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This story could have had a much worse outcome. Thankfully it looks like there's a good chance all of the miners will emerge safely after being trapped in the Chilean mine for some 69 days. It's too bad our media isn't taking this opportunity to talk about mining safety instead of just focusing on the fact that it was something akin to a miracle that these workers have survived this ordeal.

First Workers Emerge From Chilean Mine

Rescuers in Chile have freed the first of 33 workers who had been trapped more than half a kilometer underground for over two months.

Florencio Avalos, a 31-year-old miner, was brought to the surface shortly after midnight Wednesday in a metal capsule called Phoenix. Wearing dark sunglasses to protect his eyes from camera lights after 10 weeks of living in darkness, Avalos first embraced members of his family and then Chilean President Sebastian Pinera.

The metal capsule was then lowered back down, with a paramedic on board, to free the other miners one by one in an operation expected to last up to two days.

Another rescuer, Manuel Gonzalez, descended into the mine earlier Tuesday to assist the trapped workers. They will immediately be given medical attention when they reach the surface. [...]

Speaking at the rescue site, Chilean President Pinera said the mine, which has had a history of accidents, will be closed until the safety of those working there can be guaranteed.

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While discussing Chris Matthews' documentary on Hardball and some of the extreme rhetoric coming from the Tea Party, Ohio Gubernatorial candidate and former Congressman John Kasich tells Matthews that although there some people you could paint as extreme in the movement, "it's not the thrust of the movement" and describes them as "blue collar Democrats", people who are worried about the government's debt, their economic future and their children. Kasich points to the elections of Chris Christie and Scott Brown and says that no one could call them extremists.

Joan Walsh reminds Kasich that Scott Brown is now running away from the Tea Party and lays waste to the talking point that the Tea Party or Republicans are representing the working class. She got Kasich a bit riled up by daring to point out that he went from being a member of Congress to working for Lehman Brothers and how those sorts of issues are being ignored because we're focused on the craziness coming from the likes of the birthers instead.

WALSH: I think -- you know, Scott Brown has run away from the Tea Party.

KASICH: He hasn’t run away from anything.

WALSH: He refused to go to their rally; he refused to go to their Tea Party day. Congressman Kasich, you know, you sound like a wonderful guy compared to a lot of republicans. You are a moderate, but, you know, I think this is garbage that they represent the Underdog. They represent the Overdog, and you know in your own race, you went to work for Lehman Brothers, God bless you, that was your right. That’s become an issue. You know, how do you get to be the champion of the little guy when you went to work for the firm that helped bring about the collapse of the economy? These are the issues that we’re not talking about because we’re talking about where the president was born.

KASICH: First of all.

(CROSSTALK)

MATTHEWS: Well, equal time here. Go ahead.

KASICH: I mean, look, my father was a postman, I ran a two-man office in Columbus, Ohio, OK?

WALSH: Great.

KASICH: And one thing that people in this country want to recognize is if you work hard you ought to be able to get ahead. You play by the rules, you can be successful. This is what the Tea Party wants, not some left wing rhetoric from you. That’s not what they are interested in.

WALSH: That’s not left wing record rhetoric.

KASICH: Yes, it is.

WALSH: I’m talking about fairness.

KASICH: It’s smear.

(CROSSTALK)

KASICH: I didn’t pick on you. I didn’t pick on you, ma'am. If you want to punish success, that’s the opposite of what the Tea Party wants.

WALSH: That’s not the point.

KASICH: They want to reward success and that may be a little bit difficult but I would recommend to you to read every other Monday, so that you don’t start picking on people.

WALSH: Thank you, sir.

So pointing out that someone went from Congress to working for Lehman Brothers is a "smear" now huh? Tweety made sure Joan Walsh never got another word in and and spent the rest of the segment kissing Kasich's butt and telling him how much he looks forward to reading his book. Heaven forbid Matthews could allow the mean liberal woman to "smear" Kasich by pointing out the revolving door between Congress and big business without soothing the poor, horribly injured man a bit after his feelings were hurt so badly. We couldn't have that, now could we?

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More "too big to fail" double-speak from Sen. Keating Five McCain. This man has absolutely credibility whatsoever talking about financial reform given his history on the topic as I pointed out after Fox had him on again for the Sunday bobble head show.

McCain doesn't want these industries to be "too big to fail", and now he's claiming we should have a wall between "traditional banking and investment". He also thinks there should be some "oversight" but never says who should be doing it and he says if "taxpayers dollars are not at risk we should let them do what they want". So in other words, he still doesn't want any regulation and if these financial institutions come crashing down again, just let the entire economy explode. When he tells us how he plans to get them unscrambled from the funds in those traditional banks without regulating them, I hope he lets us know. I'm not holding my breath since he helped tear down the walls in the first place he now says should be put back up.

Greta asks him if he thinks we're "using our criminal code enough". McCain agrees and says "there should be more criminal enforcement of some of these things that we have seen take place". Of course McCain doesn't say which things that have taken place should be prosecuted. I'm sure McCain knows all too well that far too many of the activities that took down our financial markets unfortunately are not illegal because they were deregulated and they let the financial markets turn into the Wild West with his help. I do hope they prosecute or sue over the activities that were illegal, but so far we've seen little of that.

He then gets asked to comment on whether he agrees with Blanche Lincoln's proposal for more transparency of the derivatives market and he doesn't answer and says we need more transparency from the Fed. Well, that's true, but I doubt he'll supporting Lincoln's amendment.

It really gets old seeing this man be allowed to come on the television and talk out of both sides of his mouth so badly and never get called on it.

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George W. Bush's former campaign director appeared on NBC Sunday to defend his record on the economy. According to Karen Hughes, Bush rescued the economy from collapse.

Speaking about President Barack Obama's successes, Mark Halperin praised the current president's handling of the economy. "I think an extraordinary job as John said under difficult circumstances. He managed the economic crisis, kept the world from going into depression," said Halperin.

But Hughes quickly took objection to Halperin's assessment. "I have to disagree with you, Mark, about rescuing the economy," she said. "I think that happened before President Bush left office when they took the action that they did on TARP."

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From Bill Moyers Journal, Simon Johnson paints a bleak picture of what's ahead for us due to Washington's unwillingness to regulate the financial industry and Wall Street.

BILL MOYERS: You asked on your blog, just this week, a question I want to put to you now, and to both of you. You asked, 'Does this crisis reflect something about the disproportionate influence of a few incompetent investment bankers or a deeper breakdown of capitalism?'' What's your answer to your own question?

SIMON JOHNSON: Well, definitely, this disproportionate influence of some fairly incompetent bankers, that's for sure. That's what we're seeing today. That's what we've seen over the past few months. I think on the issue on the issue of capitalism, we have to take this very seriously. To me, at least, the financial part of our capitalism is very seriously broken.

They persuaded us to allow them to take incredible risks. And then they pushed all the downside, all those losses onto us, the taxpayer, at the same time as really hammering hard all the people who were duped, essentially, into taking out loans. People lost their houses. It's an absolute tragedy. This combination cannot go on. And yet, the opportunity for real reform has already passed.

And there is not going to be not only is there not going to be change, but I'll go further. I'll say it's going to be worse, what comes out of this, in terms of the financial system, its power, and what it can get away with.

BILL MOYERS: Why?

SIMON JOHNSON: That's the.

BILL MOYERS: Why is it going to how is it going to be worse?

SIMON JOHNSON: Well, there's four we used to have a dozen or so substantial big banks, now we're down to four. Now we're down to four big banks that have a lot more market power and a lot more political power. They make the campaign contributions. They shape agendas in ways that are that are really quite scary.

If you look, for example, at derivatives. And the debate on whether or not derivatives should be regulated in a sensible manner. And at this point, actually, the Obama Administration has is leaning in a better direction. But the big financial players are absolutely against any kind of sensible regulation. And I think they're going to win.

From The Daily Show:

President Obama takes a soft pedal approach to reform when addressing a humbled Wall Street.

I agree with Stewart. A year later and we're still talking about reform in the future tense instead of the past tense? Shameful.