NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Although Carl Icahn endorsed Donald Trump for president on Monday, a video the activist investor released later  -- criticizing both corporations and the government for behavior that could produce another financial crisis -- sounds almost like he's launching his own campaign.

"I love this country but I sure as hell don't love a lot of the politicians in it, or the CEOs," Icahn said at the conclusion of the nearly 15-minute video released at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday. Thirty years of congressional foot dragging on tax-reform and immigration paved the way for a brash candidate like Trump, he said.

Even though Icahn disagrees with Trump on some matters, he said the real estate mogul would be beholden to no one. That would enable him to motivate Congress, Icahn said, and stand up to special interests, much as Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th U.S. president, did when he accused early 20th century financier J.P. Morgan of creating a railroad monopoly.

The video covered "several critical matters" Icahn believes Americans need to be more aware of: corporate tax manipulation, financial engineering to boost corporate earnings, borrowing money for share buybacks and nearly a decade of low interest rates. His comments on the latter echoed concerns voiced by 'Bond King' Bill Gross, who has said repeatedly the Federal Reserve should start raising rates, which have been held near zero since the financial crisis in 2008. 

Average Americans "got screwed" in that crisis, Icahn said, and if current trends cause another, they'll "get screwed again." They have been hurt in the meantime, too, Gross noted, since low interest rates mean the returns on savings and small investments that middle-class families use to pay for college educations, retirement and vacations have been insufficient to fund their goals.

Small banks have been hit hard, too. Because they make money primarily on the spread between the interest rate they pay on deposits and the rates they charge to borrowers, they have fared worse than larger rivals like  JPMorgan Chase (JPM) - Get Report, Bank of America (BAC) - Get Reportand Citigroup (C) - Get Report , which can useinvestment and trading businesses to bolster revenues.

Further, "low rates are, almost, by definition, building bubbles," Icahn argued. "If lower interest rates were that simple of a panacea, we would never have recessions. We would never have these crises. We'd never have these panics."

In the early 2000s, he said, low interest rates helped inflate the subprime housing bubble that eventually caused the 2008 crisis.

Many of the points were ones Icahn made within the past few months in various television interviews. But in his own video, which was produced by his daughter, he was not cut off by hosts or other guests due to time constraints.

It was a luxury that wasn't afforded to him at July's Delivering Alpha conference, where he battled with BlackRock CEO Larry Fink about the merit of high-yield debt. That exchange had moments of levity and cross-talk, which led Icahn to tell The Street later that he didn't get to say all that he wanted to and that many of his concerns delve into rather "arcane" financial topics. 

Time didn't lessen the sting of Icahn's criticisms of the high-yield debt market, which he says bears striking similarities to the subprime mortgage market that precipitated the last financial crisis.

"High-yield really stands for junk bonds," Icahn said. "People are buying these not really understanding what they're buying, and if you just look at the numbers, they're amazingly risky."

"I used to laugh with some of these guys that sell these bonds," Icahn said. "I used to say: 'You know, the mafia has a better code of ethics than you guys. You know you're selling this crap and you keep selling it. In fact, you're shorting some of this.'"

If there is a problem in the economy, Icahn predicts people will rush to sell the bonds and find that there are no buyers.

While keeping interest rates near zero was intended to help create jobs and make workers more productive, "it's not happening," Icahn said. "If you look at our companies today, growth in productivity is at an all-time low. Property, plant and equipment is older than it's ever been."

Gross, the PIMCO co-founder who has since become a lead portfolio manager at Janus Capital Markets, has made similar points, most recently in his October investment outlook

When companies are able to borrow at low rates, they often use the funds to buy back their stock, Gross said. That may generate more than it cost to borrow the money, but it generally doesn't produce the same long-term return as investing in research and development or upgrading factories and equipment.

That's one concern that may be alleviated somewhat by the end of the year: Fed Chair Janet Yellen said in a speech last week that she anticipates the central bank will begin raising rates before 2016.

"Continuing to hold short-term interest rates near zero well after real activity has returned to normal and headwinds have faded could encourage excessive leverage and other forms of inappropriate risk-taking that might undermine financial stability," she noted. "The more prudent strategy is to begin tightening in a timely fashion and at a gradual pace."