On his blog, Robert Reich notes:
It wouldn't surprise me if many of these Americans were starting to look at the size of the bailouts of Wall Street and the bailout of the Big Three -- at the executives, well-paid professional employees, upscale creditors and shareholders, and even well-paid blue-collar workers, who are the major beneficiaries of this federal largesse -- and conclude that a fundamental principle of fairness is being violated.
These Americans aren't revolutionaries. To the contrary, they're deeply conservative. They've worked hard, but their hard work hasn't paid off. Some have tried to save, only to see their savings disappear. They're worried about the future and about their kids' futures. They never expected anything like this.
This is the angry soil in which populist backlashes can take root.
In a similar vein, the City Lakes Real Estate Blog notes:
Sadly, the expression, "you can run, but you can't hide" now describes the futility of trying to shield your wallet -- and your descendants' -- from a federal government bent on ever-more expensive and wrongheaded bailouts.
Futility leads to frustration which leads to rage. Citi may have to do more than just cancel its Holiday train display to calm the ire of the outraged citizenry.
Dec. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Citigroup Inc., (NYSE: C) the bank that’s eliminating 52,000 jobs after getting a $45 billion government bailout, canceled its sponsorship of a New York holiday toy-train exhibit visited by more than 125,000 people a year.
“The difficult decision to discontinue this sponsorship was part of Citi’s ongoing expense-reduction efforts,” Citigroup said in an e-mailed statement. Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit, 51, announced on Nov. 21 that he wants to cut costs by about $2 billion per quarter starting next year.
Aux armes, citoyens, Formez vos bataillons, Marchons, marchons ! Qu'un sang impur Abreuve nos sillons !
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