Bill Moyers interviews William Black

On April 3, 2009 Bill Moyers interviewed William K. Black, author and professor at the University of Missouri, Kansas City. Black has been speaking and writing about the banking crisis and asks the question “How did they get away with it?”. As the depth of the banking crisis unfolds people justifiably are asking how could such a thing happen? Why did the media not report on this, why didn’t Congress intervene? Some might say it’s a naive question. Noam Chomsky might say it’s obviously just another piece of the propaganda puzzle. Other’s, like the global NGO attac, might cry out and remind us that they’ve been talking about the dangers of a deregulated financial sector for years. Paul Krugman convincingly argues that the neocons have been scheming for at least 30 years to install the very regulation-free, profit-oriented, anti-social system that we have today.
William K. Black has a somewhat different approach. He charges that the banker class is struggling to maintain a coverup. They don’t want the public to know that the banks are insolvent. Obama has also chosen to follow this disingenuous story. According to Black the banker class is scared stiff that if the public found out the truth about the situation of the banks, there would be a run on the banks. Although this may be true, Black says, deposit insurance is sufficient to prevent the system from collapsing.
Black goes on to explain that the Obama Administration is in violation of the law regarding bank regulation. After the S&L scandal of the 1980’s the Prompt Corrective Action Law was enacted. This law, which requires the government to take banks with insufficient capitalization into receivership, is simply being ignored by the Obama Administration. The law actually requires the government to shut down many of the banks that have caused so much trouble.
One other aspect of Moyer’s interview with Black which I would like to repeat is the idea that the public has to be informed about the present crisis. One hears so often how complicated the banking system is. That’s baloney. You don’t need a masters in economics to realize that the banks are out of control. They are totally deregulated. The consumer is unprotected. The government has to step in and retake it’s role as protectorate of the people.
Here you can listen to or read Moyer’s interview with William K. Black.