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Rage Against Privilege Seeps Into Left, Right

Anger at betrayal runs deep

By Jane Yager,  Newser Staff

Posted Nov 12, 2009 8:32 AM CST
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(Newser) – It takes a lot for the folks in middle America to "look upon concentrated wealth as anything except a virtue," writes Timothy Egan for the New York Times, but that line has finally been crossed. Hearing of tens of billions in holiday bonuses at Wall Street firms bailed out by taxpayers, or of investment bankers skipping ahead of pregnant women and children in the line for H1N1 vaccines, Americans feel utterly betrayed, and very angry. This rage is the new political force in America, he writes, and it cuts against both parties.

GOP and Dems alike are seen as culpable for the "continuous drip of perceived unfairness;" which way the rage will turn in next year's elections depends on whether health care reform and the economic recovery end up helping ordinary people. "The next governing majority will be guided by independents," says Egan, "and include liberals, conservatives and a whole lot of Budweiser drinkers, wondering how the world changed so quickly, without them."

General Motors employees and retirees from Ohio and Mississippi protest outside of bankruptcy court in New York, Tuesday, June 30, 2009.
General Motors employees and retirees from Ohio and Mississippi protest outside of bankruptcy court in New York, Tuesday, June 30, 2009.   (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Protesters march past the outside the downtown Indianapolis corporate headquarters for WellPoint Inc., the largest private health insurer based on membership in the U.S., during a rally on health care reform Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2009. Health insurer WellPoint said Tuesday it may trim some more jobs as part of...
Protesters march past the outside the downtown Indianapolis corporate headquarters for WellPoint Inc., the largest private health insurer based on membership in the U.S., during a rally on health care...   (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 14 comments
BlueAyez
Nov 13, 2009 12:43 PM CST
Didn't see any tar, feathers or torches out there, but I don't think they're far off either.
EileenRocks
Nov 12, 2009 8:59 AM CST
$Dollars$ are how they keep score. Bucks are the points of the big game called life. They have more points, therefor they win.... It's just they don't realize that bullets > bucks. Usually the public and private organized armies have more of those too, but lately the rate of bullet and gun buying of the disaffected may have passed them by. I fear we live in interesting times, as the old Chinese curse says.
Face-Of-RNC
Nov 12, 2009 6:30 AM CST
A change in corporate law that permits the stockhloders to say yes or no to pay and bonuses. That's all it would take.

 
St. Louis • Wall Street bailout • executive bonuses • H1N1 virus • midterm elections • class rage

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