Hedges has a unique perspective on what's wrong in America. I don't agree with him on everything, but he's spot on far more often than he is off base. Keep doing what you're doing Chris.
Hedges frequently talks of Shakespeare's insight into the human condition yet he NEVER acknowledges Britain's contribution to the modern world; which was NOT one of wanton genocide, ignorance and barbarity. Sorry, guys, it wasn't. Get over it. The US destroyed the British Empire with just as much enthusiasm as it destroyed the Ottomans, the Nazis and the Japanese Empires. Well done. The US owes its constitution to the British; the very ideas the US EVER valued and yet they DENY their origins!
This is actually a global phenomena. It's happening in all societies around the globe and is a part of the shift that humanity is going through. Fear not as you see the old collapse for its time has passed. The idea is not to try to fix the old systems but to create new systems that reflect the new state of consciousness. Peace
I've been seeing these things happening in our society since I was a teenager and had always wondered if anyone else noticed them. To hear Chris Hedges not only address but break them down with such brutal honesty makes me so happy... then sad because he's so very right.
@ajsfa I too was initially VERY impressed by Hedges' ideas. However, notice how he seems only ever to put into relief against US criminality the Muslims, Communists and bandits in general. Strange. THIS is where his ENTIRE critique falls down. How many Arab thinkers does he quote? None. It is their generic fluent narrative of victimhood that has influenced him. Yet it is the Ancient Greeks and the British who grant him a worthwhile language about the human condition. Yet he would sell them all.
@MrMweizman - Your statement is a perfect example of the narrative on the modern intellectualism of man. The real truth is often the most difficult for the most aware and intelligent creatures to accept. But when the US media has all but blacklisted a man(such as the case with Mr Hedges, Nader and many others), you can almost directly tie that to the fact that they see the reality of what our society is about better than just about anyone you can think of.
@MrMweizman youre broken and deluded - did you listen to anything the man said? You just cant reconcile what hes saying and reality - that feeling in your head? Thats called cognitive dissonance
It's a damn shame, but you just can't win. Hitchens was great but then he fell in love with Bush. Chris is great, but he loves religion. I wanna mix and match them.
@TheGatesOfFire and exactly what is wrong with hedges' espousal of religion, when he denounces the bigotry of fundamentalist and institutionalized religion? He doesn't proselytize much at all, but rather defends, if pointedly asked, religion from being characterized simplistically as evil by people who ignore its nuances. It's moot, but if he has sustained his belief in religion thus far, and religion has sustained him, maybe it doesn't deserve lazy polemic treatment. - humble atheist here.
I remain deeply disturbed that those responsible for allowing the so called sub prime mortgages have not been aggressively rooted out and prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Isn't it apparent that due to these overtly criminal and treasonous actions that America has been brought to the brink of collapse? Why not muster the courage to root out this cancer before we take another step..... no parade of "presidential candidates" please..... THE SLEEPER MUST AWAKEN
Mr. Hedges needs to think. He says that the porn industry makes possibly 4 times as much as Hollywood earns; then he says that anyone can get porn off the Internet for free. Hello? How do you earn profits on free stuff? In reality, while some commercial porn businesses earn marginal profits at best, the commercial porn industry generally is withering exactly because free Internet porn is driving it out of business. Huge porn profits have always been a fiction mostly peddled by its opponents.
@popesnose Completely untrue. Canadians have amongst the best teeth in the world - straight, clean and white. You obviously don't live in Canada or know many Canadians
You seem to come from the UK by your channel information. I have lived in Canada many decades and was born here. A dental plan is not included with Canadian healthcare. The dentists here are wealthy beyond measure from catering to the rich and private insurance companies. And unless a Canadian comes from a well off family or is very lucky his or her teeth are not good. Especially as they age. Your comment makes me think you are pandering, a dentist or have an axe to grind.
Interesting: just now the NYPD are closing down Brooklyn Bridge, beating and arresting peaceful protesters and at the same time I am listening to Chris Hedges speaking on Michael Enright on CBC Sunday Edition. I suppose the governments will next attack the means to hear and see all this---the internet and social meadia and replace them with systems of propaganda only.
I love everything Chris Hedges does and says, well almost. I find it highly ironic that a theist would say this: 3:50 - 4:20 Paraphrase: "If you are making decisions not based in reality it is catastrophic." I totally agree, so why are you a Theist then Chris? I mean fuck monetary, market systems they all are NOT based in reality (and anyone that disagrees is utterly insane) but so is theism. If we found replacements to money, markets, and replaced theism with rationalism, things would improve.
@Ass2mouth18 Hitchens is a fraid. Hedges is perhaps a shade too pessimisstic and like many leftists unfair to Lawrence Summers (I mean Summers gets it as far as what needs to be done in the economy). That being said when he explores things, it is a far more profound appraisal of fundamentals, with a logic that is practically undeniable.
@TheLoyalOfficer Neither Summers nor Geithner are criminals, both I suspect are complicit to a large extent in enabling financiers more than was prudent but both genuinely mean well, Geithner for example has not worked for a private investment firm since 1989.
@Meade556 No they don't. They are both tools of Wall St. and the big banks. Their complicity is disgraceful and disgusting. They, and many others, should be sent to jail for what they have done.
At the very least they should be utterly shamed and shunned.
@TheLoyalOfficer Geithner has tried hard since the early days of the administration to push to for higher taxes on the wealthy, particularly on capital gains, dividends and overseas corporate subsidies. Someone like Geithner could have cashed in long ago if he had wished, but he obviously has chosen not to. To me that indicates a hard working public servant.
@Meade556 What??? He already DID cash in long ago! That's one of the reasons why he is in government now - he's the vanguard agent of the banksters, making sure that government does their bidding.
NO ONE FROM GOLDMAN SACHS (or any other Wall St. firm) SHOULD BE TRUSTED IN GOVERNMENT.
@TheLoyalOfficer For all but three years of his professional life Timothy Franz Geithner has worked in the Government. He is not Henry Paulson who blew off the worries of European Finance Ministers in February 2008 about an impending financial crisis. Geithner got the bankers, including his Goldman Sachs buddies to accept a huge writedown of their greek debt.
@Meade556 He is a horrendous, tax-cheating, privileged, multi-millionaire fraud.
Why you defend him is completely beyond me. He is a poster-boy for the horrendous problem that we have with the revolving door between Wall St. and government.
@TheLoyalOfficer He paid the taxes he owed, his parents were fairly middling civil servants and I defy you to get rich on a government salary and as I said he has been working for Uncle Sam since 1989 with no stops. He has never had a significant position in any private sector institution.
@Meade556 He was named head of the PRIVATE NY Federal Reserve. He is also a follower of those criminal pigs Rubin and Summers who broke down Glass Steagall and created Too Big To Fail. They all should be thrown in jail, or into pine boxes, for their crimes.
He supported the disgraceful TARP, and will undoubtedly support the next bailout when, for example, Europe blows up.
@TheLoyalOfficer Go to the Fed's website, it is .gov. Their salaries are all disclosed, the chairman is appointed by elected officials, Fed Res employees are also overseen by OPM it is a government agency. The breaking down of Glass Steagall was not necessarily a bad idea, what was terrible was not regulating the results of doing so. Both Summers and Geithner, although defending their corporate friends, have also been pushing hard for all the Dodd-Frank rules to be implemented and not watered
@Mead The Federal Reserve is a consortium of PRIVATE banks. They are not regulated at all. There is just the song-and-dance with the Fed Chairman, who is chosen for Congress by their masters on Wall St. It's just a pathetic show.
Dodd-Frank is a joke, written by Wall St, for Wall St. Why do you think it is 1000 pages long? Because it is loaded with fine print from the lawyer labs in Goldman Sachs et al. Their goals: maintain Too Big To Fail and bailouts when they screw up. Geithner = criminal
@TheLoyalOfficer No, you can hum incantations at me all you want, it is a government body. It operates like a private bank but it is a government agency. Do big private sector institutions have too much say by being able to sit on the boards of regional banks and elect the Presidents of those banks should they sit on the board. Yes. At the same time it varies from region to region. Charles Evans is not popular with fat cats in Chicago for example.
@Meade Everything you said are just coats of sugar. The key point remains: it's a PRIVATE consortium. That's not an incantation, nor is it hummed. It's just the truth. Same with the regions - there may be some bumps here and there, but the overall goal is the same: total collusion with Wall St.
NEVER TRUST A 1000 PAGE BILL. Dodd-Frank = JOKE. Geithner = CRIMINAL
@Meade Losses to what extent? And was it Geithner or the eurobankers who forced it? My understanding was that the haircut was 25% (75 cents on the dollar.) Of course, I might be wrong as to the level, but I bet it was hardly a bloodbath. And don't forget - Wall St. had plenty of put options and short sales to cover themselves anyway. They probably wanted a BIGGER haircut.
@TheLoyalOfficer It is 50% Geithner helped pushed for it with other Finance Ministers because he felt that after all the cuts the Greeks had done it was unfair to make them sacrifice so much without those who had not judged risk properly when buying the stuff. Bonds don't have the same options as stock so everyone in the private sector, with the exception of a few compassionate and far sighted souls, lined up to oppose it. In retaliation Geither made public that they had walked off TARP...
@TheLoyalOfficer because TARP put limits on executive compensation. Geither has also, since the first days of the administration been pushing for tax increase for the wealthy, taxing capital gains and dividends as ordinary income and eliminating subsidies for the overseas operations of corporations. Is he ideal? No. But he is the best Treasury Secretary since Paul O' Neill
@Meade556 Dodd-Frank by it's nature can never be what we need to protect the economy. Congress punted and allowed ALL the final regulations to be open for review by hundreds of individual regulators, thus allowing further watering down and loopholes down the road. Glass-Steagall created a solid, impenetrable wall between FDIC-protected commercial banks and casino/hedgefund/investment banks.
@Ass2mouth18 Agreed. Hedges has so much to say about a wide array of issues and is refreshing compared to the usual ridicule of Hitchens, or even Dawkins.
@Ass2mouth18 Great nickname but seriously, do you also recommend the book to non-American readers as well? Do you believe there are similarities between what is going on in the US and the developed countries of the EU? And if so, how are these conditions related to each other?
Another suggestion: "Declarations of Indepedence: Cross-Examining American Ideology" by Howard Zinn.
This book was written in the early 90s and in case you missed it the first time, its relevance to what is going on now is uncanny. It may be hard to find because it was published about 20 years ago.
I'm currently doing a sociology module in uni about culture and media. It focuses largely on the freedom offered by the disintegration of anchoring identities like class, race and gender through consumerism. Hedges' critique is invaluable in attacking this vague and superficial theory without relying on outdated Marxist / Frankfurt materialism. The illusionary sickness of this culture can only be cured by grounding our identity in the land we live in. Love your landbase not the mass culture.
Great wake-up call for me. This kind of thing is never popular. Anyone who makes an attempt to wake the collective is going to fail. Only small pockets of humanity can wake up. There were probably people like him a few centuries before Rome officially fell. Empires will always fail. They have an organic lifetime, like any living entity.
@Entityofme1 I agree with about 98% of what this man has to say -------- with a little effort you can make to 100% ..... don't give up, you can do it.. Check out ---> 2009 Sea Ice Update on youtube. I mean, who are you going to believe ? Somebody's opinion or someione who actually goes out there and measures the ice ?
Because the educational system has been completly hijacted by people who create systems managers, those who are competent at managing a system, but not questioning it.
I am studying at university in europe and i can say this man cant be more true. The stupid people who only have self presenting abilities take over the god damn world, this will end sad!
@m4nullllllllllllllll it's been happening for years. Hedges voice has been out there for years, amongst others. You only now have discovered this voice because you too have been manipulated by the American celebrity media. You were manipulated to believe all Americans were the dummies portrayed in the pop media.
This guy is 'good" but for me he is only commenting on things we already know (well I know)but have wrote a book about it that's all . but I think that it is important for the young to watch this ,so that they become conscious of what they witness. very well worth the watch. well done Allen.(I'm 32 but have always seen through the "bullshit)"
@OBSysteme Hedges quite clearly explains why in the video itself- corporate control of the media precludes people like him from appearing on American television outside of relatively marginalized venues like PBS. He was fired from the NYT for speaking truth to power (opposing the Iraq war in its early days), and he has been effectively blacklisted from most media outlets since. Incidentally, Canada isn't much better- there's a reason he appeared on TVO rather than, say, Global..
Maybe this guy can fill the huge hole Noam Chomsky will leave when he dies? Notice that a lot of what he says is almost exactly the same message as Chomsky (less focus on foreign affairs though).
This man's intelligence and insight is superb. He is a reflection of those rare Americans who think clearly and not let themselves become blinded by either blue donkey or red elephant blood. If he were President, which would never happen because he doesn't pander, America might have real hope for the future!
@Shadowlit001 It's not an exclusively American problem. He presents a figure for illiteracy in Canada which is staggering. Our societal deformities are basically the same.
i agree with most of what this guy says, until the 9 minute mark. I just do not get this guy and porn. I think honestly the guy has sex issues or something. I'm not saying the porn industry is perfect or even good, but come on. Porn is not exactly an anomaly among humans in the 20th/21st century. This guy once bragged about seducing the GF of a guy who insulted him, and he tries to take the moral high ground on sex? stick to war stories guy.
@Konform2zoidberg I think that the porn example was used in the same context as wrestling. In a sense that it simply mirrors the nature of our society which is largely oriented around violence and sex. Don't really think it's the porn industry that he's targetting in his criticisms. Rather, he's simply pointing out the correlation between the nature of the entertainment business and the North American society and how these two propell each other...
Chris Hedges sounds like Hugo Weaving (Agent Smith) from the Matrix...very similar sounding voice....which reminds me of that quote
Agent Smith: "It came to me when I tried to classify your species and I realized that you're not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment but you humans do not.........A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet. You're a plague and we are the cure. "
@superheronumber1 They're excellent, particularly "American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America," "I Don't Believe in Atheists," "War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning," and of course "Empire of Illusion." Though I wouldn't recommend beginning with the latter book since it helps to have more background on where he's coming from before tackling that hard-hitting piece.
If you enjoyed this chat with Hedges, check out this latest biscuit: TVO - The Agenda - Chris Hedges: The Liberal Class | Death of the Liberal Class? Friday, Oct 22 2010
Warning, the views of Reihan Salam & Tony Keller could cause excessive laughing, due to their silly ideas of reality. Salam said there is "No Corporate Control..." in life, he said that, out loud. Hedges gives a Chomsky like menu of war crimes by the US in Iraq and it shows what a cheerleader Michael Ignatieff was for Bush II
Thank you for elucidating what to me seems obvious, but which, for so many, seems to hardly be an after thought, if it is a thought at all -- which I doubt.
I wish everyone would watch this and read his book.
Its unfortunate that the "the working class" may never read his work or watch his interviews. The subjects he seems to care about the most. I guess the truth would be overwhelming. As Hedges would probably saw "it would viewed as an uneventful spectacle"
why would chris hedges and noam chomsky debate? i'm pretty sure they've been friends for a long time, don't believe they would disagree on a whole lot
I read it, fantastic, except that Chomsky has never seen the US in such a bad state, glad I got real healthcare in Canada, used to live outside of Boston. And the New School 2009 talk by Hedges is even more dense than the TVO interview, amazing!
Chris Hedges is not to be missed -- he has a remarkble range of experience, knowledge and understanding -- and a heart, a heart for feeling and a heart for keeping on fighting to wake people up to the huge problems of the US today. You can find him on Truthdig, too
That was an awesome discussion. Chris Hedges included nearly all of the problems of our society. I'd love to hear a discussion between him and Chomsky.
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stxrobstar 2 weeks ago
Hedges has a unique perspective on what's wrong in America. I don't agree with him on everything, but he's spot on far more often than he is off base. Keep doing what you're doing Chris.
novenator 2 weeks ago
17:56 So true, so true. Most corporations nowadays are like the Gestapo. Hedges 2012!
aerofart 3 weeks ago
Hedges frequently talks of Shakespeare's insight into the human condition yet he NEVER acknowledges Britain's contribution to the modern world; which was NOT one of wanton genocide, ignorance and barbarity. Sorry, guys, it wasn't. Get over it. The US destroyed the British Empire with just as much enthusiasm as it destroyed the Ottomans, the Nazis and the Japanese Empires. Well done. The US owes its constitution to the British; the very ideas the US EVER valued and yet they DENY their origins!
ritchloui 3 weeks ago
Another P honey
lazyfreedom98 1 month ago
This is actually a global phenomena. It's happening in all societies around the globe and is a part of the shift that humanity is going through. Fear not as you see the old collapse for its time has passed. The idea is not to try to fix the old systems but to create new systems that reflect the new state of consciousness. Peace
gkbhai 1 month ago
I've been seeing these things happening in our society since I was a teenager and had always wondered if anyone else noticed them. To hear Chris Hedges not only address but break them down with such brutal honesty makes me so happy... then sad because he's so very right.
ajsfa 1 month ago
@ajsfa I too was initially VERY impressed by Hedges' ideas. However, notice how he seems only ever to put into relief against US criminality the Muslims, Communists and bandits in general. Strange. THIS is where his ENTIRE critique falls down. How many Arab thinkers does he quote? None. It is their generic fluent narrative of victimhood that has influenced him. Yet it is the Ancient Greeks and the British who grant him a worthwhile language about the human condition. Yet he would sell them all.
ritchloui 3 weeks ago
finally someone who speaks about the very things I have thought of for years!! He just says it better!!
enshrinehd 1 month ago
@MrMweizman - Your statement is a perfect example of the narrative on the modern intellectualism of man. The real truth is often the most difficult for the most aware and intelligent creatures to accept. But when the US media has all but blacklisted a man(such as the case with Mr Hedges, Nader and many others), you can almost directly tie that to the fact that they see the reality of what our society is about better than just about anyone you can think of.
LostTroubadour 1 month ago
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Theyre having alot of a harder time screwing over Europeans..
Comparatively low impact of the Bankster Crisis.. adn Universal healthcare
Means basically no really desperate people..
We just voted out the goverment who were responsible for the Bankster bailouts
here \o/
jsgdk 1 month ago
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jsgdk 1 month ago
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scatcoitusmoosic 1 month ago in playlist Anti-Pornography Book Author Interviews
This man is absolutely clueless to what is going on. Absolutely clueless. I can't believe people are actually applauding him. What a sad Idiocracy.
MrMweizman 1 month ago
@MrMweizman - His family is in ministry, and so there's more that he doesn't divulge.
PepLacy 1 month ago
@MrMweizman You're a fucking moron. You probably own lots of shit, and so you have to talk shit.
missingt00th 1 month ago
@MrMweizman youre broken and deluded - did you listen to anything the man said? You just cant reconcile what hes saying and reality - that feeling in your head? Thats called cognitive dissonance
AmsterdamHeavy 1 month ago
THANKS----Hedges is a rare (informed and courageous) observer of what's happening...
Dionysos37 2 months ago
sometimes it is difficult to listen to hedges as it is to look at the sun. You are blinded by the light, the force and depth of his words.
s0673451 3 months ago 3
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This guy would make good friends with David Icke.
stratocaster1986able 3 months ago
This guy was make good friends with David Icke.
stratocaster1986able 3 months ago
It's a damn shame, but you just can't win. Hitchens was great but then he fell in love with Bush. Chris is great, but he loves religion. I wanna mix and match them.
TheGatesOfFire 3 months ago
@TheGatesOfFire and exactly what is wrong with hedges' espousal of religion, when he denounces the bigotry of fundamentalist and institutionalized religion? He doesn't proselytize much at all, but rather defends, if pointedly asked, religion from being characterized simplistically as evil by people who ignore its nuances. It's moot, but if he has sustained his belief in religion thus far, and religion has sustained him, maybe it doesn't deserve lazy polemic treatment. - humble atheist here.
lolibaton 3 months ago 4
Hedges is brilliant - fuck the positive thinking - we need realistic thinking..
skullpepper 4 months ago 8
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One of the most important figures in American public life today.
Outthereandback 4 months ago
I remain deeply disturbed that those responsible for allowing the so called sub prime mortgages have not been aggressively rooted out and prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Isn't it apparent that due to these overtly criminal and treasonous actions that America has been brought to the brink of collapse? Why not muster the courage to root out this cancer before we take another step..... no parade of "presidential candidates" please..... THE SLEEPER MUST AWAKEN
altongrimes 4 months ago
more people need to read, listen, watch Chris Hedges
GoatOfGandhi 4 months ago 2
I'm so glad I don't live in America.
Reckin007 4 months ago
"sub human at best" I don't like wrestling but that comment by the host is prejudiced and inappropriate
acehole7 4 months ago
Since 1973 real wages have been declining. interesting how he mentioned delinking the last remnants of gold standard:)
drusha1 4 months ago
All so true. But how can a society, so brainwashed towards greed and lacking any form of empathy, ever change?
greglorious 4 months ago
not only is he right, but he's so right that few people will ever see this.
Icix1 5 months ago 2
Mr. Hedges needs to think. He says that the porn industry makes possibly 4 times as much as Hollywood earns; then he says that anyone can get porn off the Internet for free. Hello? How do you earn profits on free stuff? In reality, while some commercial porn businesses earn marginal profits at best, the commercial porn industry generally is withering exactly because free Internet porn is driving it out of business. Huge porn profits have always been a fiction mostly peddled by its opponents.
jimtrueblue99 5 months ago
26:26 If you ever do get to this choice take the British system which give dental. You can usually tell a Canadian by their bad teeth.
popesnose 5 months ago
@popesnose Completely untrue. Canadians have amongst the best teeth in the world - straight, clean and white. You obviously don't live in Canada or know many Canadians
imaccuish 4 months ago
@imaccuish
You seem to come from the UK by your channel information. I have lived in Canada many decades and was born here. A dental plan is not included with Canadian healthcare. The dentists here are wealthy beyond measure from catering to the rich and private insurance companies. And unless a Canadian comes from a well off family or is very lucky his or her teeth are not good. Especially as they age. Your comment makes me think you are pandering, a dentist or have an axe to grind.
popesnose 4 months ago
Interesting: just now the NYPD are closing down Brooklyn Bridge, beating and arresting peaceful protesters and at the same time I am listening to Chris Hedges speaking on Michael Enright on CBC Sunday Edition. I suppose the governments will next attack the means to hear and see all this---the internet and social meadia and replace them with systems of propaganda only.
popesnose 5 months ago
I love everything Chris Hedges does and says, well almost. I find it highly ironic that a theist would say this: 3:50 - 4:20 Paraphrase: "If you are making decisions not based in reality it is catastrophic." I totally agree, so why are you a Theist then Chris? I mean fuck monetary, market systems they all are NOT based in reality (and anyone that disagrees is utterly insane) but so is theism. If we found replacements to money, markets, and replaced theism with rationalism, things would improve.
elbowbiter1 5 months ago
chris hedges has cogent arguments.
natfly665 5 months ago
i wonder if he visited charlie rose in this book tour..
PersonalSpaceInvdr 5 months ago
who is the host and what is the name of the show?
thedelta88 5 months ago
@thedelta88 allan gregg
ArseneIncubus4 4 months ago
What kind of debate is he saying at 26:42? Foe Debate? I'm trying to research it.
hc5831 6 months ago
@hc5831 Faux, pronounced foe, means "false" in French.
jpmcculloch 6 months ago
@jpmcculloch Thanks dude. : )
hc5831 6 months ago
Chris Hedges is a lonely profet calling in the desert named America.
TaoPiet 6 months ago 2
The most clever American I've listened to, for a long time.
topperf 7 months ago 3
Hedges is quickly taking Hitchens position as my favorite public intellectual. I highly recommend reading "The Death of the Liberal Class"
Ass2mouth18 8 months ago 24
@Ass2mouth18 Hitchens is a fraid. Hedges is perhaps a shade too pessimisstic and like many leftists unfair to Lawrence Summers (I mean Summers gets it as far as what needs to be done in the economy). That being said when he explores things, it is a far more profound appraisal of fundamentals, with a logic that is practically undeniable.
Meade556 4 months ago
@Meade556 Larry Summers is a Harvard criminal.
TheLoyalOfficer 4 months ago
@TheLoyalOfficer Neither Summers nor Geithner are criminals, both I suspect are complicit to a large extent in enabling financiers more than was prudent but both genuinely mean well, Geithner for example has not worked for a private investment firm since 1989.
Meade556 4 months ago
@Meade556 No they don't. They are both tools of Wall St. and the big banks. Their complicity is disgraceful and disgusting. They, and many others, should be sent to jail for what they have done.
At the very least they should be utterly shamed and shunned.
TheLoyalOfficer 4 months ago
@TheLoyalOfficer Geithner has tried hard since the early days of the administration to push to for higher taxes on the wealthy, particularly on capital gains, dividends and overseas corporate subsidies. Someone like Geithner could have cashed in long ago if he had wished, but he obviously has chosen not to. To me that indicates a hard working public servant.
Meade556 4 months ago
@Meade556 What??? He already DID cash in long ago! That's one of the reasons why he is in government now - he's the vanguard agent of the banksters, making sure that government does their bidding.
NO ONE FROM GOLDMAN SACHS (or any other Wall St. firm) SHOULD BE TRUSTED IN GOVERNMENT.
They are all shameless criminals.
Wake up.
TheLoyalOfficer 4 months ago
@TheLoyalOfficer For all but three years of his professional life Timothy Franz Geithner has worked in the Government. He is not Henry Paulson who blew off the worries of European Finance Ministers in February 2008 about an impending financial crisis. Geithner got the bankers, including his Goldman Sachs buddies to accept a huge writedown of their greek debt.
Meade556 4 months ago
@Meade556 He is a horrendous, tax-cheating, privileged, multi-millionaire fraud.
Why you defend him is completely beyond me. He is a poster-boy for the horrendous problem that we have with the revolving door between Wall St. and government.
He should be in jail - with hundreds of others.
TheLoyalOfficer 4 months ago
@TheLoyalOfficer He paid the taxes he owed, his parents were fairly middling civil servants and I defy you to get rich on a government salary and as I said he has been working for Uncle Sam since 1989 with no stops. He has never had a significant position in any private sector institution.
Meade556 4 months ago
@Meade556 He was named head of the PRIVATE NY Federal Reserve. He is also a follower of those criminal pigs Rubin and Summers who broke down Glass Steagall and created Too Big To Fail. They all should be thrown in jail, or into pine boxes, for their crimes.
He supported the disgraceful TARP, and will undoubtedly support the next bailout when, for example, Europe blows up.
He is a part of the problem - big time.
TheLoyalOfficer 4 months ago
@TheLoyalOfficer Go to the Fed's website, it is .gov. Their salaries are all disclosed, the chairman is appointed by elected officials, Fed Res employees are also overseen by OPM it is a government agency. The breaking down of Glass Steagall was not necessarily a bad idea, what was terrible was not regulating the results of doing so. Both Summers and Geithner, although defending their corporate friends, have also been pushing hard for all the Dodd-Frank rules to be implemented and not watered
Meade556 4 months ago
@Mead The Federal Reserve is a consortium of PRIVATE banks. They are not regulated at all. There is just the song-and-dance with the Fed Chairman, who is chosen for Congress by their masters on Wall St. It's just a pathetic show.
Dodd-Frank is a joke, written by Wall St, for Wall St. Why do you think it is 1000 pages long? Because it is loaded with fine print from the lawyer labs in Goldman Sachs et al. Their goals: maintain Too Big To Fail and bailouts when they screw up. Geithner = criminal
TheLoyalOfficer 4 months ago
@TheLoyalOfficer No, you can hum incantations at me all you want, it is a government body. It operates like a private bank but it is a government agency. Do big private sector institutions have too much say by being able to sit on the boards of regional banks and elect the Presidents of those banks should they sit on the board. Yes. At the same time it varies from region to region. Charles Evans is not popular with fat cats in Chicago for example.
Meade556 4 months ago
@Meade Everything you said are just coats of sugar. The key point remains: it's a PRIVATE consortium. That's not an incantation, nor is it hummed. It's just the truth. Same with the regions - there may be some bumps here and there, but the overall goal is the same: total collusion with Wall St.
NEVER TRUST A 1000 PAGE BILL. Dodd-Frank = JOKE. Geithner = CRIMINAL
(He is not alone, of course.)
TheLoyalOfficer 4 months ago
@TheLoyalOfficer Not neccessarily Geithner just forced his Wall street pals to accept huge losses on the Greek debt they held.
Meade556 4 months ago
@Meade Losses to what extent? And was it Geithner or the eurobankers who forced it? My understanding was that the haircut was 25% (75 cents on the dollar.) Of course, I might be wrong as to the level, but I bet it was hardly a bloodbath. And don't forget - Wall St. had plenty of put options and short sales to cover themselves anyway. They probably wanted a BIGGER haircut.
TheLoyalOfficer 4 months ago
@TheLoyalOfficer It is 50% Geithner helped pushed for it with other Finance Ministers because he felt that after all the cuts the Greeks had done it was unfair to make them sacrifice so much without those who had not judged risk properly when buying the stuff. Bonds don't have the same options as stock so everyone in the private sector, with the exception of a few compassionate and far sighted souls, lined up to oppose it. In retaliation Geither made public that they had walked off TARP...
Meade556 4 months ago
@TheLoyalOfficer because TARP put limits on executive compensation. Geither has also, since the first days of the administration been pushing for tax increase for the wealthy, taxing capital gains and dividends as ordinary income and eliminating subsidies for the overseas operations of corporations. Is he ideal? No. But he is the best Treasury Secretary since Paul O' Neill
Meade556 4 months ago
@Meade556 Dodd-Frank by it's nature can never be what we need to protect the economy. Congress punted and allowed ALL the final regulations to be open for review by hundreds of individual regulators, thus allowing further watering down and loopholes down the road. Glass-Steagall created a solid, impenetrable wall between FDIC-protected commercial banks and casino/hedgefund/investment banks.
abelincoln5000 4 months ago
@Ass2mouth18
Too bad his handling of the Hitch debate was so dishonest - but I guess he's alright otherwise ;)
twooffour 3 months ago
@Ass2mouth18 Agreed. Hedges has so much to say about a wide array of issues and is refreshing compared to the usual ridicule of Hitchens, or even Dawkins.
rhth79 3 months ago 3
@Ass2mouth18 christopher hitchens and dawkins are not intellectuals but showmen.
They wanted to make a name to themselves.
AMIANDZ2 2 months ago
@Ass2mouth18 Great nickname but seriously, do you also recommend the book to non-American readers as well? Do you believe there are similarities between what is going on in the US and the developed countries of the EU? And if so, how are these conditions related to each other?
Cwisiee 2 weeks ago
Excellent analysis for a closeted Marxist.
Easleytee 9 months ago
@Easleytee you cant generalize people as Marxists just because they integrate some good ideas from a generally flawed system
DelfiTyrec 6 months ago
holy crap this interview makes seperation of church and state seem like a mistake, regardless of if its true lol
koldblooded1 9 months ago
the book "data smog" is also relevant - we're spammed and our sensors are jammed.
cheekieweekie 9 months ago
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God Bless Chris Hedges. Soul Brother. Peace.
derickwful 9 months ago
God Bless Chris Hedges. Soul Brother. Peace.
derickwful 9 months ago 17
Another suggestion: "Declarations of Indepedence: Cross-Examining American Ideology" by Howard Zinn.
This book was written in the early 90s and in case you missed it the first time, its relevance to what is going on now is uncanny. It may be hard to find because it was published about 20 years ago.
kodiakfred140 10 months ago
Nobody is going to change anything. People in this country are too happy wallowing in stupidity and groveling with their faces pushed in the shit.
kodiakfred140 10 months ago 3
@kodiakfred140 People won't wake up until it's too late. When they can longer afford food, etc.
xexixk 10 months ago
@xexixk Tragically, I think you're right.
kodiakfred140 10 months ago
YES! Chris Hedges! Please keep talking!!!!!!
quoidanslemondequoi 10 months ago
I'm sure this guy could write an amazing book on self-help/cult groups.
jpp3g 11 months ago
@jpp3g Barbara Ehrenreich's book "Bright Sided" is excellent. It deels with the cult of positve thinking.
xexixk 10 months ago
wow, he sounds so sure about his insubstantial hypothesis that I'm almost convinced that he believes it himself.
job187 11 months ago
@job187 wow, it doesn't take any substantial or insubstantial hypothesis to convince me you're just a troll
matthewjohn007 11 months ago
I'm currently doing a sociology module in uni about culture and media. It focuses largely on the freedom offered by the disintegration of anchoring identities like class, race and gender through consumerism. Hedges' critique is invaluable in attacking this vague and superficial theory without relying on outdated Marxist / Frankfurt materialism. The illusionary sickness of this culture can only be cured by grounding our identity in the land we live in. Love your landbase not the mass culture.
danfromabove 11 months ago
One of the most brilliant and important progressives writers alive now.
dumbdrunkjones 1 year ago 3
Watch for Hedges to be targeted soon. The jack boots are marching. For him. Bet me.
bapyou 1 year ago 3
this book has had a profound influence on my thinking.
Inability to question structures.
aitch3 1 year ago
it ain't going to come back
get it baby, get it :)
claudelebel55 1 year ago
Great wake-up call for me. This kind of thing is never popular. Anyone who makes an attempt to wake the collective is going to fail. Only small pockets of humanity can wake up. There were probably people like him a few centuries before Rome officially fell. Empires will always fail. They have an organic lifetime, like any living entity.
Scrumpilump2000 1 year ago 4
Hmmm - velly intelesting :)
perrin6 1 year ago
why can't this guy run for office???
Hedges is such a breath of fresh air. Feeling like we've become a nation of zombies...sad
allmanbrother4 1 year ago
@OBSysteme Yeah but I still want to watch the exploding-gun-car-sex movie all the same.
nilbud 1 year ago
I agree with about 98% of what this man has to say except for the melting of the polar ice caps..
Entityofme1 1 year ago
@Entityofme1 I agree with about 98% of what this man has to say -------- with a little effort you can make to 100% ..... don't give up, you can do it.. Check out ---> 2009 Sea Ice Update on youtube. I mean, who are you going to believe ? Somebody's opinion or someione who actually goes out there and measures the ice ?
claudelebel55 1 year ago
@Entityofme1
Perhaps if you did some homework you would change your mind. Satellite imagery exists.
FedupwithR 7 months ago
Because the educational system has been completly hijacted by people who create systems managers, those who are competent at managing a system, but not questioning it.
I am studying at university in europe and i can say this man cant be more true. The stupid people who only have self presenting abilities take over the god damn world, this will end sad!
eizieizz 1 year ago
@eizieizz Europeans aren't "stupid people who only have self presenting abilities".
nilbud 1 year ago
I've been recommended to follow up on the quality of thought in this book.
AmericanPeopleDotSoCooLDotCom
socoolbob 1 year ago
wow america experiencing itself, finally :D
greetings from germany..
m4nullllllllllllllll 1 year ago
@m4nullllllllllllllll it's been happening for years. Hedges voice has been out there for years, amongst others. You only now have discovered this voice because you too have been manipulated by the American celebrity media. You were manipulated to believe all Americans were the dummies portrayed in the pop media.
itpduder 1 year ago
Yeah, we're fucked!
4444est1 1 year ago
This guy is 'good" but for me he is only commenting on things we already know (well I know)but have wrote a book about it that's all . but I think that it is important for the young to watch this ,so that they become conscious of what they witness. very well worth the watch. well done Allen.(I'm 32 but have always seen through the "bullshit)"
ThePhil909 1 year ago
is there anything this guy does that ISNT awesome !?! :)
paragshah2112 1 year ago
@paragshah2112 do u mean chris himself/ of the interviewer, both r good.
ThePhil909 1 year ago
This book is incredibly enlightening.
zooland12 1 year ago 2
@OBSysteme Hedges quite clearly explains why in the video itself- corporate control of the media precludes people like him from appearing on American television outside of relatively marginalized venues like PBS. He was fired from the NYT for speaking truth to power (opposing the Iraq war in its early days), and he has been effectively blacklisted from most media outlets since. Incidentally, Canada isn't much better- there's a reason he appeared on TVO rather than, say, Global..
veritol 1 year ago
Chris Hedges just summed up what is wrong with this country in under 30 mintues. Amazing.
SandCmpbll 1 year ago 3
@SandCmpbll
Maybe this guy can fill the huge hole Noam Chomsky will leave when he dies? Notice that a lot of what he says is almost exactly the same message as Chomsky (less focus on foreign affairs though).
EmeraldAxe2 10 months ago
perfect campaign slogan 2012:
Faintly Erotic, Maybe
coprographia 1 year ago 3
1 fool with his/her head in the ground dislikes this video.
fatmaggi 1 year ago 4
THIS IS AMAZING
ericdisney1 1 year ago
Don't worry Obama will fix everything.
amncaron 1 year ago
"Lack of capacity to understand the necessity of the common good..." That describes current American politics and most politicans perfectly.
IcarusAllsorts 1 year ago 2
@IcarusAllsorts Howard Dean is a lone voice of sanity, yeeehaww.
nilbud 1 year ago
Why hasn't this clip been watched one million times? Because the American people doesn't want to know, it is what Hedges is saying all along.
LolaHeavey 1 year ago 5
This man's intelligence and insight is superb. He is a reflection of those rare Americans who think clearly and not let themselves become blinded by either blue donkey or red elephant blood. If he were President, which would never happen because he doesn't pander, America might have real hope for the future!
Homemadegameguru 1 year ago 3
WHY ISN'T THIS MAN THE PRESIDENT?
ToothpickMcBrainy 1 year ago
@ToothpickMcBrainy because men of good character do not become politicians.
nowaynohow26 1 year ago 3
@nowaynohow26 there are some good people in politics. like Ron Paul
carlsagandisciple 1 year ago
So basically we should all move to Canada or somewhere before America implodes. It's time to get off this sinking ship.
Shadowlit001 1 year ago
@Shadowlit001 It's not an exclusively American problem. He presents a figure for illiteracy in Canada which is staggering. Our societal deformities are basically the same.
KeithWhalen11 1 year ago
11:35
Awakenedblue 1 year ago
i agree with most of what this guy says, until the 9 minute mark. I just do not get this guy and porn. I think honestly the guy has sex issues or something. I'm not saying the porn industry is perfect or even good, but come on. Porn is not exactly an anomaly among humans in the 20th/21st century. This guy once bragged about seducing the GF of a guy who insulted him, and he tries to take the moral high ground on sex? stick to war stories guy.
Konform2zoidberg 1 year ago
@Konform2zoidberg You obviously missed the point.
peopleplanetprofits 1 year ago
@Konform2zoidberg I think that the porn example was used in the same context as wrestling. In a sense that it simply mirrors the nature of our society which is largely oriented around violence and sex. Don't really think it's the porn industry that he's targetting in his criticisms. Rather, he's simply pointing out the correlation between the nature of the entertainment business and the North American society and how these two propell each other...
CdaSlav 1 year ago
Chris Hedges sounds like Hugo Weaving (Agent Smith) from the Matrix...very similar sounding voice....which reminds me of that quote
Agent Smith: "It came to me when I tried to classify your species and I realized that you're not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment but you humans do not.........A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet. You're a plague and we are the cure. "
trojetto 1 year ago 4
I can't wait to get hold of his books
superheronumber1 1 year ago 2
@superheronumber1 They're excellent, particularly "American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America," "I Don't Believe in Atheists," "War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning," and of course "Empire of Illusion." Though I wouldn't recommend beginning with the latter book since it helps to have more background on where he's coming from before tackling that hard-hitting piece.
dsmfishgal 1 year ago
If you enjoyed this chat with Hedges, check out this latest biscuit: TVO - The Agenda - Chris Hedges: The Liberal Class | Death of the Liberal Class? Friday, Oct 22 2010
Warning, the views of Reihan Salam & Tony Keller could cause excessive laughing, due to their silly ideas of reality. Salam said there is "No Corporate Control..." in life, he said that, out loud. Hedges gives a Chomsky like menu of war crimes by the US in Iraq and it shows what a cheerleader Michael Ignatieff was for Bush II
DjWellDressedMan 1 year ago
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Stop the New World Order!
flax56 1 year ago
Chris Hedges.
Thank you for elucidating what to me seems obvious, but which, for so many, seems to hardly be an after thought, if it is a thought at all -- which I doubt.
I wish everyone would watch this and read his book.
boalovermusic 1 year ago
Its unfortunate that the "the working class" may never read his work or watch his interviews. The subjects he seems to care about the most. I guess the truth would be overwhelming. As Hedges would probably saw "it would viewed as an uneventful spectacle"
TheLUMNESS 1 year ago 2
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liveguns 1 year ago
Well said.
dominictemple 1 year ago
I think im going to have to watch this a few times. There is so much information here. Great upload.
Electrorules 1 year ago 3
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@Electrorules read the book man.
djtanner66 1 year ago
why would chris hedges and noam chomsky debate? i'm pretty sure they've been friends for a long time, don't believe they would disagree on a whole lot
roarkpickles 1 year ago
Superb insight.
rollsthepaul 1 year ago 55
Heard him on antiwar. com
septrenarion 1 year ago 19
Fantastic, really enjoyed his critique. Yes, Chomsky vs. Hedges would be great. waiting for the book from the commie, er public library.
DjWellDressedMan 1 year ago
@DjWellDressedMan Hedges actually wrote an essay recently praising Chomsky.
AndrewMann552 1 year ago
@AndrewMann552
I read it, fantastic, except that Chomsky has never seen the US in such a bad state, glad I got real healthcare in Canada, used to live outside of Boston. And the New School 2009 talk by Hedges is even more dense than the TVO interview, amazing!
DjWellDressedMan 1 year ago
Chris Hedges is not to be missed -- he has a remarkble range of experience, knowledge and understanding -- and a heart, a heart for feeling and a heart for keeping on fighting to wake people up to the huge problems of the US today. You can find him on Truthdig, too
johnsalmond 1 year ago 2
That was an awesome discussion. Chris Hedges included nearly all of the problems of our society. I'd love to hear a discussion between him and Chomsky.
MarmaladeINFP 1 year ago 3