Pissed OFF.

The President is bracing for 'a bailout backlash.' Reaaaaaaaaaally? They just started now? Where have they been? What are they doing? Is oxygen finally reaching the critical parts of their collective brains?

Yes, people are pissed.

Hopefully, people are recognizing that our political elites and the financial elites are more concerned about their own interests than ours. As voters, we may have the right to participate in a facade of democracy every four years- but let's not fool ourselves. We as individuals don't have power. We as individuals don't even have access. For that, we need money. And individual Americans by and large don't have it.

What's resulting is a growing gap between our political and financial elites and the needs of real Americans. Washington is waaaaay over there and we're all here getting hosed in various shapes, ways and forms- and it seems like no one cares. My general sentiment is: fire everyone and start over. I certainly wouldn't trust Congress to make the necessary political reforms to bring the government closer to the people and further away from special interests and corporate money- a Constitutional Convention would be drastic, but I think it's a notion worth exploring. If the PEOPLE decide that nothing needs to change (if it ain't broken, don't fix it) then fine. But I think- and I think there's a growing number of people out there who agree with me- that it IS broken and the more time goes by, the more drastic the solutions are going to have to be.

The latest outrage: the AIG bonuses, well, what did you expect? I don't buy this bullshit that they were 'legally obligated' to hand out bonuses. Maybe, technically they were- in that case, Congress dropped the ball and should have had it engraven in stone, written in freakin' blood on that legislation: NO BONUSES!

I don't think they're a good idea anyway. How do you justify that? Your company is on the rocks, so you give people bonuses? Aren't they supposed to be merit based? You know a REWARD for doing something good?? It's like giving Captain Smith of the Titanic an extra 10 grand, because he steered the boat into an iceberg. Just doesn't make sense.

Fire 'em all. Bankers, politicians, all of 'em.

Start over.