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![\"griftopia\"](\"http:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/files\/content\/mounts\/sambamount\/images\/POLITICS\/TAIBBI\/2010\/griftopia_sq.jpg\")
Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines the word “grift” in this way: “to obtain (money) illicitly (as in a confidence game).” The title of Rolling Stone contributor Matt Taibbi’s new book is then fairly straightforward, sort of: It’s called Griftopia: Bubble Machines, Vampire Squids, and the Long Con that is Breaking America.” Tabbi is perhaps best known as the astute, if brash, journalist who in 2009 described Goldman Sachs as “a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money.” In this new book Griftopia, he analyzes the Tea Party phenomenon, Alan Greenspan’s role in the financial crisis, the mortgage scam, the commodities bubble, and healthcare reform, all in his trademark colorful eloquence. The book is described by one reviewer as “the most lucid, justifiably angry description of what happened and what continues to happen to our nation’s economy.” <\/p>\nGUEST: Matt Taibbi, contributing editor of Rolling Stone Magazine, author of The Great Derangement, Spanking the Donkey, and Smells Like Dead Elephants<\/em><\/p>\n