Matt Taibbi's New Book Is an Astonishing Study of How the Rich Are Never Punished for Their Crimes

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/investigations/divide-matt-taibbis-astonishing-study-how-rich-are-never-punished-their-crimes




Matt Taibbi has come a long way since the 1990s, when he co-edited a riotous expatriate newspaper in Moscow. For five years, Taibbi churned out the Gonzo, Slavic style, mixing satire and pranks with scathing opinion and analysis. Although he also played in the Mongolian Basketball Association, his time abroad wasn’t all fun and games. In the early 1990s, the Russian government began auctioning off shares of state enterprises, which Taibbi described as “the biggest thefts in the history of the human race.” He noted the calamitous effects of privatization on average Russians and scorned the American consultants who descended on Moscow to coordinate the auction. “Looking at their bright, happy faces,” Taibbi wrote, “you’d never guess that these were the people who’d had the balls to tell millions of Russians that their jobs and benefits needed to be sacrificed for the sake of ‘competitiveness.’ ”

Rather than lament the evils of neoliberalism, Taibbi chose to mock the carpetbaggers. “There was no point in fighting fair against people like this,” he claimed in his first co-authored book, “The Exile: Sex, Drugs, and Libel in the New Russia” (2000). “Humorless lefties like Ralph Nader had been doing that for decades, much more effectively and with greater attention than we ever could, to very little result.” He decided to “loathe the corporate henchmen not for what they did, but for who they were.” His goal was to “embarrass them socially, pick on their looks and their mannerisms and speech, expose them as people.”

In 2002, Taibbi returned to the United States with his attitude intact. When an alternative weekly hired him to cover the 2004 Democratic primaries, he struggled to find a satisfactory way to report on the absurdities he witnessed. He began showing up for work on mushrooms or in a gorilla suit; at one point, he played the hunger artist, forgoing food for a week and taking careful notes on what the other reporters were ingesting. Toward the end of his fast, he dropped two hits of acid, donned a Viking costume and tried to interview a campaign staffer.

Again, the Gonzo influence was unmistakable. Taibbi’s first solo book, “Spanking the Donkey: On the Campaign Trail With the Democrats” (2005), was an updated version of Hunter Thompson’s “Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail ’72,” which was praised as the least factual and most accurate account of that presidential race. Taibbi even itemized the contents of his car trunk, as Thompson did at the beginning of “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.” It was therefore fitting that Rolling Stone magazine, which helped make Thompson a cultural icon, hired Taibbi as a contributing editor.

[rhett o rick]

1. Good article. Thanks for posting. nm

[xchrom]

2. ...

[QC]

3. I'm reading this book now, and it really is excellent.

Definitely worth a read.

[n2doc]

4. But we can't pay attention to him because he longs for the Bush

[QC]

7. He just wants Sarah Palin!!1!

[bvar22]

10. Plus... he went to Russia!!!!

That makes him a Putin Lover!

[QC]

14. OMG!!! Comrade Matt!!!

He's a meanie!

[Tsiyu]

5. Saw Jon Stewart's Interview

I want to read it.

It's all the obvious stuff we've been saying here:

Steal millions, pay a fine.

Smoke a joint, 40 days in a nasty prison.

Will it change anything? I don't know. But at least it will document how corrupt our nation's justice system is; perhaps future generations can make it better.

[riderinthestorm]

6. Narcissist! Going on teevee and promoting his stuff...

Just kidding.

Big K&R!

[Nuclear Unicorn]

8. I can understand the thought that "rich people have much to lose so they are

incentivized to reform." It seems intuitive but, as with most things in life, its application is counter-intuitive. Now the attitude has become so prevalent I believe it became perverted into an enticement to act maliciously.

[alcibiades_mystery]

9. Big fan

[indepat]

11. The rich are not like you and I

Last edited Tue Apr 22, 2014, 04:11 PM - Edit history (1)

[truedelphi]

12. Matt Taibbi played in the Mongolian Basketball Association?!?

What other journalist can have that on their resume?

[Enthusiast]

13. Kicked and recommended a whole bunch!

[avebury]

15. You don't need to read a book to know that the rich

are rarely if ever punished for their crimes. All you need to do is watch the news (or read DU).