You know, during the Bush administration, people threw the term "kleptocracy" around a lot. But back then, at least taxpayers were getting something for our money. For example, sure - we wasted a shit-ton of cash on Halliburton contracts, but at least Halliburton pretended to fulfill lots of essential services, even if they were ripping us off in the process.

Now, there's no pretense. Taxpayer money is being handed over to the Manhattan millionaires who created this crisis, and we get absolutely nothing in return - not even the illusion of anything, really. In that way, the Masters of Wall Street and Washington have done what no one thought would be possible: They've turned this moment of political change and economic meltdown into an opportunity to distill kleptocracy into its most pure form.