“The mood on the right may be populist, but it’s a kind of populism that’s remarkably sympathetic to big corporations.”
Political spending by banks goes to Republicans. Securities and investment firms give more money to Republicans. Oil and gas companies, always Republican-leaning, have gone all out, bestowing 76 percent of their spending on Republicans.
The Obama administration plans to raise tax rates on upper brackets back to Clinton-era levels. Furthermore, health reform will in part be paid for with surtaxes on high-income individuals. All this will amount to a significant financial hit to C.E.O.’s, investment bankers and other masters of the universe.
Now, don’t cry for these people: they’ll still be doing extremely well, and by and large they’ll be paying little more as a percentage of their income than they did in the 1990s.
Yet the fact that the tax increases they’re facing are reasonable doesn’t stop them from being very, very angry. From the outside, this rage against regulation seems bizarre. I mean, what did they expect?
We are utterly silly terribly wrong. Nothing is more important than a citizen’s vote. Assemblies are our best effort and only prize. There’s blood for that. Walk on it.