Reprinted from Truthdig
In this week's "Scheer Intelligence" -- the Truthdig editor-in-chief's podcast on KCRW -- author, journalist and former investment banker Nomi Prins explains the culture of Wall Street and its influence on government.
Prins worked as a managing director at Bear Stearns and Goldman Sachs for several years before leaving the financial sector around the time of the Enron crisis to become one of its sharpest critics. She has written several books about the relationship between Washington and Wall Street, including "All the Presidents' Bankers: The Hidden Alliances that Drive American Power" and "Other Peoples' Money: The Corporate Mugging of America."
Scheer and Prins discuss that relationship and the players who have kept it going in spite of devastating effects on many Americans. In addition, Prins talks about the lack of an "accountability gene" within many in the finance industry.
Lastly, we hear about how Wall Street has influenced and may continue to influence the presidential candidates and outcome of this year's election.
Read the transcript below.
--Adapted from KCRW by Alexander Reed Kelly.
RS: Hello. I'm Robert Scheer, and welcome to Scheer Intelligence, my podcast in collaboration with KCRW in which I talk to people I consider to be American originals. My guest today is Nomi Prins, definitely an American original. She started out working on Wall Street, worked for Goldman Sachs at one point, and then has emerged as one of the major critics of the big banks and what they did to bring about the Great Recession. She is currently a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Public Policy Think Tank DEMOS; she is also the author of several books, including "It Takes a Pillage" and, most recently, "All the President's Bankers." And, full disclosure, she served on Senator Bernie Sanders' Federal Reserve Advisory Council. I'm going to ask you what that's all about. But I want to get an objective appraisal of this democratic election, because we're being frightened with some image of the greater evil of the Republican Party, and there's a lot of evil there to talk about. But once again, we're being urged to think uncritically about the Democrats. And I want -- you know, your, "It Takes a Pillage" is, after all, a play on Hillary Clinton's "It Takes a Village"; it's a terrific book, I use it in teaching in my job at USC, and I've had you in my class, and I have great respect for your analysis. So why don't we begin there? You were working at Goldman Sachs, and what has brought you to this place, and what is your evaluation of the choices we face?