Yves Smith and Josh Rosner are the single best analysts of the financial crisis and the now-criminal nature of our financial system. At the indispensable financial blog NakedCapitalism, Yves has detailed the collapse of the housing market and the market rigging by big banks and hedge funds to blow up the bubble. Josh predicted the collapse before it happened, and has been on the trail of accounting fraud since the late 1990s.

Yves Smith and Josh Rosner are the single best analysts of the financial crisis and the now-criminal nature of our financial system. At the indispensable financial blog NakedCapitalism, Yves has detailed the collapse of the housing market and the market rigging by big banks and hedge funds to blow up the bubble. Josh predicted the collapse before it happened, and has been on the trail of accounting fraud since the late 1990s.

Think of it as the cheaters ball. It's the American tax code. If you have the right amount of money and the right number to dial, it's the best way to get rich.

Special interests utilize the tax code in America as one of the primary favor-trading venues for extracting wealth from the average taxpayer. Why is this? Why is the code structured in a way that it discourages investment, and encourages reckless speculation?

David Cay Johnston is author of Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense and Stick You With the Bill, Pulitzer prize winning reporter with The New York Times and blogger on tax policy at Tax.com and at Reuters.com.

Think of it as the cheaters ball. It's the American tax code. If you have the right amount of money and the right number to dial, it's the best way to get rich.

Special interests utilize the tax code in America as one of the primary favor-trading venues for extracting wealth from the average taxpayer. Why is this? Why is the code structured in a way that it discourages investment, and encourages reckless speculation?

David Cay Johnston is author of Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense and Stick You With the Bill, Pulitzer prize winning reporter with The New York Times and blogger on tax policy at Tax.com and at Reuters.com.

Dr. Christine Fair, Asst. Professor in the Center for Peace and Security Studies (CPASS) at Georgetown University, discusses the U.S. relationship with oil, politics and religion in the Middle East, and what she thinks we need to change.

Dr. Christine Fair, Asst. Professor in the Center for Peace and Security Studies (CPASS) at Georgetown University, discusses the U.S. relationship with oil, politics and religion in the Middle East, and what she thinks we need to change.

How do we fix the American economy? Barry Ritholtz of FusionIQ and author of "Bailout Nation" has three huge ideas that could turn things around.

How do we fix the American economy? Barry Ritholtz of FusionIQ and author of "Bailout Nation" has three huge ideas that could turn things around.

He started what is now the most watched independent news channel on YouTube, and launched the first nationwide liberal talk show when it aired on satellite radio starting in 2002. As host and co-founder of The Young Turks, Cenk has not only been successful as a broadcaster, but groundbreaking and innovative way he has approached the very concept of getting news from one place to another.

(Orginally recorded in November 2010)

He started what is now the most watched independent news channel on YouTube, and launched the first nationwide liberal talk show when it aired on satellite radio starting in 2002. As host and co-founder of The Young Turks, Cenk has not only been successful as a broadcaster, but groundbreaking and innovative way he has approached the very concept of getting news from one place to another.

(Orginally recorded in November 2010)