The party in power almost always unapologetically engages in deficit spending, while the other party argues passionately against the evils of debt and deficits.

In other countries they have histories with revolutions and class movements. In America, people don't like to think of themselves like being in a lower class. They all like to think of themselves as potential millionaires.

It's not a stretch to say the whole financial industry revolves around the compass point of the absolutely safe AAA rating. But the financial crisis happened because AAA ratings stopped being something that had to be earned and turned into something that could be paid for.

The average Tea Partier is sincerely against government spending - with the exception of the money spent on them.

If you look back in history, as the barbarians were invading the gates of Rome, people were consulting fortunetellers and worrying about the end of the world and all sorts of other apocalyptic notions. When the tsars were finally overthrown, they were all reading tarot cards even as the revolutionaries were banging at the gates.

The individual incentive not to commit crime on Wall Street now is almost zero.

It may be that America has become too big and complicated for most people to deal with being part of. People are longing for a smaller, stupider reality.