I HOPE YOU'RE ENJOYING YOUR STAY IN STOCKHOLM, AMERICA

We love our fat-cat captors. That's why we'll have "tea parties" out of anger at(rumored, nonexistent) increased taxation on ourselves, but we wouldn't dream of having "tea parties" in response to, say, this:

After an Off Year, Wall Street Pay Is Bouncing Back

... Workers at the largest financial institutions are on track to earn as much money this year as they did before the financial crisis began, because of the strong start of the year for bank profits.

... six of the biggest banks set aside over $36 billion in the first quarter to pay their employees, according to a review of financial statements.

If that pace continues all year, the money set aside for compensation suggests that workers at many banks will see their pay -- much of it in bonuses -- recover from the lows of last year.

... every dollar paid to workers is a dollar that cannot be used to expand the business or increase lending. Some of that revenue, too, could be used by bailed-out banks to pay back taxpayers....

Well, of course. As Gallup recently noted, when asked about "big business," "big government," and "big labor," 55% of Americans right now pick "big government" as "the biggest threat to the country in the future," while only 32% pick "big business."

"Big government" has topped "big business" consistently since Gallup first started asking that question during LBJ's administration -- but the gap increased to at least 20% starting in the Reagan years and, except for one brief Enron moment, has never narrowed since he was president, even now.

(I'd love to punctuate this with the Gallup chart, but Blogger isn't letting me upload it. Scroll down at the link above to see it.)

America favored big business before Reagan, but the three-decade Reagan/Limbaugh/Gingrich/Bush/Murdoch era has made America safe for whatever big business wants to do ... even now. The fat cats have nothing to fear. Our docility is their assurance that they can do what they want.