it's thursday, november 3rd and here's what's happening. >> welcome to the blame game. >> excuse me! >> everyone else is at fault. >> the perry campaign needs to apologize to herman cain. >> suspicions run amok. it can seem like up is down. >> if anybody is a racist, it's the democratic party that's the racists. >> no one wants to take responsibility. >> blame yourself. >> at this hour, we await a vote on the portion of the president's jobs bill dedicated to infrastructure and begin with today it's gornor rick perry jumping to his campaign's defense and responding to accusations that his team leaked the cain sexual harassment

story. >> there was not anybody in their campaign that knew anything about this associated with the campaign in any form or fashion. end of story. >> pushing back after cain's campaign manager blamed perry's people for the leak, calling his campaign despicable. >> you are charging the perry campaign with stirring this up? >> absolutely. quite frankly this is one of the actions in america that is the reason people don't get involved in politics. the actions of the perry campaign are despicable. >> mr. block walked that back some, saying she waiting to get all the facts, as are we. herman cain himself reportedly said wednesday he told strategist anderson about the harassment settlement when he was working for his bid in 2003. cain's memory seems to be

getting better and better. the campaign said anderson went to work for perbe two weeabout weeks ago. some in the perry camp pointed the finger at the romney campaign. let's see. cain blames perry. perry blames romney. this whole thing is rather confusing. perhaps someone reminded mr. cain he would be better off blaming washington or the media. >> that is the d.c. culture. guilty until proven innocent. >> now, you can't see the woman interviewing mr. cain, but interestingly enough, it's ginny thomas, wife of charns thomas and a contributor to the daily caller. at this point the cain campaign blamed the media and the perry campaign and the romney campaign and they called the accusations baseless after denying the

existence of the allegations themselves. the pay out to one of the victims didn't happen. oh, wait, it did happen, but that was the lawyers. everyone appears to be at fault apart from one person. herman cain himself. my next guest is a vocal supporter of mr. cain. so vocal some took offense at racially charged comment he's made gathered for a cain rally at a texas dog track. >> it's the democratic party that's the racist. the party of the ku klux klan and the party of segregation and the party of the kkk. they are the racists. >> i'm glitdelighted to bring t founder of raging elephants.com. good afternoon, sir. >> mr. bashir. thank you for the invitation. i made it to the big time.

i am msdnc. >> it is not actually that, but mr. cane is behind the emergence and you are from texas. do you agree? >> i have no idea. i am not affiliated with the cain campaign at all and either is raging elephants. . we have not endorsed a candidate for the nomination for president. i have no inside campaigns to any of the campaigns. i could not be of any a civilance on that issue. >> herman cain believes the allegations from three separate women that he reportedly sexually harassed are driven by racism. do you agree with his assessment? >> once again, i don't know. >> i'm asking for your opinion about whether you agree with whether cain who says openly and

overtly that the attacks on him about racism are driven by racism. >> no,i don't. my opinion -- i don't know that and i don't think so. i think it's driven by the fact that he is leading in the polls and driven by the fact that he is a threat to the establishment and the republican establishment. i think he has thrown a monkey wrench in their plans of trying to assist mr. romney to the nomination and the establishment favor. could it be also a scheme of the left? certainly it could be. when herman cain is very much dangerous to the agenda of the left that would like to see african-americans and conservative black republicans silenced and have no success at all in the political arena. you do have the case where it could be from a political opponent or racially motivated. no one knows.

we know it's out there and herman cain will be able to deal with the allegations and the scandal in a much more screwed way. >> i am sorry to press upon this, but we know and have traced it back to the perry campaign that stirred this up in order to discredit me. do you agree with mr. cain that it is the perry campaign behind these attacks? >> no. i don't have any evidence of that. that's his accusations and allegations. i will say this. politics in texas is rough stuff. to put this beyond a perry campaign or for that matter any other campaign would need someone as naive if they have these types of goods on mr. cain, well, i wouldn't be surprised that if somebody is struggling in the polls and somebody is struggling to get support from the voters and

activists throughout the nation. they may be willing to do something like this. no way i can say definitively mr. perry is guilty of the actions. i can't say that. >> let me ask you this. do you think that the allegations of three women, the payment of, as i understand it, between 35 and 45,000 in one case and the eyewitness testimony of chris wilson who worked as a pollster for the restaurant association, do you think this means that mr. cain probably did behave inappropriately towards these women? >> no, we don't know. as far as someone who is actually working in opposition camp -- >> if i can bring you back to the point one moment. three individual women and one eyewitness testimony. these are four people. >> first of all, these women first of all are anonymous.

nobody has come forward. politico will not share the sources. i don't blame they. they are a journalistic entity. you have three women in shadow ringing allegations against mr. and have someone who is part of an opposition campaign. until in my opinion there is more meat to it, let them california forth and tell their stories. we don't know what actions were taken by mr. cain. did he offer them a compliment or said their perfume was nice and would he like to take them to lunch? what's the extent of the sexual harassment. we have no idea and neither do you. >> indeed, but do you think if mr. cain offered a compliment like you wear very, very nice perfume, do you think they would pay $45,000, a year's salary for a comment like that? >> it depends on the woman. if she finds it or if she thinks

it's a way to gain $45,000 and she wants to file a complaint with human resources and the powers that be at the nra decide they would like to pay the agreement or the settlement instead of going into full litigation where it costs 10 fist not hundreds of thousands, they probably made a wise business decision. >> isn't this a division from the fact that mr. cane is ill-equipped from the highest office in the land? he presents an economic plan that would widen the disparity of wealth and wants to build an electrified fence with alligators and doesn't know that china had nuclear weapons and parades his ignorance of the world of talking about u becky becky becky stan. he told the unemployed to blame themselves from being out of work. he is beginning to make sarah

palin seem wise by comparison. >> i think he is well equipped, more so than barack obama, a lily state senator before he was made the nominee of the democratic party. you see where it's gotten us economically when it comes to foreign policy and the nation. i think mr. is very well equipped. >> just to correct you, he was a u.s. senator, not a state senator. >> just barely. how many days did he spend in the senate and how many vote diagnosis he take while in the senate? he didn't take very many. as soon as he took the oath of office, he was on the campaign trail. when it comes to the fence and the mote, he explained farce the mote was concerned, he was following up jokes made in el paso by the president himself when he joked about a fence and a moat. we can talk about the statements made, but it doesn't escape the fact that herman cain would by far be a better president than

the current president. an arm dillo would be a better president. >> can you refer you back to the comments made at the dog track as a warm up act for mr. cain. what are you doing as a christian minster stir up racial conflict and posters that say the gop is the new black and use hateful talk about a democratic plantation. what is any of this to do with a calling as a christian minster? as i read the sermon on the mount, sir, this is what i read. blessed are the peace makers, blessed are the meek and blessed are the merciful. you were ranting in the most hateful terms and accusing a political party of all sorts of nepharious and wicked acts. what are you doing as a christian minster? >> the first thing that i always find entertain suggest when others would like to define my christianity or others or a

certain passage out of the bible as if they are a theological expert which, mr. bashir, you are not. i remember there is a passage in the bible where the lord jesus went into the temple by himself and whipped people out of the temple. there is new and old testament examples where forces necessary and the kingman has to be taken by force and the profits of the old testament that changed government with some of the injustices and it was the job of the profits to do that. as far as hateful speech is concerned, what i find disturbing when when it comes from the left like cornell west who a few days ago threatened violence against a black conservative. >> sir, i cannot allow you to assert that because i watched that broadcast and those individuals shook hands as the process of the conversation continued and there was no

attempt deliberately or otherwise to attack anyone. that is an affair assertion against professor west. let's go back for a moment to what you said about the old testament. let me quote to you proveshs. when you stood up at the dog track and started speaking, there were no healing in any of that. the problem is that a lot of people feel that christian minsters are hypocrites just like ted haggard who is president of the national association of evangelicals and discover him asserting that the family is absolutely right, monogamous commitment for to a wife is the right thing. what are we discover something he is paying a male prostitute to entertain him. what i'm suggesting that that when you stand up and say the kinds of things you said at that dog track, that doesn't bestow

upon the office that you hold as a christian minster of some significance, it doesn't bestow any credit on the office whatsoever. >> i'm not concerned about your judgment about whether i'm doing. >> not just my judgment, sir. >> look, what i stood up and said was truth. what i did was an indictment against the left and the democratic party for what's what it's done to the african-american community. you can talk about the words i say, what about the blood on the hands of members of the congressional black caucus and the democratic party when it comes to abortion? what about the desmation of the african-american community because of the policies of the left? i will talk about healing word sms it takes strong words to draw the attention of you and others and certainly those communities about the policies that are being laid upon them. >> i'm afraid we -- thank you very much. >> i don't take abortion

lightly. >> nor do i. thank you. we will have much more on the race for 2012. stay with us. i have's 20 handicap in golf and it never got lower. i never have been arrest and never gotten a dui warrant and i don't have any of those kinds of skeletons in my closet and what i have told people if they come up with something to try to damage my reputation, they will have -- [inaudible] you want to save money on car insurance? no problem. you want to save money on rv insurance?

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herman cain would by far be a better president than this current president. an arm dillo from amarillo would

be a better president than what we have now. >> let's bring in our panel and msnbc contributor karen hunter is here from new york and joining us from washington, david corn. david, your immediate response to a defense of herman cain. >> irrelevant. that's what i would have to say. i thought he was in a little bit over his head in the interview with you. he didn't answer your correct questions, but i think he represents a fringe of movement within the fringe of the republican party. i hate to sound condecenting about it, but nothing is going to be a sound defense of herman cain now except for the facts. we are at the stage of the scandal and it happens with every single scandal and i don't know why they never learn it will rise or fall and people will be saved or sacrificed on

the basis of the facts that come out. >> this is the problem. >> karen doesn't agree. >> this is the same problem that we had with herman cain to begin with when he was polling at 3%. no one gave him a chance. don't count him out. i think he handled himself extremely well, better than i expected. he is speaking to a group or audience and it resonates for them. you are doing a disservice by saying that. >> mr. cain added $1 million to his covers. it's not harming him. >> there is no doubt that there cain iacs out there that hospital him come hell or high water. >> there is something bigger here. >> i didn't interrupt you. >> you are filibustering so it's hard to interrupt. >> i wasn't. i will finish my point. martin is in charge here anyway. they support him no matter what.

that's going to happen and they think he's a victim of a crusade of the liberal media. a conservative outlet has come up with more accusations against him. it's not liberal conspiracy. he's going to have to defend himself as the facts come out and as his statements to date in conflict as they have been get more and more scrutiny. >> david's right, isn't he? the man has been capable of what we might describe as evolving and graduating revolutions. one minute he has total memory loss and within 14 hours he remembers all the details. >> i don't support cain, but sms something going on we need to pay attention to. it is not partisan politics. there is a discomfort and dispressure that black americans are having and you have to pay attention to that. there is something to be said for what he is say being abortion and the failure of the black caucus and many of our

black leaders and there is an opportunity for something different to happen. now the republican party may not be the answer to that, but there is something going on. >> if you think the black community is going to support someone who comes out and is against all low income assistance and nutrition for low-income families which has a disproportionate beneficial effect, fine, make that argument. you can always find 10 or 20% of any population group that will be ticked off with the leadership, but you put it to a vote, most african americans are with the democratic party and support the programs against the republicans who want to tear them to shreds including herman cain. >> isn't it true what david says, not specific to the point of the lunatic fringe, but also herman cane is tapping into a rejection of the establishment and that's what you say. >> that's all i'm saying.

he knows nothing about foreign tell us. his economic plan is trashed by every single economist in the world. he wants to have a war with iran. nothing this guy says. >> he is leading in the polls. you can policy what we need. >> that's not fair. david? >> take a poll out there. >> take a poll. >> up against barack obama and herman cain and i get you it's a five to one or seven to one margin. i'm sorry it doesn't fit your view, but that's where herman cain is now. you get tea party support and he is not getting overwhelming african-american support and he won't. it's not going to happen. his policies don't reflect historically how african-american voters have

been. >> final question before i buy you dinner and we have a conversation over a fine glass of pinot noir. is herman cain going to keep going? >> i hope so. >> hopesprings eternal. david? >> he is at a point where it will be hard to sustain. as i said earlier, the facts come out and they will determine it, but it's moving in a direction against him. >> david corn and karen hunter, thank you for your robust positions. thank you very much. >> when we come back, the senate has just voted and they voted against part of the president's proposal for infrastructure. we will be back with that news. r from an ordinary crash test dummy. two million data points. this is what we can gather from a lexus crash test genius. [ engine revving ] when you pursue industry-leading safety,

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. breaking news at this hour. the senate voted down the 60 billion dollar infrastructure bill. luke russert is live and what happened? >> it's not much of a surprise,

martin. republicans had come out against the bill as soon as it was announced. this was another political test vote and rest assures democratic interest votes will take it and come election time, republicans were greans infrastructure and not supporting the president's protoews proposals. they support a legislation that had to do with filling the infrastructure in the united states, but it's gone down in the senate. it has no chance in the house. speaker john boehner said in a few weeks, the house gop will be introducing their own bill and that will be money going to infrastructure that will be derived from new domestic oil production. the idea is new tax incentives and bonds and new domestic oil production and energy production that can fund infrastructure. >> thanks so much. representative debbie wassermann

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over to the senate where a $60 billion infrastructure bill has been voted down as part of president obama's larger jobs plan. debbie wassermann schwartz has been chair of the democratic national committee. good afternoon. >> hi, martin. >> what's your reaction to the vote? >> well, it's just shockingly irresponsible. there tens of thousands of bridges in this country that are structurally deficient that badly need repair that will cost us more down the road if they deteriora deteriorate. with their repair we could put hundreds of thousands of instruction workers back to work. building roads and fixing bridges and the republicans just flatly rejected because they are led by mitch mcconnell who said his number one priority is not turning the economy around, but

beat barack obama. anything that would give the president credit and get the economy turned around is against that interest because they only care about one job. barack obama's and democrats care about american jobs and that's what the president will fight for. what we can't get done legislatively, the president said we can't wait. we have to focus on moving forward. he is going to do himself and will do it without them. make sure that we press forward on our own. >> this was a remarkable vote given statistics on the census that shows more than 20 million americans are now living in the deepest poverty, almost 7% of the population. >> martin, that statistic is absolutely frightening. this is the richest country in the world with the most resources and we have people, millions of people living in conditions of squalor. in condition where they go

hungry every day. it's unacceptable and we have middle class working families working folks who are struggling to remain in their homes and be able to get back to work and the republicans are happy if we just stall out the recovery that president obama has been able to begin and prevent us from moving forward. they care about power and care about putting people back to work and put party in front of country. >> as we try to understand their strategy, my colleague spoke to speaker boehner and the speaker called grover norquist a "some random person." he is the man who gathered pledges from 238 of your republican colleagues to not raise taxes on the richest 1% under any circumstances. yet he is referred to as a random person? speaker boehner signed the pledge himself. >> listen, martin, i think it's very clear that republicans in the house and the senate worship

at the alter of grover norquist. they quake in his wake and like the president said, republicans have committed not to raise taxes on anyone ever. not just for the wealthiest 1%, but on anyone ever. with the exception of the payroll tax cut extension in the american jobs act that the president propose and of course on adding a payroll tax cut for small business owners that allows them to expand locations and create jobs and get themselves on their feet to the next level. unless you are -- they won't raise taxes on anyone unless you are in the middle class. that double standard, that i had pock rhysy is shocking. >> the president is facing a huge problem because he conceded that he might have to pass this jobs plan in sections and in parts. that is not even happening. what happens now? >> what the president has done is he is not waiting for

congress. we can't wait. the american people can't wait. he proceeded to enact by executive order what the republicans in congress are refusing to allow him to pass. the american people want us to work together and come together to create jobs and continue to fight to get the economy turned around. the republicans cross their arms, president obama is moving forward. he signed an executive order to make sure that people can more easily remain in their homes and work their mortgages out and make sure we make college loans more affordable and sort out college student loans after they graduate so that the payment schedule is easier for them and they can bring down the overall cost of their loan payment. steadily president obama has been signing the executive orders to ease the burden and jump-start economy. like i said, the president is not waiting for the congress to uncross their arms.

he is going to act and democrats will pp push the economy forward with the republicans or without them we refer them to join us. they are only interested in barack obama's job, not the jobs of millions of american families. >> just to be fair to the republicans, final question as you know, speaker boehner has said that democrats are holding out these 15 bills in the senate that ought to be passed. what's your response to those? >> it's been 11 months, over 300 days and the republicans have not brought a single bill to create any jobs at all to the house floor. i don't know what 15 bills he is talking about, but i voted throughout this entire congress and i haven't seen a single bill that creates jobs now and put the shot in the arm the economy needs right now. they have of course voted for a national motto.

in godry trust. >> lots of important things like that. >> thank you very much for joining us. >> thank you, martin. >> top lines are next and it's time to chill. . >> chill out. he's confident he did nothing wrong and he know what is he did. the story will stick around for a while. try not to be angry. ♪ i'm making my money do more. i'm consolidating my assets. i'm not paying hidden fees or high commissions. i'm making the most of my money. and seven-dollar trades are just the start. i'm with scottrade. i'm with scottrade. i'm with scottrade. and i'm loving every minute of it. [ rodger riney ] at scottrade, we give you commission-free etfs, no-fee iras and more. come see why more investors are saying... i'm with scottrade.

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>> excuse me. excuse me! >> herman needs to chill out. >> excuse me! >> he's in a tough spot and candidates when they get into a firestorm come unraveled. >> we're cannot allow china to develop nukes, especially since they developed them in 1964. i am telling you, if they don't act fast, they might build a wall to keep foreigners out. what? no! >> i was talking about that nuclear capability. >> hearing conservatives starting to say, you know what, i would rather lose to barack obama and rather give him four more years than elect mitt romney. >> i am going to try to bring him and bring up the truth and talk about it. >> i will describe the fact that i'm a person of faith and

believe in god and i believe in the principals of the judeo christian world. >> last week and years before he was for cap and trade. he was for global warming is man made. now this next week he comes out and said no, maybe that's not the case. >> for more on this, i'm joined by crystal ball who is a contributor and candidate for the congress and washington. an extremely dapper jonathan cape hart of the "washington post." i will prevent myself from starting. herman cain, three individual women reportedly and two now we know were paid in excess of $30,000 each. chris wilson, an operative pollster and also allegedly witnessed sexually harassing behavior. where is herman cain now? >> this is curtains for him.

the fact that he cannot come out and address the questions and get all the information out there which it is what he should have known to do. every day we have a new bit of information and the story keeps going and going. the problem for him is it wasn't just woman. it wasn't some he said she said and we have a pattern over many years and many witnesses. this is a major major problem for him. >> the problem is he had short-term memory loss and it came back miraculously. you have compared him with sarah palin and i read your wonderful column today. you are almost suggesting that sarah palin by comparison is einsteinian. >> yeah, this guy didn't realize that china had nuclear capabilities. they have had them for a very long time. at least sarah palin could use

the excuse of russia being next door to alaska and if putin wanted to rear his -- i watched the tape, where does he go? right here in alaska across the border. the selection of sarah palin and how woefully unprepared she was to be the 2008 nominee for the gop paved the way for herman cain to be even less prepared and a front-runner for the gop nomination as we speak. >> wonderful. >> i think jonathan is absolutely right about that. out of sarah palin, the gop embraced this whole anti-intellectual we don't need someone who is an ivy league grad. we need common sense. >> you don't need to be educated. >> that was the thinking. common sense principals and people that agree with us to get in there and fix things.

he is a charming person. >> what are do you think about the blame game over the last 24 hours? the team that blamed the romney team and now everyone seems to be walking back a little bit from some of their blame? >> remember when this story first broke, and his campaign tried to say it was a vast left wing experience of racist who is were afraid of a strong independent black conservative and we find out that it's either the perry campaign or the romney campaign or some nepharious party trying to do him harm. that makes me wonder what ann coulter has to say since she was about all blacks are better than their blacks and that's why herman is in the mess he is in. it's because of himself. >> you know that msnbc's blacks

are better than any of them. you are one of them. what did you think about joe scarborough saying many members would rather the president won the next election than have mitt romney as the president? >> that might be taking it a little bit too far, but if you look at the poll numbers, no doubt there is a significant part of the base that wants to vote for someone other than mitt romney. who is up and down and said crazy things. mitt romney is at 20% and he can't team to get beyond that. it will be interesting to see what happened after the scandal. rick perry gets another look and newt gingrich and do people think about michele bachmann or say i guess we have to go with mitt romney even though we don't want to. >> finally and briefly, your response to that. do you think it will be mitt? >> yes. meaning republican primate voters do what they have done, the person who didn't get it the last go around who runs the next go around gets it.

get it? >> got it. the best blacks and whites on television here. thank you so much. don't miss your money, your vote. republican presidential debate wednesday, november 9th live at 8:00 p.m. eastern or the major candidates there to face off and face the nation with their plans to jump-start the economy. i cannot wait. the president, the g20 and the crisis that could really hit home. stay with us. [ male announcer ] this is coach parker... whose non-stop day starts with back pain... and a choice.

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president obama is in cannes, france, for the start of g-20 summit as global leaders try to stabilize the global economy. there is some relief after the greek prime minister decided to

scrap plans to hold a referendum on a bailout plan put together by european leaders. let's bring in william cohen, former wall street banker, investigative journalist, and the author of "money and power: how goldman sachs came to rule the world." i couldn't believe this. the president walked into this summit. four hours before he did so, there was going to be a greek referendum, the greek prime minister was going to resign, and now within four hours, there's no referendum and the greek prime minister is not going to resign. >> this is in the cradle of the democracy, the birthplace of democracy. there is no democracy, and not on this issue. that motorbike for the best. this was world power politics at its most acute. it was incredible today, because everybody knew if this went to a referendum that calls for austerity, nobody in greece, among the people, liked this. >> they were going to reject it. >> who would have only been worse. because then there would have been total chaos. you already saw in the last two days world markets reacting down 600 points.

after poppsaid he wasn't going resign. >> how does the president of the united states go into a foreign territory, into the heart of europe, bang heads together, and force a country, greece, and the prime minister, to take the right course of action, and yet today, what have we had? part of the infrastructure bill voted down in the senate. he can't do anything. >> he can't do anything about domestic politics, which is ironic and sad. but on the world stage, where these tremendous credibility, actually, given recent events. but let's give credit to merkel and sarkozy here, who laid this groundwork. and besides, who is the largest creditor nation on the face of the planet? the united states. if greece could not get this through, if greece could not shovel its problems as a major creditor nation, the u.s., this was only going to be barking up the u.s.'s door relatively soon, and that would make for chaos

and turmoil the whole globe over. it had to be resolved this way. there's no other way. >> final question, it's a tentative agreement, none of these are fixed in stone, as you know. if you were to expect no referendum, do you think we're going to see markets stabilized for a prolonged period? >> i think we have to have the markets stabilized now and greece is the key. you've got the opposition party now on board, going to go to a vote in parliament, lacks like it was going to happen. but we thought it was going to happen last week too. that's all the markets are caring about right now, european economy. that's got to be resolved. >> bill cohen, thanks, as ever, for joining us. we'll be right back. [ man ] flight 373 is delayed. who needs internet? hotspot $5! [ indistinct conversations ] i can see who's on my network, people! ♪ you are next. dave, i'm in. yes. ♪

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it's time now to clear the air. and as we've been reporting, the president is in france, urging the g-20 nations, especially greece, to resolve a crisis that's rocked europe and could

end up engulfing the world. >> the most important aspect of our task over the next two days is to resolve the financial crisis here in europe. >> it's easy to understand why everyone has focused on greece. a country barely the size of louisiana, that lived for decades beyond its means, lied repeatedly about its true budget deficit, and is now threatening the single european currency. it's not difficult to blame the greeks for running an economy that was akin to a state-sponsored ponzi scheme. but many believe none of this would have been possible without the direct involvement of a bank, whose headquarters are just down the road from our studio, here in new york. in 2001, goldman sachs engaged in a series of apparently legal transactions that were designed to hide the true level of greek debt. and that's how the trouble started. the bank handed the greek government a loan of $1 billion and were reportedly and

handsomely paid $300 million in fees. and while the sum was huge, the machine which allowed greece to borrow and spend as if there's no tomorrow was virtually identical to the system created to launder the credit of american subprime borrowers. so, if americans stocks suffer because of the chaos in europe, just make sure you apportion the correct amount of blame. the greeks were irresponsible and deliberately deceptive, but so was goldman sachs. thank you so much for watching. dylan ratigan's here to take us forward. dylan, all yours. >> to the point you were just maki making, martin, what do you think the world thinks of a system that would pay everyone if the greeks don't pay their debt? i just don't understand how on earth anybody could reasonably advocate for a global financial system where an itty-bitty countr