There's still no relief in sight for struggling American homeowners. Especially after we learned this week that mortgage giant Freddie Mac - which was in charge of keeping Americans in their homes - was actually betting on people getting kicked out of their homes. Since the George Bush meltdown in 2007 - 9 million homes in American have been lost to foreclosure. And as of right now - another 4 million are in danger of foreclosure. But even more troubling than these disturbingly high foreclosure numbers - is what's behind them. And how this foreclosure crisis is disproportionately affecting minority homeowners. Joining me from New York to speak to this issue is Janell Ross - Business Reporter with the Huffington Post

David Selig, Conservative Strategist vs. Thom Hartmann. In 2010 - just like every two years - every single seat in the House of Representatives was up for election. And thanks to the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision earlier that year - outside corporate front groups were given free reign to spend unlimited amounts buying the election. Which they did. Over $300 million was spent in the 2010 midterm election - that's more than a 400% increase in outside spending from the last midterm election in 2006. And because most of that outside money came from big corporations that want deregulation and billionaires who want tax cuts - Tea Party Republicans won in a landslide victory - and have since defend their corporate and billionaire donors relentlessly. They've blocked the most meager of tax increases on millionaires and billionaires. They've blocked attempts to cut off oil subsidies for transnational oil corporations. They've tried to destroy elements of Dodd-Frank, the Wall Street reform law that gives shareholders a say in CEO pay and ends too-big-to-fail bank bailouts. And all the while they've been attacking working people - voting to end Medicare and replace it with a voucher program - to cut home heating assistance for the poor - and holding unemployment benefits and tax cuts for the middle class hostage in exchange for extending the Bush tax cuts for the rich. It's the best House of Representatives money can buy.

It looks like Mitt Romney is back on top in the Republican primary race. But whether voters in the sunshine state realize it or not - they aren't choosing candidates. They aren't choosing Mitt Romney - or Newt Gingrich - or Rick Santorum. They aren't even choosing people. Tonight - voters in Florida - just like they did in South Carolina - in New Hampshire - and Iowa are - choosing between special interest groups. Not candidates - but special interest groups. This is what Citizens United has done to our democracy - to our elections. We no longer have candidates running for office - we have INTEREST GROUPS promoting the candidates they own running for office. Interest groups like Wall Street - like Big Oil - like for-profit health insurers that all have the power to buy our elections now thanks to the Supreme Court. So given that - who REALLY won Florida tonight? Let's look at the numbers...

Thom discusses Grover Norquist's call for impeaching Obama if he wins and doesn't extend the Bush tax cuts. Also discussed: the latest from the occupy movement, California's efforts to move to a single payer system and Thom's "Daily Take" on how Michigan and Greece's economic and democratic problems are oddly similar.

Right-wing politicans and their Bankster buddies have dealt the same terrible hand to Michigan as they have to Greece. When it comes to economic troubles - the United States hasn't quite reached the disaster scenario Greece finds itself in. The Greek economy is contracting - while the US economy is growing. The unemployment rate in Greece is 18.8% - in the United States it's officially 8.5%. We're in a lot better shape than they are...economically at least. But when it comes to democracy - we're actually worse off than Greece. The Financial Times is reporting today that Greece's Finance Minister "angrily" rejected a plan by the European Union to put in place a "budget commissioner" to oversee how the Greeks prepare their next budget. Basically - the EU is telling Greece that if they want more bailout funds - then they're going to have to let some unelected technocrat come in who has the power to veto tax and spending decisions made by the democratically elected Greek government. As in - we can't trust you guys to run your own country - we'll do it for you. The Germans proposed this plan - but the Greek Finance Minister said no way - arguing, "...it would improperly force his country to choose between 'financial assistance' and 'national dignity.'" Greece has been through a lot - including watching their Prime Minister be forced out of office by European technocrats last year and be replaced by a bankster. But where they draw the line is giving up their right to set their ...

In our "Everything U Know is Wrong" - Today is January 30, 2012 which means there are 326 days until the end of the world as we know it. Or at least that's what those who believe in the Mayans' supposed prediction of the end of the world want you to think. From Hollywood to conspiracy theory blogs, everyone has glorified the Mayans so-called prediction that the end of the world will occur on the Winter Solstice - or December 21st - of this year. But if you really think the world will end on December 21st - then everything you know is wrong...Joining Thom to discuss the Mayans and help us separate fact from fiction is Dr. William Saturno - a leading Mayan scholar and Assistant Professor in the Archaeology Department of Boston University.

California came just a few votes shy of establishing a single-payer universal healthcare system in the state. Despite receiving a majority of votes in the state Senate - SB-810 - known as the Single Payer Health Care for California act - was two votes shy of the necessary 21 votes needed to pass out of the upper chamber. And it's not because senators were opposed to the measure - but instead because four moderate Democrats decided not to vote at all. State Senators Alex Padilla, Juan Vargas, Michael Rubio, and Rod Wright all abstained from voting on the critical legislation - but all will have another chance on Tuesday when Democrats in the State Senate plan to bring the legislation up again for a vote. So what are the chances now that California could lead the way - and establish a single-payer health care system - in the nation's most populated state? Joining Thom now is the sponsor of this legislation - California State Senator Mark Leno - representing California's District 3.

Richard Eskow, Campaign for America's Future joins Thom Hartmann. Mortgage giant Freddie Mac is betting on your economic failure. What are they doing - and how did a once-public agency turn into a monster?

The Good! President Obama. President Obama's re-election campaign is refunding the campaign donations of five registered federal lobbyists who made contributions to the campaign between April and September of last year. The Bad! RNC Chairman Reince Priebus. Priebus compared President Obama to Captain Schettino - the captain of the run-aground Italian cruise ship who abandoned the ship before all of the passengers had safely gotten off. And The Very Very Ugly! North Carolina Republican State Rep. Larry Pittman. Pittman has some radical ideas on how to better enforce the death penalty and who should face it and, in an e-mail to the North Carolina General Assembly, said that, "We need to make the death penalty a real deterrent again by actually carrying it out. Every appeal that can be made should have to be made at one time, not in a serial manner. If murderers (and I would include abortionists, rapists, and kidnappers, as well) are actually executed, it will at least have the deterrent effect upon them. For my money, we should go back to public hangings."

Mass arrests, chemical weapons, and nationwide solidarity - the Occupy Wall Street movement was the big story over the weekend - and so too was how hundreds of Americans were screwed out of their constitutional rights to free speech and assembly. More than 400 members of the Occupy movement were arrested Saturday in downtown Oakland as riot police using flash-bang grenades, chemical weapons, and less-lethal rubber-coated steel bullets cracked down on an attempt to occupy a long-abandoned city building. An unknown number of patriots were hospitalized with injuries after the assault by Oakland Police, and at least four journalists were arrested - the most since Mayor Bloomberg's midnight raid on Zuccotti Park last November. All-in-all it was an ugly day in Oakland Saturday. But the nationwide Occupy Wall Street movement rebounded on Sunday with solidarity marches across the nation. Within just 24 hours - marches were organized in at least 27 cities in America - from Denver to Boston to New York City. Unfortunately - many of those peaceful marches also ended in arrests. And in Washington, DC today - the nation's oldest and largest remaining occupations are in danger of being evicted. At the behest of Republicans in Congress like former criminal Darryl Issa - the National Park Service told demonstrators who've been occupying two spaces in downtown DC for months that they have until noon today to remove any camping gear or face immediate arrest. That deadline came and went ...

So why is it that at a time of extreme hardships for the majority of Americans - with 49 million people in poverty and half of all Americans belonging to the working poor - it's the super rich who think they're the ones under attack? It's the super rich - with multimillionaire lobbyists like Grover Norquist - who want to impeach the President over a tiny tax increase. It's the super rich that yell "socialism" when the President calls for an end to oil subsidies - or more regulations on Wall Street. We seem to be living in a bizarre alternate universe - where the super rich - with the help of the Republican Party - and some Democrats - have become the "true victims" of the Great Bush Depression. So how did this come to be? Joining Thom is a man who's extensively studied this exact issue - Thomas Frank. He is an author - journalist - and columnist for Harper's Magazine, whose new book is: "Pity the Billionaire: The Hard-Times Swindle and the Unlikely Comeback of the Right"

According to Article 2 - Section 4 of the United States Constitution, "The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors." Did you understand that? A President can be impeached if he is convicted of treason - bribery - or other high crimes and misdemeanors. Any other attempt to remove the President from office absent of these crimes would not be an impeachment...instead it would be a coup d'etat. Enter multi-millionaire Republican lobbyist Grover Norquist stage right - the guy famous for corraling nearly every single Republican in Congress together to sign his pledge against raising taxes. At the end of last week in an interview with the right-wing National Journal - Grover Norquist called for the impeachment of President Obama. Not for treason - or bribery - or high crimes and misdemeanors - not for any real impeachable offense - but only because the President might raise taxes on millionaires and billionaires back to where they were during the Clinton administration - to 39%. As Norquist said, "Obama can sit there and let all the tax [cuts] lapse, and then the Republicans will have enough votes in the Senate in 2014 to impeach." Again - Grover Norquist is calling for the impeachment of the President of the United States jsut for making millionaires and billionaires pay their fair share in taxes - making millionaires and ...

Thom talks to author and attorney Jeff Clements on his latest book, "Corporations are Not People." Tonight's Big Picture Rumble panel discuses last night's GOP debate, the backlash against conservatism and the Wisconsin recall effort.