for seven years she was a wall street insider to day she is an occupy wall street activists alexis goldstein joins me now to talk about her experience in one of america's most profitable industries alexis thank you very much for sitting down with r.t. thank you for having me since the start of the occupy movement in september two thousand and eleven you may be possibly one of the most vocal wall street insiders in the u.s. to come out and pretty much blow the whistle on the culture there you recently wrote an article saying that wall street made you cynical bitter depressed exhausted and paranoid and you felt everyone was out to screw you you spent seven years there why did you put up with that kind of environment for seven years well i think it's a pretty easy answer you're paid pretty well on wall street and it's also pretty alluring you work with a lot of people that are very smart it's sort of this culture where everyone sort of feels superior and so you're always jostling for position neighing and so it's very competitive and i'm competitive and i you know in some ways enjoy that enviro

greed wall street greed. where does washington come in there's a lot of blame to go around i do think that washington is has very much a part of this that is very much to blame for a lot of the deregulation that led to the bubble from everything from alan greenspan keeping interest rates low for so long to be like what's happening right but i guess we were sort of in more of a boom back then and we are right now but yeah sort of so everything from fiscal policy to things like killing glass steagall in one thousand nine hundred nine which under the clinton administration that's right you know the commodity futures modernization act which came about the year before and was pushed really hard by senator phil gramm whose wife wendy gramm was on the board of enron and he put a nice little enron loophole in there there's there's a lot of blame to go around i found very interesting about the occupy movement is how many of those taking part in demos and stuff are aware of the financial influence the corporations and

it's christmastime on wall street. ("jingle bells" playing) by some measures, 2011 was a dismal year to be a banker. their stocks took a nosedive. but this season, new york banks set aside $20 billion in bonuses. since the crash of '08, banks have paid out more than $80 billion in bonuses. while officials in washington focus on rule-making, nothing seems to have really changed the culture of wall street... a culture some feel has simply lost its bearings. >> i think it's probably not an over-exaggeration to say wall street kind of lost its senses. >> narrator: john fullerton is a former banker who says it all began when banks started trading for their own gain and not for their customers. >> it was the rise of trading that shifted the culture. and with that came this much more short-term, profit- generating, competitive mentality. there was just this kind of cult of more, more, more, grow, grow, grow. and i think now the culture on wall street is fundamentally unhealthy. >> ...commodity prices rising... >> i grew less

that is the wall street should turn the bull around on wall street stick the cast of characters on the right and let us as i think that we're about out of time maybe making no float your idea to some regulators or someone else read exact cause we are here but for now dimitri it been fun talking to you and part of the wall street ball in our very special new york least a. and that's all we have time for today thanks so much for watching and don't forget to come back tomorrow we will still be in new york we have a special sit down interview with jim grant editor of grant's interest rate observer and in the meantime you can follow me on twitter at lauren lyster you can give us feedback watch anything you missed catch that was exclusive at youtube dot com the capital account watch is in h.d. on hulu and have a great night. wealthy british style sun. that's no time to write for. markets why not. come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with max cons or for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into cars a report on our you know how sometimes yo

that is the wall street turn the bull around a wall street stick to our so camera a right angle says i think that we're about out of time maybe we can go float your idea to some regulators or someone else read exact cause we are here but for now dimitri it's been fun talking to you and part of the wall street brawl in our very special in new york loose today. and that's all we have time for today thanks so much for watching and don't forget to come back tomorrow we will still be in new york we have a special sit down interview with jim grant editor of grant's interest rate observer and in the meantime you can follow me on twitter at lauren lyster you can give us feedback watch anything you missed catch that was exclusive at youtube dot com slash capital account watch is in h.d. on hulu and have a great night.

america's ass helping fuel the republican war on voting today also who would have thought turns out wall street cronies think cheating is the best way to be successful in america this is why they've been playing around with and manipulating the live war interest rates for so many years and ron paul wants to leave a mark on the republican party next month even if he's not going to be their nominee for president what's happening at a brisk of this weekend and what does it mean for the future of ron paul and his supporters. you need to know this who would have thought that slavery two hundred years ago would help republicans today but it's happening america is a watch with a horrible legacies of slavery yeah obvious ones are centuries of racial discrimination and its consequences today in wealth and opportunity disparities between the races less obvious is what's left over from the huge debate during the constitutional convention of seven hundred eighty seven about who should vote the issue of women for example never came up in several states women could vote new jersey held that right until eight

occupy wall street in line. with. science technology innovation all the list of elements from around russia we've got the huge earth covered for. cash. mine. would be soon which brightened if you knew all about sun from funds to impressions.

these are your headlines for thursday july nineteenth two thousand and twelve bloomberg reports wall street may face upper middle will flow in the library scandal itself if investors and firms sue each other and the financial times reports regulators are narrowing in on at least four of europe's biggest banks in this rate rigging probe h.s.b.c. deutsche bank credit to group the law and society in general but will lie mark a turning point and authorities serious pursuit and punishment of wall street crime will talk about it and why haven't there been convictions of senior level executives from big wall street firms for crimes related to the financial crisis in the several years since well here is how it was laid out and the oscar winning documentary inside job. was go for more do you think there is some more systematic investigation being undertaken because of your find the concrete spinal please i have to disclose something. well the director of that film discussed it with us we interviewed charles ferguson who is out with a new book i should mention and we took stock of where he sees us no

and disturbing developments in los angeles last night with the occupy wall street movement there apparently the monthly our walk of vent drew ire from police who didn't like the idea of occupy los angeles protesters using chalk to write messages and draw pictures on the streets and sidewalks there sixteen protesters were arrested three police officers apparently injured there are also reports that police used pepper balls and that about one hundred forty officers in riot gear were sent in to deal with a crowd of about two hundred people i want to talk more about exactly what happened but joining me right now from our l.a. studio is cheryl likely an activist with the occupy movement she helped organize the protests hey there cheryl i guess kind of break down for me first of all what exactly happened. i do want to just start out by saying i represent myself and i don't speak for all of the pie los angeles and what happened last night was we decided every month we've been a part of the our walk. since the beginning of our encampment back in october of two thousand and eleven and this month we

i call it wall street gibberish. if you're not clued it it can sound like the pros are speaking a different language. you've got to remember there is an industry of people that want you to think investing is too hard, head scratching, and that ordinary people like you and me can't do it and the safest thing to do is give your money to a a pro. maybe that is better for some of you with the time constraints but if you can put in one hour per week per stock i know you can beat the professionals. the fact of the matter is many of the pros are after your fees. more interested in taking your money than making you money. that often means keeping you ignorant about the market so you will stay in your stock chains. i like to compare them to the wizard of oz. they don't want you peaking at the man behind the curtain. they don't want you to understand. if you did then you might very well take control of your own finances. pick your own stocks, and not pay someone else potentially sbosh tant fees to do things you are perfectly c

guys sitting around saying how do we make money this was a bunch of wall street guys sitting around saying how do we solve this problem well this is a replay of what we saw a hundred fifty years ago the u.s. army went west using eminent domain they stripped the native americans of their land and put them onto reservations here you've got wall street has on the west coast using eminent domain to strip people of their private property and put them on some reservations the value of the real estate is going to continue to go down the servicing of the new debt being refinanced allies causing a huge tree for the wall street has of course will end up to further deteriorating financial markets around the world causing more. the debts to be pushed into the public domain you know it's like the reverse of reaganomics in fact you're not much remember in the eighty's they let public housing estates go privatized and that they could buy into their own council flat or public or or house public housing this is the opposite this is wall street bankers now having milked every last drop of of cash fro

the inside story of thehe wall street bailout. with the guardian of the gate, i'll t talk with the r rock sta the 700illion t.a.r.p. program. >>> he is the architect of the controversial plan to balalance america's budget, cut debt, and raise taxes. my conversation with alan simpson. >>> one on one with basketball legend kareem abdul-jabbar. the secret of his sky hook and a lot re. "the wall street journal report" begins right now. >>his is america's number one financial news progm. "the wall street journal report." now, maria bartiromo. >> here's a look at what's making news. america's economy slowed to the weakst pace of growth in about a year. the gdp for the second quarter coming in at an annualized rate of 1.5%, slightly better than economists' expectations actually. but about half of what it had been late last year. consumer spending was weak, helpg push the numbedown. the economy has grown, however, for straight ququarters. >>> the head of the ropean central bank vowed to save the eurozone from collapse and said it will do

to a new week on wall street. america's economy slowed to the weakest pace of growth in a year. the gross domestic product just 1.5%, slightly better than expectations. about half of what it had been late last year. consumer spending was week, helping push the number down. the economy has grown for 12 straight quarters. ahead of the european central bank vowed to save the eurozone from collapse. the comments coming from mario drogy at a speech in london. >> within our mandate, the ecb is ready to do whatever it takes to preserve the euro. >> those words pushed the markets to the best gains of the month on thursday. closing up 200 points a second straight day of gains. in earnings news, european woes are impacting company's bottom lines. mcdonald's missed earnings estimates. ups was short as well. and apple also falling short of expectations. that sent the stock plunging. at&t, boeing and caterpillar surpassed approximate estimates while facebook met expectations in its first earnings report since going public up.

banks or the wall street bankers.e of them have had wall street bangers saying look what you've done to the american people. look at your recklessness. none of that happened. >> eliot: i'm going to disagree with you a little bit. brad miller, the congressman just here. he has been a voice consistently going after the mal factors in the private sector and regulators. by and large i think you're absolutely correct. this has been an issue of political theatrics. stick around. another official, congressman barney frank. i'll >> this court has proven to be the knowing, delighted accomplice in the billionaires' purchase of our nation. >> and you think it doesn't affect you? think again. >> eliot: when everything going wrong in dc, one man we couldn't wait to hear from today congressman barney frank. we'll talk with him next. plus02currenttv media. >>overwhelming majority of the county says: "tax the rich don't go to war." >> eliot: congress and geithner locked horns today on libor. but will anything actually change. dennis

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we are back on wall street today now after yesterday we descended upon the floor of the new york stock exchange behind me today we're crossing the street for what you could call an alternative exchange we have the opportunity to sit down one on one with jim grant editor of grant's interest rate observer from where he really does is observing jim grant let me just say it is a real honor to sit down with you thank you so much for allowing us into your domain my pleasure well great thank you so let's start with because there is a huge outrage about this life or scandal and when we actually first process this news we were thinking ok jim grant is probably saying this is what central banks do every day and in fact you have been saying that you've been out saying that so why are people so outraged about why bore in banks attempting to manipulate it when this is the job of central banks that we all live under wrote the private bankers for the pilate rates on the quiet when they think they can get their way with it surreptitiously opportunistically rarely central banks do it for a living. so i

scrutinized more money troubles across the atlantic where the wall street giant seemed to be turning on each other coming up. wow it's like one of those. just cousteau films where the sharks are in a feeding frenzy except this time it's a bunch of bankers yes max there's a little a diddly a feeding frenzy that could happen on wall street feeding frenzy seen if wall street sues itself over libel or yes goldman sachs and morgan stanley are among financial firms that may bring lawsuits against their biggest rivals as regulators on three continents examined whether other banks manipulated the london interbank offered rate known as libel or said bradley hints an analyst with sanford c. bernstein and company now the only reason why they would do this according to hints is that goldman sachs and morgan stanley manage money market funds so they by law would be a blight to he however says that they wouldn't want to have to do this because they want cordial relationships with the other banks. well as if the law ever stop these guys from doing whatever it is they want to do but now they're hidi

wall street would have -- i don't think that that's true. i don't think on economic issues by 1928, i mean, the 1920s turn out to be a relatively conservative decade on things like labor policy. smith himself is not running an anti-wall street campaign in 1928. and the real sort of progressive candidate had been four years earlier. that was bob la follette running in 1924 on a progressive party platform as the progressive candidate. and that had a much more sort of vocal anti-wall street sentiment. it had much more strict set of regulations and had a lot more focus on economic issues. so, unfortunately, i don't think that smith actually would have done a whole lot significantly different. and i'm not sure, to be honest, that any president was really in a position to foresee what was coming or really had the tools at that point to prevent it from happening. >> i think that -- that's kind of what hoover at the end with his reconstruction finance corporation and the ideas and i'm going to experiment with government intervention and this, i hear

occupy wall street along. our first comment and i comes from sandy bose and tom hartman facebook page this was her question about mitt romney and his religious views when the someone going to square romney with his religious views religious such a strong part of our country if his supporters are of like mind how can he as a man of the cloth because he's a mormon official push for defense spending to kill more people if social services are cut what will he say will recommend that the poor and hungry go to his church well yeah actually that that it typically is the response of conservatives and republicans is that you know charity begins with churches and family and that the government should play no role and maybe you know arguably in times when we lived as as tribal people population was really small there was some sense to that but we started building cities and you know fully developed civilisations. we had to create institutions to protect ourselves and to help each other out and you know the founders of th

he dealt with wall street.th the bankers these are imperfect deals but we got the ball rolling. >> eliot: what you're making is a powerful argument but if i use the language properly you talk about borrowing versus vanquishing. that's a false choice. obviously you have to bargain but i would respond it's all a question of how you handle the negotiate. fdr when he negotiated with the banks he did it with a proverbial pitch fork in his fist using the full weight of his populous anger and ven yum venom. president obama came not with a pitchfork but a piece of plastic and said i'm here to protect you not to point this at you. really it isn't really so much bargain versus vanquish than how much strength and tensile in your backbone. >> back in fdr's time people were angry with him. why are you not keeping the system as it is. you're not doing radical reform enough. we now look at fdr and lbg through a romantic lens and we look at obama through a cynical lens. i think it will look different ten years down the pike. >