Simon Johnson:

Top people in the Obama administration now begin to understand what they have wrought.  The body language becomes uncomfortable when you bring up this topic and they are eager to discuss alternative ways forward.

But we are entering a new, more global era of state capture, and the US government (or, more precisely, its credit) was handed over – rather meekly – during the past 12 months.

Many states have been taken over by bankers; there is no shame in fighting and losing against what Jefferson called the “monied aristocracy.” But few governments, even the weakest, have handed over the keys as quietly as we did.  As Lloyd Blankfein said, to an aide, on their way to the greatest sales job in the history of the republic, “You’re getting out of a Mercedes to go to the New York Federal Reserve.  You’re not getting out of a Higgins boat on Omaha beach.”

The winners among our financial elite are very far from the Greatest Generation, but they are the Best Paid Generation for a reason.

Yep. Me, too.

UPDATE Why you should visit Chicago October 25-27, and greet the American Bankers Association at their annual conference.