Dylan Ratigan

Author Stephen Leeb says that we're in a "war to acquire resources, not just for the sake of depriving the rest of the world of these resources, but to have the resources that they need to build out a new energy infrastructure." With Washington stuck in neutral on any significant energy policy, how do we address this challenge? Dylan believes it's through "quantum growth" -- the principle by which significantly fewer resources can be used for significantly higher outputs. As resources (oil, water, and rare minerals) become more and more limited, challenges have to be solved efficiently with aligned interests -- getting more output for vastly less resource consumption. Dylan and author Stephen Leeb discuss how this applies to our "war" with China for rare minerals and development of a more sustainable, less oil-dependent energy policy.

A few weeks ago at Zuccotti Park in New York, Dylan had the chance to speak at length to two Occupiers who seemed to, on the surface, come from opposite ends of the spectrum: Goldi is an activist and a musician from the East Village, and Calvin is a recent NY'er who originally hails from the heart of Texas. Joining us in the conversation with the Professor today are two individuals who have taken it upon themselves, as literally millions around the world have, to declare their own grievances and their own rejection of the status quo systems by virtue of their participation in Occupy Wall Street, Occupy New York, and really, ultimately, their support for the Global Occupation Movement In this episode of Radio Free Dylan, Goldi and Calvin have a conversation about the big issues facing this country with Prof. Bill Black, Associate Professor of Economics and Law at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. He is a white-collar criminologist, serial whistle-blower, and former financial regulator. He is also the author of the book, The Best Way To Rob a Bank Is To Own One. You can check out his blog at NewEconomicPerspectives.blogspot.com and follow him on Twitter @WilliamKBlack.

The Reign by George Jensen by Dylan Ratigan

Dylan interviews Ron Suskind, Pulitzer-prize winning journalist and author of the new book "Confidence Men." Ron was the senior national affairs writer for The Wall Street Journal from 1993 to 2000.

Randi & Dylan have both been focused on this subject for years now: how can we tackle so many of the smaller problems in politics if we don't get money out of politics first? Their discussion is here. Alone, each of us is nearly useless in tackling the problem of how money has corrupted our political system. TOGETHER, we can make a difference. That's why you need to sign the petition for a constitutional amendment at GetMoneyOut.com Both Randi and Dylan have seen the corruption firsthand, from K Street in DC to Wall Street in New York. Ninety-four percent of the time, the winner in major U.S. Congressional elections is whomever has the MOST money in their campaign coffers - and THAT MUST STOP. Listen to Randi and Dylan's complete interview, so you can find out what this Amendment could do. Then SIGN IT. Then tell your friends. Use Facebook. Use Google+. Tweet it - and use the hashtag: #GetMoneyOut It's time to Get Money Out of politics in America.

Dylan got on the soapbox at Occupy Wall Street on Saturday, October 1st. Here's what he had to say. For more information on Occupy Wall Street go to www.occupywallstreet.com.

“The Nation” magazine’s Mark Ames and Dylan Ratigan discuss an investigative report revealing that billionaire Charles Koch bought and paid for an anti-Social Security and Medicare stand.

Money in politics -- it's not AN issue, it's THE issue, according to our guest today.In this episode of Radio Free Dylan, we talk to Tom Ferguson, Professor of Political Science at the University of Massachusetts Boston, he’s a Senior Fellow at the Roosevelt Institute, and member of the Advisory Board of the Institute for New Economic Thinking. Says Tom, "Look, everything is for sale, that’s the logic of the new Congress there.Since the ‘90s, everything’s auctioned, and that’s what the bulk of the population doesn’t understand this. The insiders know it but everybody else is still in the dark.There was some columnist in [The New York Times] who an ex-Congressman about what was going wrong in Congress.And finally the guy mentions towards the end, 'Oh, yes, there’s this terrible money problem. 'You know, look, that’s the problem. You’re selling everything." Tom concludes with a statement that we couldn't agree with more -- "You probably can’t fix much in the United States if you’re going to allow the policy to just continue to be sold in every dimension." For more coverage of the issue of money and politics, visit http://www.dylanratigan.com

Jimmy Williams, a frequent contributor on The Dylan Ratigan Show, sits down with Dylan to talk about the launch of our effort to get money out of politics as the first step to reviving and taking back America. As Dylan described it on The Huffington Post, "Every politician out there is going to rail against special interests, except, ironically, the ones who are honest about working in a corrupt system. It's up to us, to we the people, to claim this government as ours. It's not going to happen because we placed our trust in a class of people who repeatedly betray us. It's going to happen because of people who put their bodies on the line, like those at the Wall Street protests. Like them or not, they have decided that enough is enough. And I think I've decided the same."

Is anyone in government willing to observe the scale, magnitude, and nature of the challenges that America faces? It seems like we’re stuck with elected officials playing a short-term game while being blind to the long term effects of their decisions. Meanwhile, our government puts the sovereignty of our nation at risk by not dealing with our debt issues and trade imbalances. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), a physician prior to his work in government, says on Radio Free Dylan that he is concerned that the lack of effective decision-making in Washington — specifically related to our debt and economy — could lead to us giving up some of our sovereignty to other countries. He says an adult discussion in America about the seriousness and severity of our economic problems (rather than Democrat vs. Republican mudslinging) is the first step.

We recently got a lot of great emails in response to our wanting to write a constitutional amendment banning money from politics. Here is Dylan's response to an email: Do not allow "pork" to be added to ANY legislation (including this amendment), make every congressman put his name on all spending that he introduces. Adding pork to a veterans bill is disgusting. - Greg

Here's Dylan's audio response to an idea we got in regards to our constitutional amendment banning money from politics. Kashann wrote: I'd like to see the exact language: "Now that we know corporations are people too, my friend, we should subsequently hold them to the same donation limits as the rest of their fellow citizens."

Here's one of Dylan's responses to community ideas for our constitutional amendment. Here's Dylan's audio response. Don wrote: Dylan, any amendment to the Constitution has to address both the absolute dollar amount spent on campaigns and the length of time that candidates can legally campaign for. It sounds like Canada has a pretty good handle on this problem. I think the most effective way to differentiate between candidates is head to head debates which cost the candidates almost nothing compared to endless TV ads. - Don W.

We were flooded with emails after Dylan's "rant" on MSNBC.Chuck from Pleasant Hills, PA wrote in and thinks there's nothing we can do if we are "mad as hell" because our politicians won't listen.Dylan recorded his response to him on SoundCloud for DylanRatigan.com. CHUCK, PLEASANT HILLS, PA Dylan, Caught your call-in to your own show today. When the host asked, “what can you suggest people do if they’re mad as hell?" you said they can call their Congressman or Senator, or they can learn more about this situation in regards to tax reform, debt, etc.Sorry to be cynical, but the only phone call that a Senator or Congressman cares about is a call from their campaign contributors.It does NOTHING anymore to lodge a complaint with your representative.And, educating the public about policy and money is fine, but there is nothing actionable that will result from that.People feel powerless these days because there is NOTHING they can do as individuals when they’re "mad as hell."

We were flooded with emails after Dylan's "rant" on MSNBC. Parrish is a small business owner in Oxford, Mississippi who is struggling to keep his restaurant open in a tough economy. Dylan recorded his response on SoundCloud for DylanRatigan.com. PARRISH, OXFORD MS: I am a restaurant owner in an SEC college town. Without Ole Miss, we'd have 15,000 residents. Last year, 20 restaurants closed in this little town. Only by hook and crook did I survive! I pay more than half of all my revenue in taxes of various kinds. At the end of the year, after expenses and payroll, I make nothing! I don't know how much longer my business can tread water. I was very successful for 8 years, but the last two have been murder! The states of our country and Congress are infuriating! Billionaires pay nothing while I struggle each quarter to pay thousands in taxes, to the detriment of my own family's well being. It makes me so sick I can hardly keep typing.