I really wish TV Squad would wean themselves off their inlinking to Hulu videos. Only those within the US can see them, making this site an exercise in frustration for those outside the US.

Go Jon & team...they are spot on!

Lol. Jon Stewart making fun of someone for "cheap populism".

If people knew how corrupt the financial industry really was, they'd keep their money in their mattresses. I used to be the head attorney for one of these "financial services" companies, and it's just amazing... I quit in disgust when I refused to perform an illegal act, but that was just the tip of the iceberg.

It should be illegal to recommend, for profit, the sale or purchase of any security. That law alone, while putting a few million people out of work, would in the long run help the economy. People don't deserve to keep jobs that shouldn't be allowed to exist in the first place. Nobody cried about the alcohol industry when they enacted prohibition. Same deal (though I'm certainly against all chemical prohibition, including drug prohibition).

I think that the question boils down to who is/was more in control of the day to day financial magament of the US - the puppets (the public) or the puppetmasters (the financial sector)? Those in control must accept responsiblity for the current mess. With true capitalistic tendancies the financial sector squeezed as much money from the average person as they could to make the most money (look at the financial returns gained by banks in relation to 'free checking accounts' as an example). This situation started as a result of the financial sectors squeezing too hard and breaking the financial back of the average person which now in turn has affected them. There is a symbiotic relationship between banks and their customers that was ignored for a long time

I think most of your comments are missing the point.

Most people would agree that homeowners should take their share of blame for the sub-prime debacle. I think most people would also agree that the big banks, insurance companies and car manufacturers have a lot to answer for as well. However Jon Stewart's piece and even Rick Santelli's rant have very little to do with this.

Jon Stewart was commenting on the fact that even with all the billions and billions of dollar handed out to big companies in the bailout so far, Rick Santelli was complaining about the small percentage that was given to homeowners.

We could argue for days about whether there should have been a bailout or not but that argument is mute now because the bailout is happening and now is the time when then funds are being divided up. Jon Stewart was rightfully pointing out that if Citibank or AIG or GM can get their share of the money then why can't the homeowners take their minute piece.

Jon - You're right on point with your critique of the hypocrisy of the MSNBC talking heads. Because I'm in the financial services industry, I WATCH MSNBC to get the latest readings on the market movements and to look at the charts -- but I no longer listen to their ill informed, biased, non-journalistic rants. My TV is on mute.

It might be helpful to ex-plain this in the context of TV. Here's a helpful skit by SNL to demonstrate the point: http://tinyurl.com/b35b22

"He recently became America's douchebag of the week when he got a bunch of braying jackasses (you might know them as stock traders) to cheer against Barack Obama's call for some of the stimulus money to go towards homeowners in danger of default."

So I guess that the nation-wide grassroots "Tea Party" that was inspired by Santelli's rant were just a bunch of "braying jackasses" too? And I guess they were "braying jackasses" because they didn't feel like having their taxes raised--because, you know, those meanies don't have families or mortgages either--to rescue people who shouldn't have been given home loans in the first place.

Or did we suddenly forget that the housing market collapsed because of the "toxic debt" created by the granting of easy home loans and then pawning off the ownership of that debt as "structured investment"? And now the plan is to borrow trillions more in money, from foreign creditors, and then have future taxpayers pay off that borrowed money down the line, with interest.

And when did home ownership become a right, rather than something to aspire to? Did renting and leasing become so odious that we now have to make sure every person owns their own home, even if that means they get to incur debt they can't pay?

Hey Danny, what does it say about TV Squad when you report on this later than german bloggers?

I guess better late than never. But still - I miss Annie.