Episode Details

Original tape date: January 18, 2012.

First aired: January 30, 2012.

For years, high-ranking administration officials have spun through the revolving door between the White House and American big business. But how have they influenced the regulation of industries from which they came -- and American democracy as a result? This weekend, continuing our sharp multi-episode focus on the intersection of money and politics, Moyers & Company explores the tight connection between Wall Street and the White House with David Stockman, former budget director for President Reagan. (Check your local listings)

Currently a businessman who says he was “taken to the woodshed” for telling the truth about the administration’s tax policies, Stockman speaks candidly with Bill Moyers about how money dominates politics, distorting free markets and endangering democracy. “As a result,” Stockman says, “we have neither capitalism nor democracy. We have crony capitalism.”

Stockman shares details on how the courtship of politics and high finance have turned our economy into a private club that rewards the super-rich and corporations, leaving average Americans wondering how it could happen and who’s really in charge.

“We now have an entitled class of Wall Street financiers and of corporate CEOs who believe the government is there to do… whatever it takes in order to keep the game going and their stock price moving upward,” Stockman tells Moyers.

Also on the show, Moyers talks with Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter and columnist Gretchen Morgenson on how money and political clout enable industries to escape regulation and enrich executives at the top. Morgenson warned of Wall Street’s culpability in the widening income gap back in 2007 on Bill Moyers Journal. BillMoyers.com has that show -- and over a hundred more -- available for free viewing.

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