Moyers and Matt Taibbi take on Wall Street's 'battered wives'

The multimillion-dollar high-rise being built near his office, Bill Moyers said Friday, is evidence of the "new Gilded Age" running roughshod over the U.S., which he discussed with journalists Chrystia Freeland and Matt Taibbi.

The building will be built in New York, where Moyers said the income disparity among residents rivals that of a Third-World country. In spite of that, neither Barack Obama nor Mitt Romney have broached the subject in the midst of the 2012 presidential campaign.

One reason for that, Freeland said, was that the notion runs counter to how the country has set up its economic system; the minute Obama even suggested that the rich pay more taxes brought on cries of "class warfare."

"You know, there was an activist investor who sent an e-mail to his friends," Freeland said. "The subject line is, 'battered wives.' And in the e-mail he compares himself and his fellow multi-millionaires to battered wives who are being beaten by the president. He actually uses those words."

And while the rich fight to get richer, Taibbi said, the Democratic Party shifted toward not fighting for the poor like it used to, starting with increased fundraising pushes during Bill Clinton's presidency.

"Economically, they began to side more and more with Wall Street and more and more with the very rich," he said. "And they've, I think we've now reached the point where neither party really represents the very poor in the way that the Democrats maybe used to. And so, that there's, that's why, you know, you don't see it in the debates, because neither party is really an advocate for that kind of left behind class anymore."

Moyers' discussion with Freeland and Taibbi, aired Friday on Moyers & Company, can be seen below.