49 Matt Taibbi Quotes for You to Enjoy

Matt Taibbi

American Author

Born: Mar 2, 1970

America Financial Party People Think You

Related authors: F. Scott Fitzgerald Frederick Douglass Helen Keller Henry David Thoreau Joyce Meyer Mark Twain Og Mandino Zig Ziglar

Interest-rate swaps are a tool used by big cities, major corporations and sovereign governments to manage their debt, and the scale of their use is almost unimaginably massive. It's about a $379 trillion market, meaning that any manipulation would affect a pile of assets about 100 times the size of the United States federal budget. Matt Taibbi

Big Tool Market Corporations States Scale Cities Would Trillion About Federal Almost Budget Major Massive Pile Big Cities Affect Governments Debt Times Manage Sovereign Any Size Manipulation Meaning Use Used United United States Assets

You know what an effective deterrent to crime is? Jail! And do you know what kind of criminal penalty actually makes people think twice about committing crimes the next time? The kind that actually comes out of some individual's pocket, not fines that come out of the corporate kitty. Matt Taibbi

Time You People Crime Think Crimes Criminal Corporate Penalty Out Kind Some Fines About Pocket Deterrent Individual Kitty Do You Know Come Know Makes Effective Committing Jail Next Next Time Twice Actually

The individual incentive not to commit crime on Wall Street now is almost zero. Matt Taibbi

Crime Individual Almost Wall Wall Street Commit Incentive Now Zero Street

The failure to work out sensible budgets makes it impossible for government agencies to make long-term plans, and instead leaves them scrambling to spend money in the short term. Matt Taibbi

Obviously, people who commit crimes should be punished. Even people who steal socks and 'Snow White' videos should probably do time if they have priors, especially serious priors. But the punishment has to fit the crime, and the standard has to be the same for everyone. Matt Taibbi

By creating an urgent crisis that can only be solved by those fluent in a language too complex for ordinary people to understand, the Wall Street crowd has turned the vast majority of Americans into non-participants in their own political future. Matt Taibbi

Future People Political Language Own Too Fluent Complex Those Crisis Solved Only Crowd Vast Vast Majority Majority Understand Wall Wall Street American Ordinary Ordinary People Urgent Turned Creating Street

We may be many things, we Americans, but we always get the job done. Matt Taibbi

Job Always Get American Done May Many Things

The NFL, sadly, has a fatal environmental problem: It kills its workers. Matt Taibbi

Environmental Problem Sadly Workers Fatal

Within the cult of Wall Street that forged Mitt Romney, making money justifies any behavior, no matter how venal. Matt Taibbi

Money Matter Behavior Within How Making Making Money Mitt Cult Mitt Romney Wall Forged Wall Street Any Romney Justifies Street

Contracting corruption has been around since the construction of the Appian Way. Matt Taibbi

Corruption Construction Way Has-Been Since Around Been Contracting

There are some who think that the government is limited in how many corruption cases it can bring against Wall Street, because juries can't understand the complexity of the financial schemes involved. But in 'U.S.A. v. Carollo,' that turned out not to be true. Matt Taibbi

Government Corruption Financial Be True Think Complexity Out Some Cases Schemes True Involved Because Understand Limited How Wall Wall Street Juries Against Turned Who Many Street Bring

You win the modern financial-regulation game by filing the most motions, attending the most hearings, giving the most money to the most politicians and, above all, by keeping at it, day after day, year after fiscal year, until stealing is legal again. Matt Taibbi

You might think otherwise, but it doesn't naturally follow that because a law has been passed by Congress and signed by the president, said law actually has to be implemented. Matt Taibbi

You Law Congress Think President Otherwise Signed Has-Been Follow Implemented Because Said Passed Been Might Naturally Actually

Sarah Palin is a symbol of everything that is wrong with the modern United States. As a representative of our political system, she's a new low in reptilian villainy, the ultimate cynical masterwork of puppeteers like Karl Rove. Matt Taibbi

Political Cynical Our Everything States System Wrong New Like She Ultimate Political System Modern Representative Low Karl Karl Rove Sarah Sarah Palin Villainy United United States Palin Symbol

Democracy doesn't require a whole lot of work of its citizens, but it requires some: It requires taking a good look outside once in a while, and considering the bad news and what it might mean, and making the occasional tough choice, and soberly taking stock of what your real interests are. Matt Taibbi

Work Good News Democracy Tough Once Considering Bad Citizens Some Bad News Outside Taking Look Occasional Making Real Lot Stock While Mean Might Choice Interests Require Requires Your Whole

To Wall Street, a firm like BP isn't just a profitable energy company with lots of assets like oil rigs and pipelines and gas stations - it's also a corporation that routinely borrows hundreds of millions of dollars to keep its business up and running. Matt Taibbi

Business Energy Corporation Hundreds Stations Running Firm Like Also Dollars Lots Up Wall Wall Street Just Oil Company Keep Assets Street Gas Profitable Millions Millions Of Dollars

John Boehner is the ultimate Beltway hack, a man whose unmatched and self-serving skill at political survival has made him, after two decades in Washington, the hairy blue mold on the American congressional sandwich. Matt Taibbi

George Bush and John Ashcroft were religious in a scary way, but the rational among us could always take heart that, deep down, the Bush administration was more cynical than messianic. Matt Taibbi

Heart Cynical Down Way Administration Religious John Scary More Rational Could Take Always George Were George Bush Than Bush Bush Administration Us Deep Deep Down Among

America has two national budgets, one official, one unofficial. Matt Taibbi

National Unofficial Budgets America Official Two

In modern American politics, being the right kind of ignorant and entertainingly crazy is like having a big right hand in boxing; you've always got a puncher's chance. Matt Taibbi

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