Bjengs,
Well, we shouldn't have expected too much from Schwarzenegger. We saw Ted Kennedy whispering into his ear after all. And Mr. Schwarzenegger is nothing if not ambitious and full of himself. He will go the way of all politicians, a deal here, a deal there. What will be interesting is what happens if the $15 billion bond issue should fail to pass; it will take something like that happening to snap Californians out of their dream state.
Stealth 101 asked why the mega-rich should have to sell out the American people--aren't they, after all, rich enough? Perhaps there's nothing conscious or conspiratorial about it, maybe it's just a mutated form of the Invisible Hand which is part of the process itself. Get enough super-rich people together and individually they will make decisions that conduce to the detriment of the masses. Why shouldn't the Invisible Hand have its own dark side after all? I think "selling out" is viewed by the high and mighty as just the next phase of capitalism, an expansion of the system to the global level that will lift up the entire world. That this means the erosion of traditional American culture or the obsolescence of the Constitution weighs less in their minds than the advancement of international capitalism and multi-national prosperity. A little "creative destruction" that, longer-term, benefits more people than it hurts.
, Art