Matt Will
Matt Will
freedom greed democracy
In a society governed passively by free markets and free elections, organized greed always defeats disorganized democracy.
evil agents plight
To be robbed and betrayed by a fiendish underground conspiracy, or by the earthly agents of Satan, is at least a romantic sort of plight - it suggests at least a grand Hollywood-ready confrontation between good and evil - but to be coldly ripped off over and over again by a bunch of bloodless, second-rate schmoes, schmoes you chose, you elected, is not something anyone will take much pleasure in bragging about.
literacy slave reason
There is a reason it used to be a crime in the Confederate states to teach a slave to read: Literacy is power.
safe financial compass
It's not a stretch to say the whole financial industry revolves around the compass point of the absolutely safe AAA rating. But the financial crisis happened because AAA ratings stopped being something that had to be earned and turned into something that could be paid for.
writing people trying
I try to be outraged by things that other people are just very accepting of, as though they're normal and can't be changed. A lot of what I write about is, "Hey, you know, this stuff is really awful, and it doesn't need to be, and that's why it's so offensive." Things should be better.
country thinking years
In America, it takes about two weeks in the limelight for the whole country to think you've been around for years.
party people tea
The problem with the Tea Party is that it's been used in a way that scares people into supporting an agenda that's counter to their own interests.
wall thinking government
There are some who think that the government is limited in how many corruption cases it can bring against Wall Street, because juries can't understand the complexity of the financial schemes involved. But in 'U.S.A. v. Carollo,' that turned out not to be true.
way corruption construction
Contracting corruption has been around since the construction of the Appian Way.
father kids people
Everybody I knew, practically, was a journalist when I was a kid - my father, all of his friends. I never wanted to be like those people.
growing-up kids hard-work
I was a bit of a troubled kid growing up, let's put it that way. I didn't take pleasure in hard work.
wall giving world
An unregulated derivatives market essentially gives Wall Street a way to place hidden taxes on everything in the world.
party mean thinking
I mean, people who say that the Tea Party isn't a grassroots movement, I think, are incorrect. I think in some respects, it is a grassroots movement.
home fighting thinking
Most people, when they imagine New England, think about old colonial homes, white houses with black shutters, whales, and sexually morbid WASPs with sensible vehicles and polite political opinions. This is incorrect. If you want to get New England right, just imagine a giant mullet in paint-stained pants and a Red Sox hat being pushed into the back of a cruiser after a bar fight.