It’s time to put an end to the financialization insanity that’s hurting average people, destroying the American dream, and turning our economy into one big giant casino. One of the most startling trends to come out of the wreckage of the 2007-2008 financial crisis is the explosion of Wall Street firms buying up and renting out property all across the country.

The housing glut and foreclosure crisis that was, for most Americans, the symbol of the devastation caused by the worst economic downturn of our lifetimes, was, for Wall Street a wonderful business opportunity. A study from the Center for American Progress estimates that in the five plus years since the crash, “institutional investors [i.e. big banks and hedge funds] have... bought approximately 200,000 single-family homes at bargain prices and converted them into rental homes.”

Amazingly, the New York City-based hedge fund The Blackstone Group has focused so much of its resources on the real estate business that is now the single largest landlord in the entire country.

Read more here.

-Thom

Free excerpt, read book for free at Truthout, buy the book!

Community Square

"Scott Walker's Koch funded dirty political fairy tail TV ads"

Wednesday's Daily Stack

Hour One: The future of Obamacare
- David Hogberg PhD, National Center for Public Policy Research

Article: "Halbig vs. Burwell: As D.C. Circuit Correctly Noted, There Was No Evidence Of Congressional Intent" by David Hogberg.

Article: "Two Hours After A Court Strikes Down Obamacare Subsidies, Another Appeals Court Upholds Them" by Ian Millhiser.

Article: "Breaking: Two Republican Judges Order Obamacare Defunded" by Ian Millhiser.

Article: "Appeals Court Deals Major Blow To Obamacare" by Sahil Kapur.

Article: "Appeals Court Advances Mortal Threat to Obamacare" by George Zornick.

Case: "Halbig v. Burwell" (Halbig v. Sebelius) (DC Circuit).

Case: "King v. Burwell" (4th Circuit).

Law text: "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act", 2010.

Article: "Chevron Deference" by LII (courts should defer to agency interpretations of statutes if they are not unreasonable).

Law: "Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc." (1984).

Article: "Newest Health Insurance Customers Are Generally Happy" by Margot Sanger-Katz.

Article: "CNN Poll: Half Of Americans Say Obamacare Has Helped Their Families Or Others" by Kaiser.

Article: "How The White House Could Still Save Obamacare Even If It Loses In Court" by Dylan Scott.

Article: "Harvard Medical Study Links Lack of Insurance to 45,000 U.S. Deaths a Year" by Reed Abelson.

Book: Reinventing American Health Care: How the Affordable Care Act will Improve our Terribly Complex, Blatantly Unjust, Outrageously Expensive, Grossly Inefficient, Error Prone System by Ezekiel Emanuel.

Book: " Walking Your Blues Away: How to Heal the Mind and Create Emotional Well-Being" by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)" by Wikipedia.

Article: "MSNBC Says Its Contract With Contributor Rula Jebreal Ended Last Month" by Tom Kludt.

Article: "NBC News Reverses Decision, Will Put Ayman Mohyeldin Back in Gaza" by Matt Wilstein.

Article: "The Big Lobotomy: How Republicans Made Congress Stupid" by Paul Glastris and Haley Sweetland Edwards.

Law: Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (1999) (Financial Services Modernization Act Of 1999).

Law: "Commodity Futures Modernization Act", 2000.

Book: "The Crash of 2016: The Plot to Destroy America--and What We Can Do to Stop It" by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "The Powell Memo or Powell Manifesto".

Book: "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson.

Book: "Unsafe at Any Speed" by Ralph Nader.

Case: "Buckley v. Valeo", 1976.

Talk Radio News Segment:
- Ellen Ratner, Bureau Chief

Article: "Reid Remarks On Ending Corporate Citizenship Scams" by Sen. Harry Reid.

Bill: "S. 2569: Bring Jobs Home Act" by Sen. John Walsh.

Article: "Kerry in Israel to push for Gaza cease-fire" by Anne Gearan, Sudarsan Raghavan and Ruth Eglash.

Article: "FAA Extends Israel Flight Ban An Additional 24 Hours" by Nicholas Salazar.

Article: "GAO: Too early to draw Obamacare fraud conclusions" by Mackenzie Weinger.

Article: "Boehner Reveals Rogers’ Border Crisis Spending Plan" by Keely Sullivan.

Article: "US Supreme Court allows Arizona to execute Joseph Wood" by BBC.

Article: "Second Man With Handgun Arrested At Cannon Office Building" by Kate Faiella.

Article: "Ukraine Says Russian Separatists Shot Down Two More Planes" by James Cullum.

Site: "Goats for the old Goat".

Site: Governor Free Don Siegelman.

Article: "TRNS News Notes- 7/23" by Victoria Jones.

Article: "TRNS News Notes- 7/22" by Victoria Jones.

Article: "United Airlines' Outsourcing Jobs to Company That Pays Near-Poverty Wages Is Shameful" by Robert Creamer.

Article: "Low Wages at a Single Wal-Mart Store Cost Taxpayers about $1 Million Every Year, Says New Committee Staff Report" by Committee on Education and the Workforce.

Law: "Taft-Hartley Labor Act", 1947.

Article: "Fast Food, Poverty Wages: The Public Cost of Low-Wage Jobs in the Fast-Food Industry" by Sylvia Allegretto et al., October 15, 2013

Article: "Hidden Cost of Wal-Mart Jobs" by Arindrajit Drube, Ken Jacobs, August 2 2004.

Article: "Republican Party Platform of 1956", August 20, 1956.

Quote: "We've killed health care reform. Now we've got to make sure our fingerprints are not on it." -- Senator Bob Packwood.

Event: DC, July 24, 2014 - 11:00am to 12:00pm: "DC Councilmember Andy Harris Constituent Service Day".

Article: "Space Shuttle Columbia" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Premarin" by Wikipedia.

Site: American College for Advancement in Medicine (ACAM).

Article: "Melatonin" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Constitution of the United States" Article 1, section 8: ...To establish Post Offices and post Roads;...

Site: Progressive Democrats of America.

Site: Move to Amend

Site: "MoveOn.org".

Site: "Democracy for America".

Site: "Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund" (CELDF).

Article: "U.S. discloses intelligence on downing of Malaysian jet" by Greg Miller.

Thursday on The Thom Hartmann Program, 3-6pm ET

James Jones will be calling in LIVE from DC Councilmember Andy Harris Constituent Service Day.

Plus, Thom talks with America's Lawyer Mike Papantonio, Ring of Fire Radio too...

And, the best of the rest of the news along with your calls right here on...

The Thom Hartmann Program, Occupying The Media 3 hours a day 5 days a week" for "we the people"

And don't forget...Democracy is NOT a spectator sport...it begins with you...