You say you want a revolution?

Here's one way to get there. Billmon at Daily Kos, as pointed out by Glenn Greenwald, asks a very interesting question about these two headlines from the Washington Post on Thursday:

1. Lawmakers' Goal to Cap Executive Pay Meets Resistance

"Congressional efforts to impose stringent restrictions on executive compensation [at government-subsidized banks] appeared to be evaporating yesterday as House and Senate negotiators worked to fine-tune the compromise stimulus bill."

2. Employers Fighting Unemployment Benefits

"It's hard enough to lose a job. But for a growing proportion of U.S. workers, the troubles really set in when they apply for unemployment benefits.

More than a quarter of people applying for such claims have their rights to the benefit challenged as employers increasingly act to block payouts to former workers."

After noticing the irony of these two headlines, Billmon understandably asks:

Someone please explain to me why we haven't had a revolution in this country yet, because I don't fully understand it -- given that our political and business elites both seem to have a death wish bigger than Marie Antoinette's.