American Plutocracy

What we have now is a plutocracy, and plutocracies tend to be either reformed (see 1930s New Deal) or end in considerably more grief (see various armed revolutions in Latin America, Africa and Asia.) I much prefer the "reform" route of the two choices.

One thing that bugs me about people who call themselves "liberals" is that there are enough upper income ("creative class") people calling themselves that that any mention of the typical means of reform (steeply progressive tax rates and income redistribution) is greeted like the rantings of Marxists, rather than the thoroughly sensible, historically proven ideas they actually are.

More Republican Support for their [Real] Base

More evidence of who the real Republican base is (and it ain't socially conservative bible-belters):

But at the last minute, the Bush administration insisted on a one-sentence change to the provision, congressional aides said. The change stipulated that the penalty would apply only to firms that received bailout funds by selling troubled assets to the government in an auction, which was the way the Treasury Department had said it planned to use the money.

Now, however, the small change looks more like a giant loophole, according to lawmakers and legal experts. In a reversal, the Bush administration has not used auctions for any of the $335 billion committed so far from the rescue package, nor does it plan to use them in the future. Lawmakers and legal experts say the change has effectively repealed the only enforcement mechanism in the law dealing with lavish pay for top executives.