William A. Galston, Brookings Institution, joins Thom Hartmann. What do you do to keep your job if your employer gives you only a 14% approval rating? You avoid him or her. That's exactly what Congress is up to during this August recess - avoiding their constituents. As the organization "No Labels" is reporting - 60% of the Members of Congress are not holding any sort of open town hall meetings while they vacation during the month of August - a vacation that's supposed to be spent talking to constituents

Thom talks about Moammar Gadhafi's overthrown regime in Libya and the possible after effects of the fallen dictatorship. Later in the show, Congressman Charles Rangel discusses the unemployment crisis in America and President Obama's highly anticipated job creation plan.

Richard J. Eskow, Campaign for America's Future, joins Thom Hartmann. Turning our attention now to the ongoing bankster-fueled housing crisis. In the second quarter of this year - mortgage delinquencies increased - as now close to 10% of all homeowners are on the verge of being foreclosed on - a sign that the housing crisis beginning in 2007 is nowhere near resolved after four years. What has been resolved though? The Wall Street money-making machine. As more records from the Federal Reserve go public - we're learning that the 2008 bailout of Wall Street - known as "TARP" - was just the tip of the iceberg in public funds going to the banksters. In December of 2008 - the Fed secretly gave more than $1.2 trillion in virtually interest-free loans to big banks like Morgan Stanley - Citigroup - and Bank of America. That's $1.2 trillion! Which - coincidentally - is about how much it would cost to save 6-and-a-half million homeowners who are delinquent on their mortgages and facing foreclosure. In other words - a clear choice was made in 2008 to help banksters or help bilked homeowners - and the Fed chose the banksters. So today - it's no wonder that banksters are doing just fine again - with 5 of the six largest banks in America reporting soaring profits - like JP Morgan Chase's 13% profit increase - and Wells Fargo's 29% profit increase. Meanwhile - millions of Americans are still being kicked out of their homes - and Republicans refuse to sign on to any sort of relief to help ...

Joel Kelsey with FreePress.net joins Thom Hartmann. If your cell phone provider is AT&T wireless...I have some bad news for you! How the company is screwing over customers through outrageous price spikes! And why we all might get a better deal on wireless if we move to France! It's time to bring back the Sherman Anti-trust Act - and put an end to monopolies of all kinds in America.