Karen, great point. I’m amazed also at how even some libertarian friends get fuming mad about the bonuses “Wall Street” is paying “while we are bailing them out”. They are playing into the state’s ploy–the state is demonizing Wall Street and capitalism (no offense, vandarchists) while throwing cash at them. They appease the taxpaying victims by threatening to limit the executives’ pay. Moronic taxvictims shout, “yayy!” while they are being gigged. Meanwhile the underlying bailout costs about a billion times more than the “fat cats’” salaries. This is similar to how they get the rubes worked up about “the Arab Terrorists”–while stealing 50% of our income. Hey, the Arabs never did nuthin’ to me. It also reminds of inflation: the state causes it, then rides in as the savior. Here, the state is fleecing the taxpayer and handing it over to Wall Street–then whipping up anger against Wall Street to distract from their own theft.