Monday, March 23, 2009

Anger Is A Political Strategy

I'm a bit irritated by this "Anger isn't a governing strategy" stuff from Obama. Sure, it isn't, and the AIG bonus wars are a molehill anyway. But surely there's some sort of useful technocrat-blessed policy proposal that will piss of Wall Street while making America better off that you could channel today's populist rage into. The government is going to need more revenue sources in the future, so how about a higher marginal tax rate on millionaires that kicks in in 2011, once the need for stimulus will probably be gone? How about a similarly delayed increase in capital gains taxes, scheduled for that time? How about whatever new banking regulations you want to pass?

People have enough trust in Obama that he could take the anger of today and redirect it towards the systemic fixes that we need rather than trying to dissipate it.

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