Greedy Bastards

Corporate Communists, Banksters, and the Other Vampires Who Suck America Dry

By: Dylan Ratigan

Narrated by: Dylan Ratigan

Length: 6 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

Dylan Ratigan is mad as hell. Infuriated by government corruption and corporate communism, incensed by banksters shaking down taxpayers, and despairing of an ailing health care system, an age-old dependency on foreign oil, and a failing educational system, Ratigan sees an America that has allowed itself to be swindled and robbed. In this book, his first, he rips the lid off our deeply crooked system—and offers a way out.

This country, now more than ever, needs passionate debate and smart policy, a brazen willingness to scrap what doesn’t work, and the entrepreneurial spirit to try what does. Ratigan has compiled brash and fresh solutions for building a new and better America, and with this book he has started the debate America deserves. With you, he wants to take back the country from the six vampires sucking this nation dry:

• A political system in which lobbyists write legislation, lawmakers place “secret holds” to create more pork for their districts, and money drives the whole process
• A banking system that uses capital for speculation and debt creation, rather than productive investment
• A “master-slave” relationship with our Chinese bankers, making our corporations and politicians complicit in a system that rigs our currency and leaves us with permanent joblessness and massive trade deficits
• A health care system that is among the priciest and least sustainable in the industrialized world
• An educational system that prizes prestige but produces mediocrity
• An addiction to foreign oil that has sapped us of our willingness to innovate, made us reliant on inefficient technologies, and left us supportive of corrupt governments

To combat these vampires and to isolate the systematic ways in which our once productive industries and our government have been breached, Ratigan does not offer a grab bag of flimsy suggestions or useless hot air. Instead he provides listeners with a set of values that together form the answer for how each of us can not only understand what has gone wrong—but join together to make it right.

©2012 Dylan Ratigan (P)2012 Simon & Schuster

Complex issues made simple

Dylan has the ability to turn complex issues into simplified terms so average people can understand. These issues affect everyone everyday but go unnoticed as to their real cost to society. The final chapter brings the message home and offers solutions that are achievable.

Great primer!

Loved the clear explanations which, in some cases, demystified things I'd wondered about for years. Not so thrilled about the author's narration. But that's a small price to pay for such valuable content. I definitely recommend it.

The best book yet

If you could sum up Greedy Bastards in three words, what would they be?

HonestSensibleSolutions

Who was your favorite character and why?

The Author. He has a real grip on just who, what, why and how the Greedy Bastardsgot a hold on America and the best is he actually has very reasonable solutions to cut themoff at the knees.

Which scene was your favorite?

All of it!!

If you could give Greedy Bastards a new subtitle, what would it be?

No conspiracy, just Greedy Bastards!

Any additional comments?

For a change this book doesn't follow the same arguments and tired solutions but rather the author addresses the real issues in a easy to understand and enjoyable book. The author is the narrator and he did a grand job of it. There is not redundancy in this book so it gets to the point for every issue I have wanted to know more about and it is the first book that has actual solutions that are extremely reasonable and able to be done if there was more of the Golden Rule and less of the Greedy Bastards. This isn't a left or right, liberal or conservative, Republican or Democrat book but it is about those that wish to divide us always into those categories. It is by far the best book I have listened to for years on Audible. I didn't think it was going to be any different than other books I have listened to about the mess our country is in and how it got to be this mess but I was so pleased just after the first chapter, that I was hooked on this book. The author has a true handle on the problems and solutions of our problems in America and they are actually believable and fixable. You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink so only time will tell if his ideas will be taken seriously and used ever.This book should be a book to read for every high school student in America and we would possibly have then the greatest generation yet.

Good overview, great pace, relevant topics

Would you listen to Greedy Bastards again? Why?

Yes. Informative, focused, and relevant.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Greedy Bastards?

Susie Buffett's information about early brain development and the implications for education.

Have you listened to any of Dylan Ratigan’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

N/A

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Several.

Any additional comments?

You don't have to listen in one sitting; it's a great audio book while you are doing other activities. Timely information.

Maybe better as a "read" than a "listen"

Maybe I already had a headache...but even if Ratigan's voice wasn't the cause, it surely hasn't helped. The material is great though, so maybe I'll finish listening later with a glass of wine...when the grate of his punching of syllables won't make my ears bleed.

Other than that, I'd give the book itself a big thumbs up.

Tredder.com

this is an amazing and timeless book. Even though it was written almost a decade ago it is still extremely relevant. could have been written yesterday.

Nice Read

Ratigan gets most of it right and says things my much less educated gradfather said and predicted in the early 80s.

He's angry, he backs it up, and he wants to fix it

What made the experience of listening to Greedy Bastards the most enjoyable?

Dylan narrates his own book, and he has a fittingly jarring tone. You will chuckle more than once at his intonations and phrases. It can come across a bit "sensationalized" but I found myself grinning ear to ear while listening to him rant and rave about the biggest financial crisis our country has endured since the great depression. To me, it was like "All the devils are here" but with humor thrown in.

What was the most compelling aspect of this narrative?

He backs up his thoughts with detail, personalities, and specifics. He was a financial reporter before turning on the lion he fed, so his insider perspective is both interesting and damning.

Which scene was your favorite?

His coining of terms and pithy comments makes this book very enjoyable: Banksters, Vampire Industries, The Very Bad Deal, Greedy Bastards, Capital Extraction, Aligning of Incentives, and his funny analogies (Trade a Cup). And his focus on solutions rather than lamenting the evil of it all.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Lots of laughing.

Any additional comments?

Halfway through the book, he tackles health care costs.

His description of the high cost of the health care industry (insurance) - Mayo Clinic was particularly interesting to describe the action of aligning incentives. The interaction of the original Mayo doctors (three of them from different disciplines), they invented a new approach of sharing information across specialization disciplines. They would have one travel, gather information, then bring that back to the other Mayo doctors. Very interesting historical context.

Our health care system was not designed for the kind of patients that incur the highest costs. The billing system costs of the health care system is ridiculous. A systemic approach to health care and the costs relevant to frequent care needs.

Very eye opening and engaging!

Would you consider the audio edition of Greedy Bastards to be better than the print version?

Yes! I love being able to hear the actual author of the book narrate it! It makes it so much easier because I just don't have as much time to actually read the book in the time frame I want. In some ways it is easier to grasp and retain to memory than actually reading the book. If you are one who learns by listening then I highly recommend the audio version of this book!

What was the most compelling aspect of this narrative?

The eye opening statements and explanations of how bankers have rigged and cheated the system at the taxpayers expense! It is wonderfully explained in lay mans terms so that anyone can grasp what happened during the financial collapse of 2008. It also offers solutions to the ongoing problem that has yet to be halted by the banks and wall street.

What does Dylan Ratigan bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

His narrative is engaging and he brings as much passion in his narration as he does when you see him on TV explaining things and or talking with a guest on his show!

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It made me angry that we still have yet to arrest, indict and convict the Gangsters of the banks who cheated and stole from people that lead to the financial collapse in 2008. Nothing has been done to date and they are still practicing the same old policies and strategies and shennanigans to make fast money off the taxpayers and poor dumb asses buying their bad loans through pension investments. They have unlimited capital through our government! Some one needs to put an end to this and as Dylan Ratigan says in his book put the Vici code back into the system and bring innovation back. We have killed innovation in this country through unscrupulous and greedy practices via these banks and wall street brokers. We should all demand justice and this has been swept under the rug and made to appear like it isn't as bad as it is by printing more money through the fed!

Any additional comments?

If we don't implement sound solutions now and cut off the big banks from unlimited capital through our government then we are going to end up with something much worse than the 2008 collapse. In addition we have allowed these banks to hold us hostage and create the rise in commodities such as gas/food to levels that are insane! Dylan and others give some very good solutions and I for one want to see some of these solutions implemented.

TIMELY

My husband asked me to download this book for him. He had never watched Dylan Ratigan's show on TV but heard him on another program and the book was discussed. My husband is very interested in the inner workings of the government, from when it was formed to present, so this was a good choice. He enjoyed the book tremendously, both the story and narration.