Populist Anger

Well, it's starting.  Populist anger taking the form of vandalism. The former head of the Scottish Bank apparently refused to return his huge pension after the British Government bailed out his bank.  Last night, a group broke the windows to his home.  

In a carefully negotiated press conference last night, President Barack Obama agreed that people have a right to be angry over the AIG bonuses, but that investors also have a right to make a profit.  In other words, be angry, but not too angry.

In today's Wall Street Journal, Thomas Frank, the author of What's Wrong With Kansas? opines that the regular folks got it right about Wall Street.  That the  anger we all feel is spot on in analyzing the "case study" of poor management, absent risk assessment, and sheer greed that controlled most if not all the financial institutions for the past two decades.  Many "populists" manage the family finances, weighing risks in light of obligations, and while they may enjoy making a profit, they don't sink the ship for short term and short sighted gains.  Therefore, in examining what it is we know so far about the individual behaviors of management in AIG, Citibank, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, Merill Lynch, Bank of America, IndyMac Bank Countrywide...down to the shark mortgage broker keying in on making a big killing on an outrageous refinance...most populists realize the folks in charge were, well, only trying to make as much money off the back of the rest of us as they could.

I suspect if the Obama Administration neglects to listen to this anger, and adopt policies which not only prevent future behaviors but also lean heavily to help the average person dig out of this morass, there will be more broken windows.  

What was the line? I'm madder than hell and I'm not going to take it any more!