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His answer is here.This "great recession" has harshly reshaped the lives of tens of millions of Americans and hundreds of million of people around the world. And yet in one way, it has had surprisingly little impact: We have not seen the kind of upsurge of anti-system political radicalism that might have been expected to follow so painful a shock.
For more than 6 months, Americans have heard one revelation after another of betrayal of customer interests by financial firms - of reckless risk-taking, self-dealing and dereliction of fiduciary duty. Yet there has been no wave of outrage against banks and bankers. The furor over the AIG bonuses blew over in 48 hours. The Obama administration's promised financial "reforms" turn out astonishingly modest. Who would have imagined that after the worst financial crash since 1929, the only institution to be threatened with abolition by the federal government would be ... the Office of Thrift Supervision?
In fall 2008 a friend in a very senior job on Wall Street confided to me, "When the public discovers what has been going on these past years, there is going to be a reaction that will turn this country upside down." Hasn't happened. There have been no modern equivalents of the Depression-era Pecora hearings. An unequivocal crook like Bernie Madoff can be sentenced to prison, but who has a harsh word to say against Franklin Raines? The public by and large has been trusting and accepting of established institutions and traditional leaders.
Why?
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I think there is much more dissatisfaction than is being reported. There are swelling numbers of independents who will eventually be heard, and their influence felt. I think many people are careful not to look as if their dissatisfaction is anti-Obama, because most people want him to do well. The media is not going to cover the incidences of dissatisfaction in a comprehensive way, yet, like the tea parties. I believe there is a quiet growth of dissatisfaction which could be ignited into angry protest, but, will likely simmer until the elections. We'll see. Another factor is that we are not accustomed to going to the streets to make changes. There is still a belief in the political, democratic process.
I, personally, hear a lot of outrage, privately, but no one is going postal.