Robert Reich has a piece up on TPM about the rise of angry populism in the face of the coming bailout. The public knows all too well that it is being fleeced by the financiers of Wall Street. At this point it may not be possible to craft a more progressive alternative to the Paulsen plan that embraces a bottom-up bailout, but the Democrats must make it clear that, even if taxpayers are forced to pay a ransom to save the economy right now, they will take steps to recapture the loot from the people who profited from the Ponzi schemes of the last eight years. In addition to effective restrictions on executive pay, a small transaction tax on stock trades, and bankruptcy reform, how about opening that Overton Window a bit to include the idea of a luxury tax and income-based fines for misbehavior?
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