"Blowout"

This jibes with what I'm hearing. Most readers here who have no connection to the financial industry would be shocked if they knew how much of a bonus many mid to upper level employees will get for 2009: high six figures to mid seven figures, even at firms that until recently were on the public dole.

I've been getting some comments and emails about my dissatisfaction with Obama. Of course it's not just the Nigerian bomber debacle. But that's an example of how his vaunted composure, an asset during the campaign, has translated into deference and apathy as president. Nowhere is this more obvious than on the issue of financial reform. I think he has been short-sighted and profoundly irresponsible in his disregard for the long-term psychological consequences of the financial crisis and bailouts, and this is the basis of my disappointment in him. These latest reports about Wall Street bonuses will exacerbate those consequences, as does the inexplicable continued employment of Geithner, Summers and Bernanke. You can argue that Obama inherited a corrupt system, that the banks own Washington. But it's Obama who has decided to retain these men, in the case of Bernanke for another four years. That's four more years of the public constantly seeing a symbol of incompetence, iniquity and secrecy. It's all against the backdrop of an institutionalized, deeply immoral ethos of "too big to fail," which has been ignored by Obama and would not be resolved by anything I've seen in the financial reforms currently being contemplated.

Political extremism on a national scale doesn't just happen. There's always a catalyzing event or period, some sort of trauma that can pass but fester for years afterward. To the extent this period has created lasting psychological scars, Obama will be at least partly responsible if the country eventually takes a radical political turn -- either left or right.