>> CLASSIC LINE FROM THE FILM
"WALL STREET" DEPICTING THE
DANGERS POSED BY AMERICA’S
DECENT INTO CORPORATE GREED.
WE WILL BE LOOKING AT HOW WE GOT
TO WHERE WE ARE ECONOMICALLY AS
A NATION.
KURT ANDERSON’S LATEST BOOK
"EVIL AGAINGENIUSES."
KURT JOINS US AGAIN WITH MORNING
JOE ECONOMIC ANALYSIS STEVE RAT
INNER.
ALSO WRITER FOR THE LOS ANGELES
TIMES OPINION SECTION.
THANK YOU FOR BEING WITH US.
I THOUGHT KURT ANDERSON I WOULD
PROVIDE YOU WITH THE CONSUMMATE
KNEE YOUE
NEOLIBERAL THAT YOU ONCE WERE
BUT HAVE BEEN CONVERTED TO THE
NEW LEFT, OLD LEFT.
WE’RE NOT SURE YET, KURT.
BUT WE GOT RATNER FOR YOU HERE,
SO IT IS GOING TO BE A GOOD
DISCUSSION.
SO I LOVE -- AND I CAN’T
RECOMMEND THIS BOOK ENOUGH FOR
PEOPLE OF ALL POLITICAL
PERSUASIONS.
I LOVE YOU WALKING US THROUGH
DECADE BY DECADE BY DECADE
AMERICA’S ECONOMY AND ALSO THE
ATTEMPTS BY PEOPLE ON THE
ECONOMIC RIGHT, SORT OF A
LIBERTARIAN RIGHT TO MOVE FROM A
GROUP OF CRANKS TO THE POLITICAL
MIDDLE.
FOR THE MOST PART IN THE POST
WAR ERA, MOST ECONOMIC LIBERALS
WERE CONSIDERED CRANKS.
WHAT HAPPENED?
>> WELL, A LOT OF THINGS
HAPPENED.
ONE OF THE THINGS THAT HAPPENED
IS THAT THE OPPORTUNITY CAME,
REALLY, IN THE LATE ’60s AND
EARLY ’70s BECAUSE OF THIS SUPER
LIBERALISM.
I WON’T CALL IT EXTREME.
BUT THE NEW DEAL KEPT GOING.
AND IN THE LATE ’50s WE GOT THE
EPA AND ENVIRONMENTAL
REGULATIONS.
WE GOT RALPH NADER.
AND THE RIGHT AND CEOs OF THE
LARGER COMPANIES GOT FREAKED OUT
AND SAID, WE GOT TO GET TOGETHER
AND MOBILIZE AND POLITICIZE AND
CREATE, YOU KNOW, CERTAINLY KEEP
OURSELVES FROM BEING WASHED AWAY.
BUT THEN LETS CREATE A COUNTER
ESTABLISHMENT.
OF COURSE HE BECAME THE AVATAR
GODFATHER OF THAT.
HE GOT FAMOUS IN THE ’60s.
IN THE ’70s "THE NEW YORK TIMES"
GAVE HIM FIVE YEARPAGES IN WHICH
LAID IT OUT SIMPLY, ALL THAT
MATTERS IS PROFITS.
ALL THAT MATTERS IS PROFITS.
NOT RACIAL EQUITY, NOT
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE, NOT
ANYTHING ELSE THAT YOU LIBERAL
CEOs MAY BE THINKING OF.
THAT WAS REALLY A CALL TO ARMS.
AT THE END OF 1970 AT THE MOMENT
OF GREAT FLUX.
IT WENT FROM THERE.
A YEAR LATER LOUIS POWELL JUST
BEFORE RICHARD NIXON NAMED HIM
TO THE SUPREME COURT HAD -- HE
HAD GOTTEN RILED AND FRIGHTENED
AND HYSTERICAL.
HE WAS A LOW KEY ESTABLISHMENT
DEMOCRAT LAWYER.
HE WROTE THIS MEMO COMMISSIONED
BY THE U.S. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
TO DO SO LAYING OUT A PLAN FOR
HERE’S HOW WE INFLUENCE THE
MEDIA.
HERE’S HOW WE INFLUENCE
ACADEMIA.
HERE’S HOW WE HAVE TO MAKE CEOs
BECOME POLITICAL FIGHTERS FOR
FREE MARKET CAPITALISM.
AND THEN CHARLES KOCH CAME ALONG
VERY INFLUENCED BY THE POWELL
MEMO.
THE BUSINESS ROUND TABLE WAS
FORMED.
INSTEAD OF THE U.S. CHAMBER OF
COMMERCE THAT HAD EVERY WIDGET
COMPANIES OF AMERICA, THEY GOT
TOGETHER AND CREATED THIS MORE
POWERFUL THAN EVER WASHINGTON
POLITICAL ENTITY THAT WOULD --
THAT WOULD LOBBY AGAINST UNIONS
AND SO FORTH.
THAT WAS IN THE EARLY ’70s.
THAT WAS ALMOST A DECADE BEFORE
RONALD REAGAN WAS ELECTED.
WHO KNEW?
I WAS UNAWARE AS A KID OF WHAT
WAS GOING ON.
>> IT IS INTERESTING.
WE SHOW THE PICTURE OF RICHARD
NIXON THERE.
AND NIXON REALLY WAS THE
OPPOSITE OF WHAT WE’RE ACCUSING
DONALD TRUMP OF BEING OVER THE
PAST FOUR YEARS.
TRUMP PLAYED THE POPULIST BUT HE
SHOWERED RICHES ON THE RICHEST
0.00 1%.
AS YOU POINT OUT IN YOUR BOOK,
NIXON WAS A PROGRESSIVE LEADER
ECONOMICALLY.
WHETHER YOU TALK ABOUT THE EPA.
WHETHER YOU MIGHT HAVE TALKED
ABOUT THE SAFETY, HE EXPANDED
SOCIAL SECURITY, EXPANDED
ENTITLEMENT PROGRAM, SO HE WAS
EVERYTHING ECONOMIC
CONSERVATIVES HATED.
I STILL REMEMBER SITTING IN THE
BACKSEAT OF MY DAD’S STATION
WAGON HEARING MY DAD IN THE
EARLY 1970s, A BIG NIXON FAN
GOING, WHAT THE HELL IS NIXON
DOING?