Ritholtz sums it up well. Be sure to read the whole thing
The new dynamic, however, has moved past the old Left Right paradigm. We now live in an era defined by increasing Corporate influence and authority over the individual. These two “interest groups” – I can barely suppress snorting derisively over that phrase – have been on a headlong collision course for decades, which came to a head with the financial collapse and bailouts. Where there is massive concentrations of wealth and influence, there will be abuse of power. The Individual has been supplanted in the political process nearly entirely by corporate money, legislative influence, campaign contributions, even free speech rights.
The corporations and their politician errand boys continue to grind away individual rights as they sluice more money to the already wealthy.
For those of you who are stuck in the old Left/Right debate, you are missing the bigger picture. Consider this about the Bailouts: It was a right-winger who bailed out all of the big banks, Fannie Mae, and AIG in the first place; then his left winger successor continued to pour more money into the fire pit.
What difference did the Left/Right dynamic make? Almost none whatsoever.
If you see the world in terms of Left & Right, you really aren’t seeing the world at all
I’m thinking what we we need is a old-fashioned, American-as-apple-pie populist revolt.
It may come as a surprise to some people, but since the late 1880’s anarchists have been saying that it is not a matter of left and right between the people but a matter of the people against the state. The state has always been there for the protection of the wealthy. After all it was them that set the whole thing up and it took generations of struggle for the ordinary people to get even a token element of participation. Remember the struggle for all to get the vote, then for women to get the vote.? Americans can surely remember the civil rights struggles. The only thing that has changed is that in the past the wealthy of a nation owned that nation, now the corporate world own the planet. It is the corporate world that dictates fiscal policies to the various nations. Look around the world and you see governments of left, right, and middle all pursuing the same fiscal policies, the only variation is in degree and speed.