note and thank denny, thank my panel, and thank you for sticking around. next, it's under our desk and we'll show it to you in just a minute. a book for the mad as hell crowd who wants to harness that anger to solve problems rather than make it worse. 37 [ male announcer ] this is coach parker... whose non-stop day starts with back pain... and a choice. take advil now and maybe up to four in a day.

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together, for your future. ♪ together, for your future. fresher less processed foods introducing freshpet recipes so fresh the only preservative we use is the fridge freshpet fresh food for fido well, in case you haven't heard, we're publishing a book! it's title, appropriately enough, is "greedy bastards," and it comes out january 3rd and will be published by simon and shuster. and for the first time ever in public, drumroll, please, here's the cover! where is it? there it is. take a look at this. pretty cool, right? exciting. anyway, "greedy bastards." i wrote this because, i, myself, wanted to get a better

understanding of what was going wrong with all of the systems in our country, that we spend so much and get so little. and my hope is that this book will offer not just an explanation of how and why that is happening, but that it will actually provide a manual on how we can change it. the book documents in great detail how greedy bastards breach our long-term interests every day, this done in pursuit of their own reckless, personal short-term gains. i believe doing this book will make me an overall better journalist. and i hope that it will help you become better informed about what really is happening in america today and what we can do about it. and that, ultimately, the nature of the debate in america moves to the core issues themselves and away from the raft of bogus debates that clog up our airwaves and our lives while our country is rigged inand a

two-party system is bought. as you will see in this book, at the root of our problem is the unholy alliance of special interests, business, and our government. it is not religion and state, it is business and state. which is why we're now days away from launching our mad as hell money in politics series on friday of this week, and we're less than a week with away from announcements on how all of us can work together to get money out and make the system work for us. those announcements to come later this week. next, ultimately our goal to stop having a government that works for the greedy bastards. in anticipation of all the happenings, we've done some redecorating on our twitter page, @dylanratigan. you can check it out, share your thoughts. also, new on dylanratigan.com this afternoon, meet the author, me! we've got five questions and answers about what made us right a book in order to hit back at the greedy bastards extracting

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helps defends against occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas and bloating. with three strains of good bacteria to help balance your colon. you had me at "probiotic." [ female announcer ] phillips' colon health. well, consider this statistic. right now one in four americans, or 57 million of us, are suffering from a mental disorder. and it is no wonder that the amount of money spent treating mental illness is staggering as well. more than $57 billion at last count, up 40% over the previous decade. we're breaking it down with ian

doughbiggen, professor of history. his new book "a chronicle of history," it's called "the quest for mental health: a tale of science, medicine, scandal, sorrow, and mass society." professor, what is the thesis of your book, i should say? >> the thesis of my book, dylan, is that modern day culture is enveloped in this notion of therapyism. which essentially says, you know, if you're suffering an emotional problem due to the trials and tribulations of everyday life, it's not your fault, it's not you to blame, you're suffering from a real disease and you should seek professional help. and this has become the kind of default position for, you know, millions and millions of americans, and people around the world in this day and age. so what my book does is try and chronicle how it is that we got to this particular stage in

history. >> and you're saying that where we are is very good right now, you think we are doing great? >> no. in fact, i would make the exact opposite argument that, you know, the culture of therapism, the reliance on psychological science to get through everyday life is actually making us unhealthy, or is actually making us sicker overall. now, i say this despite the fact that you and i and a lot of other people know of folks who have been helped by psychiatry day or taking drugs and so on and so forth, but overall, i think what it does is disables people more when they result to therapism. >> so i'm confused. are you saying that taking drugs that are psychological drugs is the exact same thing as hiring a therapist to talk to. you don't make any distinction between having a conversation and taking drugs? it's all the same thing? because i do. i like to talk about my problems

with other people to work them out. i don't like to take drugs for the them. >> sorry, i didn't catch your question, dylan. >> you know what, professor, i think we're going to try to rerack this at the time that we have a better -- is it okay? >> okay, whatever, yep. >> hold on one second. i have no idea what's going on either. so, brian, what's going on? okay. i'm going to try this again. do you make a distinction between therapy and taking drugs, or do you consider that to be the same thing? >> push your ear piece in. >> i think i'm going to take a commercial break to figure out what's going on with this tv show. professor, i apologize for the technical breakdown. we'll take a momentary break and be back after this. o0 c1 2 o0 what's going on here? hey, whats up guys?

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well, here's the daily rant on how president obama can channel his newfound fury to do more for our country. david goodfriend. >> hello, dylan. president obama is throwing down a challenge to congress on jobs, and i think that's great. but let's get real. the chances of bipartisan legislation are slim. senate republican leader mitch mcconnell says that his number one goal in life is to defeat president obama. house republicans who used to support the ideas in the jobs bill say they don't want to give the president a win. should president obama just wait for republicans to either start cooperating or twist in the political winds? i say no. i want to see president obama take action. now, here's what i mean. president obama should be signing a new executive order

every day that spurs jobs. now, some people might say it would only be symbolic or would barely move the needle on jobs, but i disagree. we have an unemployment crisis in this country. you think those riots in the streets of london can only happen over there? well, guess again. we need action now, and if congress won't act, the president can and must. with we could have some really smart people come up with thousands of executive actions the president could take to spur jobs, but just to prove to you that this stuff is not rocket science, i'm going to give you two of my very own david goodfriend originals right here on the dylan ratigan show. so number one, bring home the other troops. we have north of 50,000 troops in germany and japan. what, are we afraid world war ii might break out again? they're over there spending your tax dollars on schnitzel and sushi instead of spending it

here at home. how about president obama orders them back stateside to help, i don't know, homeland security, and of course, house them in apartments and single-family home homes, not military facilities. do you think the men and women of the u.s. military might buy some pizzas or electronics here in the u.s. of a. give them contracting preferences. when uncle sam buys something, there's usually a competition for that business. i think there's enough flexibility in the federal contracting law for the president to order all federal agencies to add some extra points to a bid that puts jobs in some of the hardest-hit parts of the country. all else being equal, a bidder in detroit, for example, where unemployment is worse than the national average, ought to beat a bidder in d.c., where it's better. now, i know the skplelegal and political and policy arguments that can be thrown up against

these ideas. let them have it. but just take action, mr. president. if they want to fight you on this, then let's welcome that fight. in the meantime, maybe we can put a few good men and women to work. dylan? >> so there's an increasing, i don't know how to say this -- >> yes? >> do you actually believe that your president actually wants to do the things you want him to do? >> do i believe that he wants to? i believe he wants to help the american economy, but i'm saying something a little deferent, dylan. >> let's stop there. you believe this president wants to help the american economy, correct? you believe that? >> you're going to make this painful on me, aren't you, dylan? >> yes, i am. >> i'll tell you, if i were president -- >> well, you can change your chance. but there's an interesting psychological phenomenon here, which is if the president would just do what we all, in quotes, really know he wants to do, but he just for some reason won't do it, because nobody wants to come to terms with the fact that, guess what, this guy might not

want to do it. >> well, i'm not willing to go that far. i really do believe that he wants the economy to improve. but i do believe also, dylan, i do believe also, that he may be too reluctant to push the envelope. and i say, look at what we've seen presidents do in national emergencies before. you know, president roosevelt pushed the envelope, went up against the supreme court, even threatened to pack the court with extra justices until they would accept his emergency new deal program. some people said that really crossed a line. but i think the first step, dylan, is to accept that we really are in a crisis. not enough people accept that. >> yeah. >> this is a crisis! >> oh, yeah, i know. believe me, you know that i know. so here's the other thing. so this is a crisis. it's a crisis that is driven by a banking trade and tax system that is sucking money out of our country. >> right. >> the biggest contributor to barack obama's presidential campaign is goldman sachs. the primary activities of this president, relative to banking, have been to protect the most

lucrative aspect of that business, which is the dark market for credit default swaps and the like. that has been an implicit agenda of his treasury secretary. he is -- this president is advocating trade agreements that allow enhanced bank secrecy in panama, enhanced murdering of union members in columbia, and the refunding of north korean slaves. this president and republicans are both in favor of those trade agreements. and this president renewed the bush tax cuts for millionaires. those are actions. those are not words. this guy's a great talker. everybody loves to talk. this is a man who has taken action. barack obama has taken action. he has kept the swaps market dark, no capital requirements for the -- >> well, let me react now. let me react. i'm a progressive. i share a lot of the frustrations that my fellow progressives share. when i look at the alternative, i think, well, it sure beats the alternative, but i think you're on to something in the following sense, dylan. these things that i've mentioned, just examples of things that the president could

do, that while on the edges, they still would have an effect. all they do, i think, is illustrate that if we want to see action, okay, it may not be as good as a $500 billion jobs bill, but don't stop. don't stop with ask congress to do something. >> but i guess where i take issue is, this president is working for the bad jobs. and there's a -- the democrats are working for the bad guys. so are the republicans. and the democrats get away with it by saying, look at how crazy the republicans are. at least the democrats pretend to care about people. but the fact is the two-party political system is utterly bogus. i'm going to take that as my last word, as host's right, but i invite you -- you can come back and do a rebuttal rant anytime and i really appreciate your rant this afternoon, david. thank you. >> you bet, dylan. take care. >> all right. that'll do it for the dylan ratigan show and "hardball" starts right now. >> campaign time. let's play "hardball."