name	Bill Black
background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
birth name	William Patton Black, Jr.
birth date	September 17, 1926
Birth place	Memphis, Tennessee, USA
death date	October 21, 1965
Death place	Memphis, Tennessee, USA
genre	Rock and roll
associated acts	Elvis PresleyThe Blue Moon BoysBill Black's Combo
occupation	Bassist
years active	1954-65
label	Sun (Presley), Hi, UK Felsted, London (Combo)
instrument	Double bassFender Precision Bass }}

William Patton "Bill" Black, Jr. (September 17, 1926 – October 21, 1965) was an American musician who is noted as one of the pioneers of rockabilly music. Black was the bassist in Elvis Presley's early trio and the leader of Bill Black's Combo.

Early life

Black was born in Memphis, Tennessee, to a motorman for the Memphis Street Railway. He was the oldest of nine children His father played popular songs on the banjo and fiddle to entertain the family. Black learned to play music at the age of 14 on an instrument made by his father—a cigar box with a board nailed to it and strings attached. At the age of sixteen, Black was performing "honky-tonk" music on acoustic guitar in local bars.

During World War II, Black was stationed with the U.S. Army at Fort Lee in Virginia. While in the Army, he met Evelyn, who played guitar as the member of a musical family. They married in 1946 and returned to Memphis. Black worked at the Firestone plant.

Career

Black began playing the upright bass fiddle. He modeled his "slap bass" technique after one of his idols, Fred Maddox of Maddox Brothers and Rose. Black also developed a "stage clown" persona in the same way that Maddox entertained audiences. Black performed as an exaggerated hillbilly with blacked-out teeth, straw hat and overalls. According to his son, Black said his goal was always to give his audience "a few moments of entertainment and maybe a little bit of humor that'll tickle 'em for a while."

In 1952, Black began playing club and radio shows with guitarist Scotty Moore. Along with two other guitarists and a fiddler, they performed country music tunes by Hank Williams and Red Foley in Doug Poindexter's band, the Starlight Wranglers. Black and Moore also played in a band with Paul Burlison, Johnny Burnette, Dorsey Burnette on steel guitar, and a drummer.

In 1954, Black and Moore were formed into a trio with Elvis Presley.

The Blue Moon Boys

In July 1954, Sam Phillips of Sun Records asked Black and Moore to play back-up for the as-yet-unknown Elvis Presley. Black played slap bass with guitarist Scotty Moore, while Elvis Presley played rhythm guitar and sang lead. Neither musician was overly impressed with Presley, but they agreed a studio session would be useful to explore his potential.

On July 5, 1954, the trio met at Sun studios to rehearse and record a handful of songs. According to Moore, the first song they recorded was "I Love You Because", but after a few country music songs that weren't impressive they decided to take a break. During the break, Presley began "acting the fool" with Arthur Crudup's "That's All Right (Mama)", a blues song. When the other two musicians joined in, Phillips taped the song. The upbeat sound was original. Black remarked, "Damn. Get that on the radio and they'll run us out of town."

The group recorded four songs during that session, including bluegrass musician Bill Monroe's "Blue Moon of Kentucky", which he had written and recorded as a slow waltz. Sources credit Bill Black with initiating the song, with Presley and Moore joining in. Moore said, "Bill is the one who came up with "Blue Moon of Kentucky."...We're taking a little break and he starts beating on the bass and singing "Blue Moon of Kentucky," mocking Bill Monroe, singing the high falsetto voice. Elvis joins in with him, starts playing and singing along with him..." They ended up with a fast version of the song in 4/4 time. After an early take, Phillips can be heard on tape saying: "Fine, man. Hell, that's different—that's a pop song now, just about."

Phillips took several acetates of the session to DJ Dewey Phillips (no relation) of Memphis radio station WHBQ's ''Red, Hot And Blue'' show. From August 18 through December 8, "Blue Moon of Kentucky" was consistently higher on the charts, and then both sides began to chart across the South.

Black and Moore became Presley's back-up group, earning 25% of his takings. Moore and Black left the Starlight Wranglers after the success of "That's All Right", jealousy within the group forcing them to split. Their recordings at Sun were released with the credits as "Elvis Presley, Scotty and Bill". The group was later billed as "Elvis Presley and the Blue Moon Boys".

Over the next 15 months, the trio released five singles, toured across the South, and appeared regularly on the ''Louisiana Hayride''. They had originally auditioned for the Opry in October 1954, but they failed to impress the people in charge, or the audience, and were not invited back.

In 1955, Black went to RCA along with Presley and Moore when Presley's contract was sold to that company. Except for the RCA reissue of "Mystery Train" and "I Forgot to Remember to Forget" ('with Scotty and Bill'), they were no longer credited on record labels.

Black played on early Presley recordings including "Good Rockin' Tonight", "Heartbreak Hotel", "Baby Let's Play House", "Mystery Train", "That's All Right", and "Hound Dog", and eventually became one of the first bass players to use the Fender Precision Bass (bass guitar) in popular music, on "Jailhouse Rock" in the late 1950s.

Black, Moore and drummer D. J. Fontana toured extensively during Presley's early career. Black continued his on-stage "clown" persona and developed comedy routines with Presley. Black's on-stage personality was a sharp contrast to the introverted stage presence of Moore. The balance fit the group's performances.

According to Black's son Louis, Moore said, "Elvis used to just stand up there and not move, and Bill would jump around on the bass. Your daddy would come down through there and get everybody to laughing and loosen them up." Fontana called Black the mainstay of the band in the early days. "He was a comedian who could warm up a crowd. That was necessary for us because we played for a lot of country crowds that weren't used to people jumping up and down on stage."

Although both the crowd and Presley enjoyed Black's clowning, Presley's manager Colonel Parker declared that there be no more showing up Elvis. Gordon Stoker told Black, "Hey, man, you've got to cut this out. You're not the star. Elvis is the star." Black and Moore left Presley on September 21, 1957. Although Black continued to record with Presley until 1958, he and Moore discontinued the band because of poor wages.

Bill Black's Combo

In 1959 Black joined a group of musicians which became Bill Black's Combo. The lineup was Black (bass), Joe Lewis Hall (piano), Reggie Young (guitar), Martin Wills (saxophone), and Jerry Arnold (drums). There were several personnel changes. While Young was in the army, his position was filled by Hank Hankins, Chips Moman and Tommy Cogbill. Ace Cannon replaced Wills on sax. Carl McVoy replaced Hall in the studio, while Bobby Emmons replaced him on tour.

The band released blues instrumental ''Smokie'' for Hi Records in December 1959. ''Smokie, Part 2'' became a #17 pop hit, and made number one on the "black" music charts. The song made the Top 20 in the Billboard Hot 100 chart. A follow-up release, ''White Silver Sands'' (Hi 2021), was a Top 10 hit (#9) and, like its predecessor, topped the R&B; charts for four weeks.

Eight of the recordings by Bill Black's Combo placed in the Top 40 between 1959 and 1962. These were "White Silver Sands" (U.S. #9), "Josephine" (U.S. #18), "Don't Be Cruel" (U.S. #11), "Blue Tango" (U.S. #16), and "Hearts of Stone" (U.S. #20). Advertised as "Terrific for Dancing" their ''Saxy Jazz'' spent a record whole year in the top 100.

The Combo appeared in the 1961 film ''The Teenage Millionaire'' and on ''The Ed Sullivan Show'', where they performed a medley of "Don't Be Cruel," "Cherry Pink," and "Hearts of Stone", and were voted Billboard's number one instrumental group of 1961.

Albums with themes included ''Bill Black's Combo Plays Tunes by Chuck Berry'', ''Bill Black's Combo Goes Big Band'', ''Bill Black's Combo Goes West'', and ''Bill Black's Combo Plays the Blues''. The Combo's sound of danceable blues became a popular accompaniment for striptease dancers. Another unique characteristics of the Combo was Reggie Young thwacking on the guitar with a pencil.

Lyn Lou Studio

In 1962, Bill Black opened a recording studio called "Lyn Lou Studio" (named for his son and daughter) on Chelsa Street in Memphis, Tennessee, with Larry Rogers (Studio 19, Nashville) as his engineer and producer. Johnny Black, Bill's brother and also upright bass player, who knew Elvis at Lauderdale Courts before Bill, recalls visiting Bill at the studio and reported that Bill would be totally absorbed mixing and playing back tracks. The studio featured a 1958 Ampex 351 mono tape recorder retired from Sun Studios in 1960, basically just like the one Bill recorded on with Elvis in 1954. Sam Phillips replaced the 2 original Ampex 350's with 2 new Ampex 351's in 1958. Bob Tucker and Larry Rogers purchased Lyn Lou Studios after Bill Black's death in 1965. The studio recorded many Bill Black Combo albums (now billed as "The Best Honky Tonk Band in America" as well as "The band who opened for the Beatles"), and produced number-one country hits for Charly McClain, T.G. Shepard, Billy Swan and others. The house band for these sessions was the Shylo Band, featuring guitarist/songwriter Ronnie Scaife, nephew of Cecil Scaife, famed Sun Studio engineer.

Early in 1963, Black sent from two to five different versions of the Combo to different regions of the country at the same time, while staying off the road himself, wanting to concentrate on his business, family and his health.

Ill health and death

In 1963, Bob Tucker joined the Bill Black Combo as a road manager and guitar/bass player.

Black himself had been ill for the past year and a half and unable to travel. Nonetheless, he insisted that the band continue without him. The Bill Black Combo created musical history in 1964 when they became the opening act for the Beatles (at their request) on their historical 13-city tour of America after their appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. Black himself was not well enough to make the tour.

After two operations and lengthy hospital stays, Black died of a brain tumor on October 21, 1965, at the age of thirty-nine. Black died during his third operation that doctors had hoped would eradicate the tumor once and for all. Black was buried at Forest Hill Cemetery in Memphis, Tennessee. Presley received criticism for not attending his funeral; however, he believed that his presence would turn the funeral into a media frenzy. He decided instead to visit the family privately after the service to express his condolences. According to Louis Black, Presley said, "If there's anything that y'all need, you just let me know and it's yours."

Black's widow sold Bob Tucker and Larry Rogers both the right to use the name Bill Black's Combo. The band changed to country when it joined Columbia Records, and won Billboard's Country Instrumental Group of the Year award in 1976.

Legacy

Bill Black's Combo cut more than 20 albums, toured the United States and Europe and won awards as the best instrumental group in America in 1966 and 1967. Bob Tucker worked for the University of Memphis as Professor of Music Business as well as being leader of the Best Honky Tonk Band in America.

Black's stand-up bass is today owned by ex-Beatle Paul McCartney, who received the instrument as a birthday present from his late wife Linda McCartney in the late 1970s. The bass can be seen in the video clip to McCartney's song "Baby's Request". In the documentary film ''The World Tonight'', McCartney can be seen playing the bass and singing his version of "Heartbreak Hotel". In 1995, he played it on "Real Love", the last "new" Beatles record (one of two in which McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr overdubbed a full arrangement onto a John Lennon home recording from the late 1970s). In 2005, Clay Steakley portrayed Black in the Elvis Presley biopic miniseries ''Elvis''.

On April 4, 2009, Bill Black was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

See also

List of bass guitarists

List of Precision Bass players

List of artists who reached number one on the Billboard R&B; chart

List of notable brain tumor patients

References

External links

Rockabilly Hall of Fame

MSN Entertainment

AllMusic Guide

Blackie - Bill Black & Elvis

Category:1926 births Category:1965 deaths Category:American double-bassists Category:American rock double-bassists Category:American rock bass guitarists Category:People from Memphis, Tennessee Category:Rockabilly musicians Category:Sun Records artists Category:Hi Records artists

da:Bill Black de:Bill Black fr:Bill Black it:William Black nl:Bill Black pt:Bill Black sv:Bill Black uk:Біл Блек

Name	William K. Black
Birth date	September 06, 1951
Other names	William Kurt Black
Known for	Developing the concept of "control fraud"
Occupation	Lawyer, academic, author former bank regulator
Nationality	American }}

William Kurt Black (born 6 September 1951) is an American lawyer, academic, author, and a former bank regulator. Black's expertise is in white-collar crime, public finance, regulation, and other topics in law and economics. He developed the concept of "control fraud", in which a business or national executive uses the entity he or she controls as a "weapon" to commit fraud.

Background

Black earned a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Irvine. Black is currently an Associate Professor of Economics and Law at the University of Missouri-Kansas City in the Department of Economics and the School of Law. He was the Executive Director of the Institute for Fraud Prevention from 2005-2007 and previously taught at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, and at Santa Clara University.

Black was litigation director for the Federal Home Loan Bank Board (FHLBB) from 1984 to 1986, deputy director of the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation (FSLIC) in 1987, and Senior VP and the General Counsel of the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco from 1987 to 1989, which regulated some of the largest thrift banks in the U.S.

Savings and Loan Scandal

Black was a central figure in exposing Congressional corruption during the Savings and Loan Crisis. He took the notes during the Keating Five meeting that were later published in the press, and brought the event to national attention and a congressional investigation.

According to Bill Moyers,

"The former Director of the Institute for Fraud Prevention now teaches Economics and Law at the University of Missouri, Kansas City. During the savings and loan crisis, it was Black who accused then-house speaker Jim Wright and five US Senators, including John Glenn and John McCain, of doing favors for the S&L;'s in exchange for contributions and other perks. The senators got off with a slap on the wrist, but so enraged was one of those bankers, Charles Keating — after whom the senate's so-called "Keating Five" were named — he sent a memo that read, in part, 'get Black — kill him dead.' Metaphorically, of course. Of course."

Published works

Black is the author of, among others, ''The Best Way to Rob a Bank is to Own One: How Corporate Executives and Politicians Looted the S&L; Industry'', 2005, University of Texas Press, ISBN 0292721390.

Bill Black wrote many articles for the Huffington Post from 2009 to date, focusing on financial and political fraud and chicanery and (legal and illegal) corruption of the on-going corporate looting/ robbing of the American and global economies.

The Real News Network appearances

Black has appeared many times on The Real News Network from 2008 to date, providing insights and analysis into the corporate looting/ plundering of the United States' and global economies.

Bill Moyers Journal appearance

On April 3, 2009 Black appeared on ''Bill Moyers Journal'' on PBS and provided critical commentary on the U.S. banking crisis. In the interview with Bill Moyers, Black asserted that the banking crisis in the United States that started in late 2008 is essentially a big Ponzi scheme; that the "liar loans" and other financial tricks were essentially illegal frauds; and that the triple-A ratings given to these loans was part of a criminal cover-up. He said that the "Prompt Corrective Action Law" passed after the Savings and loan crisis mandated that ailing banks should be put into receivership. Black also stated that trying to hide how bad the situation is will simply prolong the problem, as happened in Japan's lost decade. Black stated that Timothy Geithner is engaged in a cover-up, and that the administration does not want people to understand what went wrong or how bad the banking situation is today.

Testimony before Congress on the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers

On April 20, 2010, Black testified before the House Financial Services Committee in a hearing titled "Public Policy Issues Raised by the Report of the Lehman Bankruptcy Examiner." He testified about the role that Alt-A mortgages, what he called "liars loans," on residential real estate played in the downfall of Lehman Brothers. His testimony was that "Lehman’s failure is a story in large part of fraud. And it is fraud that begins at the absolute latest in 2001, and that is with their subprime and liars’ loan operations." As explained in his prepared statement, his reference was to Aurora Loan Services, Inc., which was a subsidiary of Lehman: "Lehman’s principal source of (fictional) income and real losses was making (and selling) what the trade accurately called 'liar’s loans' through its subsidiary, Aurora. (The bland euphemism for liar’s loans was 'Alt-A.') Liar’s loans are 'criminogenic' (they create epidemics of mortgage fraud) because they create strong incentives to provide false information on loan applications."

On the same page in his prepared testimony Black referenced an article from the ''Denver Post'' dated September 16, 2008, the day after Lehman filed for bankruptcy. The article reported on the uncertain fate of Aurora Loan Services, which was based nearby, and quoted Lehman's chief financial officer as saying the previous week that, "The majority of our write-downs were in Alt-A driven by an increase in.. . delinquencies and loss expectations." The article also said that Lehman was "among the first of its peers to originate home loans and securitize them for sale across the globe, and it fueled the growth of the Alt-A loan."

References

External links

William K. Black, UMKC School of Law

Vita

Why Elite Frauds Cause Recurrent, Intensifying Economic, Political and Moral Crises, Lecture at UMKC Department of Economics

"Former Regulator Talks Fraud and Big Bank Getaway", ''Making Sen$e with Paul Solman'', PBS, Feb. 17, 2010

William K. Black Criticizes the Bailout Plan -- Might Destroy the Obama Presidency, ''The Young Turks (talk show)'', April 6, 2009

"Dollars and Sense, several articles"

"Concept of control fraud"

"Boston Globe, Black criticizes McCain"

"The Hindu, Black criticizes deregulation"

"Review from Barnes and Noble"

"Bill Black: Not Dead Yet - 5 YouTube videos"

Video and transcript of April 23 2010 appearance on ''Bill Moyer's Journal'', PBS

2011 interview with David McWilliams re Savings and Loans and Irish banking crisis

By William K. Black:

"Two documents... Huffington Post"

"Americans can do anything, Huffington Post"

"Adam Smith was Right"

(''The Nation'' subscribers only) but Verify" article in The Nation with James K. Galbraith"

"Finance's Five Fatal Flaws"

Category:American economists Category:American business writers Category:Corporate crime Category:Savings and loan crisis Category:Subprime mortgage crisis Category:1951 births Category:Living people Category:University of Missouri–Kansas City faculty Category:University of Michigan Law School alumni Category:University of California, Irvine alumni

fr:William K. Black it:William Kurt Black

Black people in Europe (sometimes referred to as Afro-Europeans, although this term is also used to describe people of mixed European and African descent, especially in the former European colonies) are black people who are residents or citizens of European countries. They include immigrants as well as European-born people of Black African descent.

A Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly report on immigration from sub-Saharan Africa gives the number of sub-Saharan African migrants in Europe as between 3.5 and 8 million, concentrated mainly in Belgium, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Germany and the United Kingdom. The report also notes that these figures are likely to underestimate the African migrant population due to factors such as illegal migration.

Immigration

During the period of 2000-2005, an estimated 440,000 people per year emigrated from Africa, most of them to Europe. Most of this migration is illegal, and the European Union Frontex agency's "Operation Hermes" is monitoring the Mediterranean between North Africa and Italy. Due to increased border controls along the Mediterranean, there has been a shift of preferred migration routes towards Greece.

The figure of 0.44 million African emigrants per year (corresponding to about 0.05% of the continent's total population), including many Black Africans, pales in comparison to the annual population growth of about 2.6%, indicating that only about 2% of Africa's population growth is compensated for by emigration.

During the 2000s, North Africa has been receiving large numbers of Black African migrants "in transit", predominantly from West Africa, who plan to enter Europe. An annual 22,000 illegal migrants took the route from either Tunisia or Libya to the island of Lampedusa in the 2000-2005 period. This figure has decreased in 2006, but it has increased greatly as a result of the 2011 Tunisian revolution and the 2011 Libyan civil war. In 2005, 10,000 West African migrants heading for Europe were stranded in the Mauritanian port of Nouadhibou, and 20,000 Black African migrants were waiting for an opportunity to cross to Europe in the Spanish enclaves in North Africa.

Demographics

Some of the larger populations of people of Black African ancestry living in Europe are:

! Country	! Black Population	! Article	! Population centres	! Description
	No official data collected, unofficial estimates: 1.5–5 millionhttp://patricklozes.blogs.nouvelobs.com/archive/2010/12/18/la-france-plus-fermee-a-la-diversite-que-les-pays-de-l-est.html	Black people in France	Paris, Lyon, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Marseille, Nantes, Lille	Chiefly from West and Central African nations, the Caribbean (particularly Guadeloupe, Martinique and Haiti), and French Guiana.
		African immigrants to Italy	Rome, Milan, Palermo, Turin, Brescia, Venice, Naples	Mainly from Senegal, Nigeria, and Ghana. The black Caribbean mainly from Dominican Republic, Dominica, and Bahamas.
	3,624,700(2010)	Black British(Black Caribbean, Black African, Other Black)	London, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield, Bristol, Liverpool, Nottingham
		Afro-Dutch	Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, Almere, Eindhoven	Mainly from the former Dutch colony Suriname and the Netherlands Antilles, but also people from Cape Verde and other parts of Africa.
	ca. 500,000	Afro-Germans	Hamburg, Berlin, Frankfurt, Cologne	Ethnicity statistics are prohibited in Germany but the ISD (Initiative Schwarze Menschen in Deutschland / Initiative Black People in Germany) estimates a number of 500.000 Black Germans. It remains unclear if this number includes only black people with a German passport or if it includes every black person residing in Germany.
	150,000	Portuguese of Black African ancestry		Mostly from former Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries
	110,000 - 200,000 (Could be higher)			Mostly from former colonies such as Congo and Rwanda, although immigrants from every African country are present in Belgium.
				Mainly from [[Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cameroon and Angola
	44,318 (2006)	Black people in Ireland	Dublin, Port Laoise

Notable individuals

;Historical Europeans of partial Black African ancestry A number of famous European historical figures were of partial Black African ancestry, including Alexander Pushkin, Alexandre Dumas, George Polgreen Bridgetower, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and John Archer.

;Sports Some of the most famous Black people in Europe are footballers in various European leagues. Frank Rijkaard became the first black person to Coach a European country when he was manager of the Netherlands in 2000, and has since had a successful spell coaching in Spain. Recently Senegalese born Pape Diouf became chairman of Olympique de Marseille. Paul Ince became the first black British manager of a Premier League football team after being named manager of Blackburn Rovers, having been the first black player to captain England. The England national football team has a number of black players since Viv Anderson became the first black player to start a match for the national team in 1978. The France national football team has also featured significant numbers of black players, including, Thierry Henry, Marcel Desailly, Patrick Vieira and Lilian Thuram, who have all earned over 100 caps.

;Popular culture Harry Roselmack became the first black prime-time news anchor on a mainstream TV channel in France in July 2006. The first black prime-time newsreader in the UK was Trevor McDonald who was employed 37 years prior by the BBC in 1969.

See also

African American

Afro-Latin American

Black Canadian

Black people

References

Further reading

European Category:Ethnic groups in Europe

bg:Афро-европейци de:Schwarze in Europa es:Afro-Europeo fr:Afro-Européens nl:Afro-Europeanen pt:Afro-europeus

name	Dylan Ratigan
birthname	Dylan Jason Ratigan
birth date	April 19, 1972
birth place	Saranac Lake, New York
occupation	Television journalist and show host
credits	Host of MSNBC's ''The Dylan Ratigan Show''
url	http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31510813/ }}

Dylan Jason Ratigan (born April 19, 1972) is a ''New York Times'' Best-Selling author and host of MSNBC's ''The Dylan Ratigan Show'', the highest-rated, non-prime time show on the network, aimed at critiquing what Ratigan sees as an unholy alliance between big business and government. He is also a frequent contributor to ''The Huffington Post''.

The former Global Managing Editor for Corporate Finance at Bloomberg L.P., Ratigan has developed and launched more than half a dozen broadcast and new media properties. They include CNBC’s Fast Money and Closing Bell, as well as DylanRatigan.com, which is home to his podcast, “Greedy Bastards Antidote.”

His first book, ''Greedy Bastards'', was released on January 10, 2012 and spent five consecutive weeks on the ''New York Times'' Best-Sellers List.

Early life

Ratigan was born in the village of Saranac Lake in upstate New York. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political economics from Union College in Schenectady, where he was a member of the crew team.

Journalism career

Ratigan served as the Global Managing Editor for Corporate Finance at Bloomberg News Service, and before that had covered Mergers and Acquisitions, the U.S. Stock Market and IPOs. At Bloomberg, he co-created and hosted ''Morning Call'' for Bloomberg's cable network and the USA Network. He has served as a contributor to ABC News and his articles have appeared in ''The New York Times'', ''The Washington Post'', ''The Miami Herald'' and ''Chicago Tribune''.

Ratigan was the host of ''Fast Money'' (co-created with Susan Krakower and launching on June 21, 2006). Previously, he was the first anchor of CNBC's ''On the Money''. He also anchored the CNBC TV program ''Bullseye'' for about a year and a half. In addition to his former duties as co-anchor on ''Closing Bell'', Ratigan was a rotating co-anchor of ''The Call''.

Ratigan left as host of Fast Money in 2009, provoked by outrage over the government’s handling of the 2008 financial crisis. Since then, he has dedicated his work to launching platforms that engage and debate the U.S. government on policy, while opening the door for millions to learn more about money’s often poisonous role in democracy. ''The New York Times'' reported he was considering all options but quoted him as saying he was dedicated to covering the economy, "the story that is affecting every American in every setting."

''Morning Meeting'' launched June 29, 2009. Ratigan also contributes to other NBC News programs. Ratigan described the show's imperative as "to discuss any and all political issues with no directive other than to provide compelling content." The show was the second ever on the network to air in HD, as the network launched their programming in that format.

On May 27, 2010, Ratigan appeared as a guest host on the daily internet news and opinion show, ''The Young Turks''. Cenk Uygur, regular host of ''The Young Turks'' is a frequent guest on ''The Dylan Ratigan Show''.

On January 9, 2012, he appeared as a guest on The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC, discussing the premise of his book, ''Greedy Bastards,'' viz. the swindling and robbing of America by "government corruption and corporate communism, incensed by banksters shaking down taxpayers, and despairing of an ailing health care system, an age-old dependency on foreign oil, and a failing educational system". He stated that he has gained weight and started smoking due to his frustration.

Reporting

Ratigan reported on NASCAR for the program ''NASCAR Gold'' and about Las Vegas for ''Las Vegas, Inc'' on ''CNBC on Assignment.''

Ratigan won the Gerald Loeb Award for 2004 coverage of the Enron scandal.

In Ratigan's final CNBC broadcast from the floor of the NYSE he reported on what he called "an important story developing" that Goldman Sachs and "a variety of European banks," in his assessment and that of his guests, essentially "perpetrated securities fraud" and an "insurance fraud scam" against AIG — and, by extension, the government and taxpayers funding that insurance company's "bailout" — by insuring their questionable investment vehicles and, upon their devaluation, making claims on them to be paid by AIG "at 100 cents on the dollar" despite all of the markdowns "being forced upon every other" entity including the government, banks, shareholders, bond holders, taxpayers and homeowners.

"I think that it should be a bigger political issue than whether somebody bought an airplane ... Forget the private jets, forget who got a million dollar bonus. ''Fifty billion dollars,''" he said, minimizing what he saw as populist side issues to "the real question" of how "government policy makers" are to deal with the "problems of contract law" inherent in the agreements of businesses receiving government assistance during the financial crisis.

"The banks are being asked to take 'haircuts' on their toxic assets, why are the Goldmans and the Deutsche Banks of the world not being asked to take haircuts on their toxic credit default swaps? It's a real question. I will continue to pursue it for sure, I hope others will as well." Ratigan praised New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's subpoena of AIG to determine the bank payouts as "legitimate inquiry" and looked forward to "a body of lawmakers in Washington, D.C., who are going to ask, it appears, some of the same questions that I'm asking."

2011 rant

On the August 10, 2011, broadcast of ''The Dylan Ratigan Show'', in a round table discussion of the market meltdown following the Budget Control Act of 2011, Ratigan went on a two-minute-long rant against what he perceived to be the state of politics in the United States government, saying:

"We've got a real problem! This is a mathematical fact! Tens of trillions of dollars are being extracted from the United States of America. Democrats aren't doing it, Republicans aren't doing it. An entire integrated system, financial system, trading system, taxing system, that was created by both parties over a period of two decades is at work on our entire country right now. And we're sitting here arguing about whether we should do the $4 trillion plan that kicks the can down the road for the president for 2017, or burn the place to the ground, both of which are reckless, irresponsible, and stupid."

The video of his impassioned speech went viral and was praised by other media sources. TV Newser wrote that it was "a powerful, emotional editorial on the economy and Washington". On a followup post on his website the day after he wrote that he had received a lot of positive mail from viewers, writing "I’m mad as hell. And according to the piles and piles of responses I got after my rant, so are you."

Appearances

Ratigan appeared on ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'' in 2008 to discuss the financial crisis. He has also appeared on ''The Colbert Report'' with Stephen Colbert and ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien''.

References

External links

Dylan Ratigan biography on MSNBC

Daily Beast profile of Dylan Ratigan

From CNBC Business Journalist to Critic of Bankers on MSNBC from The New York Times

Category:1972 births Category:Living people Category:American broadcast news analysts Category:American television journalists Category:MSNBC Category:People from Essex County, New York Category:Union College (New York) alumni Category:American sports journalists

de:Dylan Ratigan fr:Dylan Ratigan