Today - labor unions are saying that Democrats in the Senate have "sold out" workers by agreeing to demands by House Republicans that make it harder for transportation workers with the FAA to unionize. Rather than just passing a simple funding measure for the FAA - like all previous Congresses have done with no problem - Republicans in the House instead decided to hold the funding hostage until Democrats agreed to insert anti-union provisions in the funding measure. And in 75-20 vote today in the Senate - the Democrats caved - and passed the funding bill - complete with its anti-union language. For more on this story - and exactly what's at stake for transportation workers across the nation - Thom is joined by George Kohl - Legislative Director with the Communication Workers of America

Jordan Estevao, National People's Action join Thom Hartmann. You might remember that about a year-and-a-half-ago it was discovered that the nation's biggest banks - like Wells Fargo - Bank of America - JP Morgan Chase - Ally Financial - and Citigroup - were exposed for using "robo-signers." As I just showed - robosigners were just people they picked off the street to come into an office somewhere - and sign thousands of fraudulent legal documents making it look like banks owned properties that the banks DIDN'T really own. All that just so they could foreclose on whoever was in that particular home. This is complete and total criminal fraud. It's a criminal conspiracy to force millions of people out of their homes. It got the attention of all 50 state's attorneys general - who launched an investigation into the banks. After more than a year - a settlement was worked out in just the last few weeks. Basically - the big banks have to cough up $25 billion in penalties and use that money to help keep people who are on the verge of foreclosure in their homes by modifying their mortgages. They also have to change how they deal with customers - and change their current foreclosure practices. In return...the banksters get immunity - Wall Street CEOs and other bankster criminals get to walk free - and keep their bonuses - after committing one of the biggest acts of criminal fraud in history. And they can't be held liable in any other lawsuits brought by any attorneys general who ...

Thom discusses the housing crisis and overall corruption in corporate America with journalist and author Michael Hudson. Tonight's Big Picture Rumble panel discuses the newly released job numbers, Romney's Super PAC and what the deficit will look like if we don't end the Bush tax cuts.

Karl Frisch, Bullfight Strategies & Vince Coglianese, Daily Caller & Will Rahn, The Daily Caller all join Thom Hartmann. Does Mitt Romney really dislike poor people? How will the right-to-work-for-less law in Indiana affect workers in the state? And was that a dog cage on top of Mitt's jet? Answers to those questions and more in tonight's Big Picture Rumble.

A few times a year, ALEC gathers lawmakers, corporate CEOs, and lobbyists together in the same high-end resort-hotel ballrooms to present to the elected officials model legislation written by ALEC and voted on by the corporations. If the corporations approve, that legislation then gets carried back to state legislatures - or even the US Congress - by the lawmakers in attendance, who submit it as new laws. And it's long been speculated - because identical laws keep popping up in state after state - that Republican lawmakers who attend ALEC conferences are taking their orders directly from ALEC - and therefore legislation dealing with everything from Voter ID laws, to harsher prison sentences for drug offenders, to dismantling EPA regulation have their roots in ALEC. Now there's proof..

For tonight's Conversations with Great Minds - Thom is joined by Michael W. Hudson. Mike is a former reporter for the Wall Street Journal and was also an investigator for the Center for Responsible Lending. His writing has appeared in the publications like Forbes Magazine - the New York Times and Mother Jones. And much of that writing has been devoted to the foreclosure and mortgage crisis still plaguing the nation today - as well as the corruption in the big banks on Wall Street that underlie our current financial crisis. Mike is widely recognized for his work - and has been awarded the George Polk Award for magazine reporting - the John Hancock Award for business journalism and has received multiple accolades from the National Press Club and American Bar Association, among others. Currently - Mike is a Business and Finance writer with The Center for Public Integrity - and is the author of the book, "The Monster: How a Gang of Predatory Lenders and Wall Street Bankers.

For tonight's Conversations with Great Minds - Thom is joined by Michael W. Hudson. Mike is a former reporter for the Wall Street Journal and was also an investigator for the Center for Responsible Lending. His writing has appeared in the publications like Forbes Magazine - the New York Times and Mother Jones. And much of that writing has been devoted to the foreclosure and mortgage crisis still plaguing the nation today - as well as the corruption in the big banks on Wall Street that underlie our current financial crisis. Mike is widely recognized for his work - and has been awarded the George Polk Award for magazine reporting - the John Hancock Award for business journalism and has received multiple accolades from the National Press Club and American Bar Association, among others. Currently - Mike is a Business and Finance writer with The Center for Public Integrity - and is the author of the book, "The Monster: How a Gang of Predatory Lenders and Wall Street Bankers.

The Good! Grenda Corporation. The Australian-based bus company was recently sold by the Grenda family for over $400 million dollars. The Bad! Rupert Murdoch. Murdoch's News Corporation has been hit again with new allegations of phone hacking in England. And The Very Very Ugly! Senator Mike Lee. The Tea Party Senator from Utah has been adamant about exacting revenge for President Obama's recent recess appointments of four consumer and worker protection officials.

Facebook's Initial Public Offering may create upwards of 1000 new millionaires. Do we really want more millionaires running around? Time to wake up to the very real HUMAN values that are part of a successful experience of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

Today is Groundhog Day - which means it's time for Punxatawney Phil to predict whether or not we're headed for 6 more weeks of winter. In fact - I think we have some footage of Phil today...There's his head just peaking up above ground - he's just waking up from hibernation. And now he's almost out of the ground...wait a second...that does't...that's not Punxatawney Phil...It's...Trump!

Talk about a marriage made in hell...Two of Sweden's most notorious murderers, the "Skara Cannibal" and the "Vampire Woman" are madly in love - and hope to get married according to a Swedish newspaper.

Americans sure do love to get their sugar highs. But new research suggests sugar is not all sweet. According to a commentary and study published in the journal Nature - added sugar and related sweeteners are so toxic to the human body that they should be regulated and treated as strictly as alcohol and tobacco.

Kevin Kamps, Beyond Nuclear joins Thom Hartmann. Earlier this week - California's San Onofre nuclear power plant had to be unexpectedly shut down after radioactive water was discovered leaking out of the plant's Unit 3 reactor. Officials claim the leak is fully contained within the concrete dome of the plant. This comes at the same time that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is warning that aging nuclear plants in the eastern and central portion of the United States might not be able to withstand an earthquake and its effects. But wait - there's more...

Europe is screwed - and we are next, if the $100K donors to Mitt Romney's Super Pac have their way. When the European economy - and the world's economy for that matter - went into full meltdown in 2008 - a new experiment in economics was tried out. It was called austerity. And while austerity isn't all that new - using it as a tool to beat back a recession WAS new.

Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin joins Thom to talk about her campaign, the war on unions & money in politics