And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. So please welcome Phil Angelides back to this program, the former chair in california chaired the Inquiry Commission and recommended prosecutions for a number of executives who they felt were accomplice it in what was called the wall street doctrine. Unfortunately, none of those high profile names were locked up by the Obama Administration, and here we go again. Phil angelides, great to have you on the program. Let me start with you, why did not the Justice Department and the obama era find any one of these persons libel to be locked up . I think its one of the successes, for all the good regulators put in process, i think this is one of the seminal failures of the administration. I cant tell you why, but the fact is they never committed the resources and the will to do the deep dive investigation that was warranted. Our commission, after hearing 700 witnesses and holding 19 public hearings and revealing numerous documents we made a series of referrals to the department of justice, calling on them to investigate and where warranted. Prosecute, they didnt prosecute a single level executive, now they did levy for banks mutual funds, 401 k s, so you have where investors paid over 200 billion in fines, read that shar shareholders. No bankers were involved. I call it the immaculate crisis. And wall street was helped out with the bailout in the trillions, now they faced no consequences, now emboldened by their escape and lack of responsibility theyre poised to go on the offense again and undo a lot of reforms put in place. What is the worst, i suspect there is a long answer, but what is the worse Case Scenario on what you expect to come out of this iteration of congress and the power they have . So much can be done without congress, the democrats and the senate can filibuster some of the key findings. We had pretty Strong Financial rules and regulations going into the financial meltdown of 2008. But there are regulators there who believed in the wisdom of the free market. Who did not believe in a strong hand of regulation over this powerful behemoth. The real danger here is that the Trump Administration, and they are redoing it can appoint regulators who look the other way and dont enforce the rules. Who are not vintagilant guardia they had the key regulatory agencies that they had long service to the administration. And a life long career representing big banks, you have joseph otting, the controller, his whole career has been in the banking industry. And now you have Nick Mulvaney at the Consumer Protection agency who called this agency that got 12 billion back, he called it a sad, sick joke, so a lot can be done with no congressional action. Let me go to this last agency that you referenced, the Consumer Financial protection bill. This is the organization, the entity that many of us thought and hoped Elizabeth Warren would head, because it was her idea essentially back in the day. They didnt give it to her, because they were afraid she wouldnt get it through the senate, and so she ends up running for the senate, thank goodness she is in the senate, this was established to look out for consumers. When the guy who runs it calls it a sick joke who is pretty clear on what his agenda is, how much do you expect his agency to get gutted . Eviscerated. I think you ought to count on what is happening there is the same thing happening at the epa. We can see it. Nick mulvaney has been installed. And look at what he has done already. He has frozen all investigations, ordering the stop of payment to some victims of financial crime. There was a case recently where a firm had misled 100,000 mortgage customers, been put out of business. They want to get back in business. And they were fined 8 million burri and they were required to put up a bond before they could get up and running again. Now he has withdrawn that requirement. Just in the last week he sent a very clear signal. How bold does wall street feel in this moment . Emboldened. Look, i think its important to remember what happened. And sometimes we forget. Its only been ten years since the financial crisis rocked this country. And its worth pausing to remember what happened. Millions of people lost their jobs and their homes, trillions of dollars of Household Wealth from middle class families was stripped away. Communities across this country were devastated and many have never gotten back off the floor. That was not the story for wall street. They got a multitrillion dollar bailout. By 2010, within years of the meltdown, executive compensation on wall street had hit record levels, the ten biggest banks controlled most of the assets in the country. Profits hit record levels. There was really no consequence. Now normally, tauvis smiley, we learn that there are consequences when we make mistakes. Keep in mind when george h. B. Bush was president , a thousand people pled guilty to felonies. By the way, the department of justice under eric holder, went after small fry. The people that lied about a million loans, defrauded investors didnt really pay a price. So wall street really never paid a consequence, did the critical selfexamination required and the minute they were back on their feet they have been waging a rear guard fierce battle against all the wall street reforms. They have spent over a billion 5 on lobbying since the financial crisis and contributed over 1. 6 billion to federal campaigns, mostly to republicans. Now, the Congressional Republicans and their powerful forces i think are poised to strip away a lot of the safeguards that were put in place starting protection burea but what about the protection on the matter . Its hooey. We know the Trump Administration has a disrespect for history, ignorance of history. You just have to look back leading up to the great crash of 29, wall street was loose, unfeu unfettered, we had deregulation of the snl industry, blew up on us, minor league compared to what happened in 2008, and in the 90s, frankly, the department bought into the regulation, saying that somehow the industry was so sophisticated it could understand risks and avoid risks. The system is set up that when wall street bankers take big risks and they hit it, they get the home run. When it goes awry we pay the bill. And im very fearful that were moving very quickly back to the same elements that led to the crisis of 2008. If the democrats can fight back what is your suggestion for how they should, number one, and number two, what agency do we the people have at this point in the process . Let me be blunt, its going to be tough. Because the Trump Administration can do so much on their own. But here is what we need to do, first of all the democrats in the house and senate at every opportunity need to stand fast. There should be no timidity here or giving of ground. Because remember the reforms put in place after the great crash of 2008 were strong but not as far reaching as many of us thought they should be. So there should not be any ground given. Should be very tough on any nominees to these agencies, you know in terms of who is appointed by trump. But i think most of all transparency, here is what the white house has done already. A lot of what they have done already has been very damaging but cloaked by the chaos, the insanity coming from an unhinged white house. Look at aig, which required a 1. 2 billion bailout, was under high scrutiny. They let it off this year, there was no constraints, they have gotten rid of the fiduciary rule adopted in the last days of the Obama Administration saying that Financial Advisers have a duty to represent the interests of their client. They got rid of that and got rid of something called the arbitration rule that the Consumer Protection bureau put forward saying if youre wronged by an institution, you cant be forced to sign one of the multipage documents, so they have a right to go to court. We need to shine the light of day on this. The irony is here, much of the trump constituents were the most damaged by this crisis, and as who i said have never really gotten back on their feet by a recovery that served not everyone in this country. Is there any reason, i want to close on a high note if i can. Is there any reason to be hopeful . Well, yes, in a sense, eyes on the country, this affected everyone in the country. And up until now, until the fight exploded in the Protection Bureau it was happening in hidden dark corners, we need to elevate this in the same way the health care fight was elevated. Its all part of the peace, empowering people who have the ability to take risks at the country. Up next, actress Allison Janney, stay with us. She was known for work in her television work, such as the west wing, about to celebrate the 100th episode coming up pretty soon. But it is her portrayal as the more of infamous figure skater called Tonya Harding. It has everybody talking. From our conversation, seen from tonya. When i was a kid, did you ever love me or anything . You think sonya hennys mother loved her. Poor you, i didnt stay home making apple brown betties, no, i made you a champion. Knowing you would hate me for it. That is the sacrifice a mother makes, i wish i had a mother like me instead of nice. I didnt like my mother either, so what. I gave you a gift. You cursed me. Youre a monster. Spilled milk, baby. How do you find the empathy, the humanity in a character like that . That is an excellent question and one that i definitely that was the challenge in this role taking on this role. And that is the first thing i do whenever i take on any part, is no matter what the character does i cant judge them because im going to be playing them. So i look to find their wounds, where were they hurt, where is their humanity as you said. I decided not being able to ever meet the real Lavonna Harding, the writer, Steven Rogers tried to find her. But couldnt find her anywhere, tonya didnt know where she was, and nor did she care. I had to believe she had to have been abused. She is someone to meet that seemed really angry at the world that she had been dealt a raw bad hand. And she was angry and resentful and she saw this opportunity to give her daughter a better life. And give herself a better life. And she took it and she is someone who i think doesnt know how to love or be loved. And that is her version of loving is being tough on someone. And that is all she knows. Those are the Little Things i looked for. Also there was a film star, i couldnt remember her name, but a yale College Student did a documentary about Tonya Harding when she was 15 years old. And there was all this great footage of Lavonna Harding, you could see her in the credits, the fur coat. That was her unique look, which i absolutely love that i got to look like that. But you know in one of the scenes she talks about tanya is this incredible skater and wanted to fit in, in the Wonderful World of skating. She didnt fit in. She didnt have the class, seen as being on the wrong side of the tracks. At one point, there is a scene where she talks about her fur coat, others say why is she wearing a fur coat, she doesnt need it. That fur coat is in the documentary. You see Lavonna Harding in a fur coat. And i thought she wanted to be seen as someone who had a fur coat, and it just spoke volumes to me about her pain. What did you make of tonya not knowing where her mother was, and i saw your eyes kind of roll in not caring where her mother was. What did that say about her relationship, didnt know or care where her mother was . Steven rogers who interviewed Tonya Harding and jessica lulee for this movie, he said the only thing these two agreed about for the movie was how lavonna was, and how awful she was, Everything Else was two completely different sides to the story. So i knew that she was not loved. She was not a good mother. You also mentioned the parakeet, if i heard it once, i heard it a thousand times, do not act with an animal because you may get upstaged i held my own with that bird. Im not saying you didnt, but you held your own with a parakeet, did that freak you out . Yes, im a dog person, not a bird person. Im also cracking up. There is a moment where you are like stop doing that. Obviously the bird didnt know his part, so that line was not written. I played off that bird. It was fine, i got to audientio three birds for that part. Look at that i love that bird now. I totally fell in love with him. His name is little man and lives in southern georgia somewhere. I totally fell in love with him. I was a little intimidated, birds are unpredictable to me. I dont know how they behave, they kind of freak me out. I thought i got to do a scene with this bird, the other birds kept crawling over in my hair, and little man, this little guy just hung out on my shoulder, and i thought okay, this guy gets it. Cut to the scene, i have the fur coat and breathing apparatus in and he is fascinated with that and just starts to go to town on my ear. It was great, fuelled me. I used it. It fuelled lavonna as she is telling her side of the story to the camera. This bird is there, im determined to not let him stop me from saying my story. I was like this bird is not going to screw up my take, im going to keep going, i was trying to learn how to be cool smoking cigarettes, someone said dont ever look at the cigarette, that is how you look cool, never looking at something, i thought that is how i do, looking like this bird. Im cool, a cool bird owner. Its amazing hearing the actors telling the stories of how they figure certain things out. It works. I thought it worked too. You were a skater, were you not . I was, that was my first dream as a child, i wanted to be an olympic figure skater. I was lucky enough in ohio, my father was in commercial real estate and owned a building that housed an ice skating rink so i had access to free ice all the time. I would go, very committed. I would get up. My parents very wisely made me get up and wake them up so they would take me to the rink at 5 30 a. M. , i would meet my coach and work on the figures and go to school and come back after school. I really loved it so much. But ultimately, its an acrobatic sport. Maybe ice dancing i could have done, i was very graceful, but no triple axle . No way. So i was fascinated. When my dear friend wrote it, we had gone to the theater together, we started off as actors in new york. He went through it. I remember when the harding incident happened. It was very much on my radar having been a figure skater. And i knew the players involved. The film is about family, or about dysfunctional families. But the parallel to that is as you just mentioned the writer of this, you all are like family that you go so far back. You started out together, for me, i just love celebrating seeing friends do well. And there is Something Sweet about walking a journey with someone. And then they write something years later and the two of you come together and he writes it and you star in it. And tavis smiley, also the thing that is unique about i, tonya, for steven he has written a lot of other movies and roles especially for me that have always been played by another actress. And its been our joke, you know, the part written for Allison Janney will be played by tavis smiley. There is always somebody who gets cast in it. He wrote i, tonya as a cast script, he attached me to it before he even told me he had done that. That is what friends are for. Exactly. And now fast forward, and if i am right about this, there is going to be a bunch of nominations for you because of that relationship. Before our time runs out. Its hard to imagine, you have been here a number of times, youre in your fifth season now. I know, i just got this lovely watch filming our hundredth episode. That is a lovely watch. Cbs gave it to all the girls on the show and we are filming it right now. Of course it will not air until january. But we we are currently filming our hundredth episode. Its an amazing mile marker. I want to get me a show on cbs for five years and get me a nice watch like that. Its more than pretty. But its every time i think about you i think about how fortunate you have been, how blessed you have been to be a part of these things, these series that have run. I know. Every actors dream in this town. That runs multiple seasons. Talk about an actor having a day job, a regular job. Its so rare that you land one of these. And i feel incredibly fortunate, blessed, lucky, everything. To have landed on these landed in a pot of jam. Its a great job and it affords me i can do, thank god they let me do i, tonya. This is crazy, the last year of 2017, i was shooting mom, starting rehearsals for six degrees of separation and going to atlanta to do tonya. All the folk who made it possible for Allison Janney, doing i, tonya, you will love it. Allison kills in the show. That is our show, thank you for joining us. As always keep the faith. Hi, im tavis smiley, join me for conversations on with actor bill pullman, that is next time, well see you then. And by contributions from your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Today on americas test kitchen, becky cooks eggs piperade, dan makes Chocolate Hazelnut spread, jack challenges chris to a tasting of maple syrup, and julia uncovers the secrets to 100 whole wheat pancakes, right here on americas test kitchen. Americas test kitchen is brought to you by dcs. Dcs manufacturers of professionally styled indoor and outdoor kitchen equipment