It was, in a way, overdue. Begin-ning last September, when the financial sector of the economy collapsed and the markets melted down, a resurgence of American populism seemed inevitable. The haves, especially Wall Street types, were being protected (by federal-bailout money), the have-nots less so (nobody seemed interested in replenishing 401[k]s or, more urgently, in subsidizing jobs that were being lost at a rapid rate-unless you were a highflying banker). A Democratic administration was coming to power after a sustained period of Republican rule. Manifestations of the disparity between the very rich and the rest of us became more common: the automakers' flying privately to Washington to ask for taxpayer money was an early symbolic occasion for popular outrage.
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