And so these vultures are costing
us. And so, as I've written in Billionaires and Ballot Bandits, there's
no such thing as a victimless billionaire. Yeah, don't tell me about Oprah and
J.K. Rowling- (laughs). Yeah, there's exceptions to every rule, but basically
there's no such thing as a victimless billionaire, the top billionaires, who
are funding Romney, and there's thirty seven billionaires funding Romney, and
about a half dozen supporting Obama" thirty seven billionaires supporting
Romney, and every one of those made their money on the markets collapsing. They don't fund staples, you know, for all
this stuff about... they're not job creators. They make money when jobs die.
These are hedge-fund managers who all bet on the collapse economy, and made the
money when it collapsed, and helped it collapse. And that's the story here, and
they have very specific ways of doing it, of making that money. The only
exception to the guys making money on the collapse directly are the Koch
Brothers because they're resource guys, but they and a guy named the Ice Man
are the only guys that are the big funders of the Republican party not making
their money from the collapse, they make it from the theft.
Rob Kall: How do they
make it from the collapse?
Greg Palast: Okay. So
for some example, as I've mentioned, The number one donor according to Fortune
Magazine, the key donor for the Romney operation is Paul "The Vulture" Singer.
If you read my last book, by the way, Vulture's
Picnic, I investigated him all over the world. I just came back from the Congo investigating
this guy. And when I wrote that last book, I didn't even expect him (because
he's not a Republican) to be a big funder of Romney, but he has gone berserk
because Obama's trying to get in his way.
Now, let me explain what happened. Paul "The Vulture" Singer used this
incredible financial flimflam to take the aid money that we and Europe (the
United States Treasury and Europe) gave to the Republic of Congo to end a
cholera epidemic. He took that money. He waylaid it. He laid claim to it and
sucked it up into his bank account. That was one of his minor hits: 90 million.
But, I was in the Congo at the cholera clinic, and let me tell you that 90
million was desperately needed. OxFam was waiting for the money but he sucked
it up. I won't go into the whole thing, you'll have to read Billionaires and
Ballot Bandits, because these guys don't work in a simple way, it's complex.
Obama went to court to stop it. This
guy's operations, Paul "The Vulture" Singer's operations, have been made
illegal. After I did my report, and you
know, for those who know Greg Palast, I report for BBC TV, right. I put my
report on BBC TV about Paul "The Vulture" Singer, and the next day Parliament,
all parties, unanimously voted to outlaw this guys operation in England and the
Commonwealth. He is outlawed in Germany
and Holland, Congo... China won't let him in, and all over Latin America, and yet
the United States is an exception where he still operates (The Vulture) Except
that now, Obama's feeling a lot of diplomatic pressure, and pressure even from
banks has called for putting Singer out of business. He was lugged into federal court on April 4th. Singer is livid! So he gathered together
thirty-seven billionaires to say "Obama's got to go, or we're out of business."
I'm not supporting Obama. That's your problem. I'm a British reporter. That's
your problem Gringos, despite my accent, but, you know..
Rob Kall:
How about the justice department?
You know, Obama's justice department"I personally have been saying that Eric
Holder is the worst DOJ Attorney General in history. What's your thinking, how do you think the
DOJ is doing in terms of all the things you're concerned about?
Greg Palast: Terribly,
I wouldn't say he's the worst, because the operation under Bush literally
fired... you know, one of the stories in the book, by the way... Well I'm happy to
say Holder, it's not that he's the worst, but I'd like him to set his alarm
clock because he seems to be dead asleep. He's finally woken up about the issue
that ID can wipe out black voters. But remember these guys are Harvard
graduates. They have their passports;
they've got their chauffeurs to vouch for them. You know, Andy Young and Vernon
Jordan, they're all for voter IDs. They say, well you know that's a good idea,
because then poor people can go get credit cards if they have IDs. But yeah,
who's giving them credit cards, Andy? Okay, so this is a class issue, and so
what you have to remember is that Eric Holder, he's not the attorney general for
the Democrats; he's the attorney general for the rich. And particularly, and as
a matter fact, Mark Rich, the billionaire bandit? Holder was the guy who
convinced Bill Clinton to pardon that international outlaw. So yeah, I mean, Holder works for the rich,
and the rich want to maintain control of the election. Now, he's getting
nervous because his boss was going to lose, and he would lose, his job. So he
had to make a few little adjustments on the electoral system so that
(unintelligible)13:02 the White House.
But as far as losing the Senate
and the rest of it, he couldn't care less, he really couldn't care less. And he
certainly doesn't care less, by the way, remember, in Billionaires and
Ballot Bandits we have nine ways to steal the election. Every single one
has a racial bias; and Holder doesn't care.
Rob Kall: Now, I want
to get back to the election. You've mentioned the word "swiping" a few
times; that billionaires are "swiping" the election. Now that could mean
stealing, but I'm getting the feeling that swiping means something more than
just stealing?
Greg Palast: Two
things, well, because I want to distinguish this, and remember that in
Billionaires in Ballot Bandits we have the opening and closing chapters written
by Bobby Kennedy, who is a dean of a law school, Pace. His daddy wrote the
Voting Rights Act. Now, so I am very careful about how I make statements of
law, so I leave it to him. We have nine
ways to steal the election in the book.
Some of them are unfortunately legal; it's disgusting, racist, and
horrible. Some, as Kennedy says, again
I'm not the lawyer, he is, as Kennedy says "They are crimes: Karl Rove should
be in jail." That's a quote from Professor Kennedy. So some are crimes and some
are not, and all of it is a threat to our democracy ,no matter who's in office.
And I could give you an example.
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