http://money.cnn.com/2009/10/23/news/newsmakers/fed.feinberg.fortune/index.htm?section=mone

so the guys on wall street are whining because someone they don't even know and who doesn't care about them is now arbitrarily deciding how much they should be earning. well, welcome to the club. boys. how does it feel when someone can mess with your paycheck whenever it doesn't fit in with their business plan?

intellectually, i have deep reservations about the government suddenly assuming draconian powers that have long been considered solely the "right" of private business: the capacity to arbitrarily hire, fire and set wages. no good can come from this precedent. but emotionally, my immediate response is one of cackling glee. the financial community, like much of the corporate world, long ago stopped being a vital utility to help create wealth, manage the economy and promote the national welfare. it has become a private club for fat cats to play monopoly with each other, as if the rest of us only mattered as a source of revenue, just another resource to be plundered and looted. these games they play with each other have an enormous effect on all our lives, and when they screw up, we suffer. it's about time they learned they do not live in isolation from the rest of us. the world is not their playground. and we are not their toys.

still, i wouldn't feel too sorry for these guys. do you doubt for a moment they wouldn't gladly do it to anyone who got in their way? they've been doing it to us for centuries. at least, they're not watching their unemployment benefits dwindling away, their lives slowly approaching oblivion. and they can always cash in their IRAs.