David Stockman, the former budget director for President Ronald Reagan, was a guest on the weekly Breitbart News Sunday show on Sirius XM Patriot channel 125 last Sunday. He spoke extensively about how the permanent political class in Washington has “degraded” capitalism and about the grave long-term threat posed by America’s reckless fiscal policies.
He also praised the Tea Party for relentlessly focusing on these issues.
Stockman is the author of The Great Deformation: The Corruption of Capitalism in America, and he talked extensively about his research and findings with Stephen K. Bannon, the show’s host and Breitbart News’ Executive Chairman, on Breitbart News Sunday.
The segment lit up the phone lines, as callers thanked Bannon and Stockman for discussing a subject many just want to ignore–if they know what is going on at all–or cannot fully comprehend because of its complexity.
Stockman noted that baby boomers who “did it the right way” and saved $100,000 now only make $400 a year, before taxes, for a “lifetime of earnings” because of the low interest rates associated with savings accounts. He criticized monetary policies that discourage savings.
“At the heart, is what I call the rogue central bank,” Stockman said. “You can’t print your way to prosperity.”
He called the Federal Reseve a “monetary politburo” and a “modern rogue central bank.” He claimed it “tricks people into thinking they are wealthier” with “liquidity infusions” and encourages people to put their money in “junk bonds” and “stock market speculation” instead of savings.
He noted how different “Alan Greenspan 2.0” in the 2000s was from a more market-oriented “Greenspan 1.0,” which is how he described Greenspan’s writings before he assumed the chairmanship of the Federal Reserve.
Stockman emphasized that so much of today’s financial system consists of “rigging and domination of financial markets” and noted “none of this would have been considered respectable” even in 1990. He said reckless monetary policies have gone on steroids since the 1990s.
He also said there is not a “systematic campaign” against “this dangerous stuff” and such “reckless” policies “must be confronted” for the long-term fiscal health of the country. Stockman praised the Tea Party for singularly focusing on fiscal issues and at least forcing some conversations on it.
After Bannon assailed the “permanent political class of both parties” for their fiscal irresponsibility, Stockman noted that some of Romney’s top economic advisers “thought [Federal Reserve Chairman Ben] Bernanke was doing a reasonably good job and should be appointed,” even though the United States is practically on the wrong end of a “leveraged buyout.”
Bannon praised Stockman for doing all the research himself and not farming it out to “grundoons”; he noted Breitbart News was the “home” of the major investigations into crony capitalism.
Stockman, Bannon, and callers discussed how many Americans, especially those in retirement or near retirement, wake up with uneasy feelings in their stomachs because of the uncertainty surrounding the country’s fiscal policies and about whether their savings will be enough for them to live on in their sunset years.
Breitbart News Sunday will air again this Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot channel 125 with more compelling interviews that seek to set and influence the news cycle for the week ahead.
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