QUOTE OF THE DAY - AT 9:23 A.M. ET:  From Washington Post economic reporter Steven Pearlstein:

What really sticks in our craw, however, is that while most of the country is hunkered down, Wall Street continues to feast on a bounty of trading profits. You'd expect that a new liberal Democratic president would find a way to give voice to this populist outrage and constructively channel this public anger. But too often, the response from the administration has been to try to convince us that there's little we can do, or should do, to ensure that the economic harvest is more equitably distributed. Now, the White House and congressional leaders find themselves scrambling to get ahead of a growing political backlash that threatens to upend their carefully calibrated agenda, not to mention their political fortunes.

COMMENT:  No matter what your politics, the vast contrast between the economic distress of most of America and the huge profits (and bonuses) on Wall Street must be a matter of concern.  We can repeat all the clichés about our having the best economic system in the world, but the system must work, and it must work for enough people enough of the time for it to retain support. 

One problem is that Wall Street interests now have substantial influence in both political parties.  And let us not forget that one of Obama's chief backers is George Soros, the somewhat shady Wall Street genius.

Watch this situation carefully.  Economic disillusionment, and a sense of gross unfairness, can fuel a social and political revolution, especially if conditions in most of the country worsen.  That is when demagogues get going. 

The Democrats are hopeless.  Their economic education came from their junior years abroad.  But now is the time for the GOP, if it has any imagination at all, to propose a new contract with America that will expand economic opportunity and build the economy.  And the GOP must shake the image of being "the party of big business."  It really hasn't been for years, but it still has that image.  If it can show that its policies help the greatest number of Americans, it will have a future.  If it can't, it won't.

November 25, 2009