Within the cult of Wall Street that forged Mitt Romney, making money justifies any behavior, no matter how venal.
Matt TaibbiIf you look back in history, as the barbarians were invading the gates of Rome, people were consulting fortunetellers and worrying about the end of the world and all sorts of other apocalyptic notions. When the tsars were finally overthrown, they were all reading tarot cards even as the revolutionaries were banging at the gates.
Matt TaibbiCritics say the OWS protesters hate the rich. Come on! Success is the national religion, and almost everyone is a believer. Americans love winners. But that's just the problem. These guys on Wall Street are not winning - they're cheating. And as much as we love the self-made success story, we hate the cheater that much more.
Matt TaibbiRatings agencies are the glue that ostensibly holds the entire financial industry together.
Matt TaibbiThe mistake our politicians so often make with these industry leaders is in thinking they are interested in, or respectful of, the power of government. All they want is to keep stealing. If you can offer them the governmentโs seal of approval on that, theyโll take it. But if you canโt, well, theyโll take that too.
Matt TaibbiIn the Tea Party narrative, victory at the polls means a new American revolution, one that will "take our country back" from everyone they disapprove of. But what they dont realize is, there's a catch: This is America, and we have an entrenched oligarchical system in place that insulates us all from any meaningful political change.
Matt Taibbi