Matt Will
Matt Will
government cities united-states
Interest-rate swaps are a tool used by big cities, major corporations and sovereign governments to manage their debt, and the scale of their use is almost unimaginably massive. It's about a $379 trillion market, meaning that any manipulation would affect a pile of assets about 100 times the size of the United States federal budget.
jobs boys college
In the '50s and '60s, journalism wasn't a profession. It wasn't something you went to college for - it was really more of a trade. You had a lot of guys who came up working in newspapers at the copy desk, or delivery boys, and then they would somehow become reporters afterward and learn on the job.
war america identity
Since the end of the Cold War, America has been grasping left and right for an identity.
agency together glue
Ratings agencies are the glue that ostensibly holds the entire financial industry together.
thinking winning issues
Politics is about a lot more than winning and losing. I think politics at its best is about compromise, shades of grey and about issues.
ideas issues long
One of the great cliches of campaign journalism is the notion that American elections have long since ceased to be about issues and ideas.
player nfl giving
Once you give an NFL player permission to have thoughts, you invite all kinds of mischief.
media trying news
Obviously the commercial news media tries to get you worked up and terrified so you'll buy products that they're advertising.
land years rest-of-your-life
In the years just after 9/11, even being breathed on by a suspected terrorist could land you in extralegal detention for the rest of your life.
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.
average government tea
The average Tea Partier is sincerely against government spending - with the exception of the money spent on them.
zero wall incentives
The individual incentive not to commit crime on Wall Street now is almost zero.
country thinking class
In other countries they have histories with revolutions and class movements. In America, people don't like to think of themselves like being in a lower class. They all like to think of themselves as potential millionaires.
crazy hands boxing
In modern American politics, being the right kind of ignorant and entertainingly crazy is like having a big right hand in boxing; you've always got a puncher's chance.