There have been some thoughtful articles recently on other websites pondering the financial meltdown of the last year, which has exposed in ways too obvious to miss, the intellectual and practical policy ascendancy of a very tiny minority of plutocrats in the financial industry over the thinking of both political parties.
That's the "it all comes together at the top" or "bipod" thesis David Horowitz has been writing and speaking about for at least a dozen years now.
It completely explains some curious deformations of e.g. both Bush Administrations' (41 and 43) policy priorities w/ respect to e.g. defense and immigration, tax cuts versus deficit reduction, and negation of Bill Clinton's spendthrift social-liberal impulses that put Slick on a diet of "mini-initiatives" and constant headline-grabbing that were the hallmark of his administration.
Slick was shocked and offended when his economic and Treasury advisors (who all came from the financial industry, esp. Bob Rubin, Clinton's second SecTreas) told him he had to keep the bond market happy, even if it meant giving up the lavish social spending increases that are the lifeblood of liberalism.
Good post. It’s mind-numbing when you stand back and look at it.
Kudos to Horowitz for pounding the message home. More need to get on that wagon, IMO.