Enter Reality. These guys as a WHOLE -and I am referring to Wall Steet Aristocrats – not a few like Madoff or Ken Lay, the whole establishment of Wall Street has been feathering their own nests (which is fine) and NOT providing the blessings and benefits to the peasants. (big problem) The pesants are homeless, jobless, hungry & angry. Those of us with jobs & homes are angry about the predicament our fellow citizens are in through no fault of their own.

These Princes of Finance are exposing the corrupt mess. The real problem for Republicans & Conservatives is that the myth is unraveling which is why Republicans in the House were split on the vote to tax bonus money. The myth is becoming an indefensable bit of fiction in the face of a DOW that’s half of what it was a year ago, and Wall Street execs who don’t see how anything has changed.

Related to the post – read a letter to the editor in Thursday’s LA Times, written in response to a Jonah Goldberg column, where Goldberg said the AIG execs were entitled to their bonuses because “a contract is a contract”. The letter writer said that no doubt Goldberg will also stand up for retired autoworkers and others whose health and pension benefits are being threatened, because after all “a contract is a contract”.

Of course, Goldberg is hiding behind legalisms and hypocrisy; the real issue is the immorality of the outrageous bonuses the AIG people were receiving, and the immorality of throwing members of the middle and lower classes under the bus.