I keep hearing the word “populist” being used more and more in the media to explain the anger of the American people.  Why is this word being used so much?

Populism can be defined simply as :  Academic and scholarly definitions of populism vary widely and, among both journalists and scholars, the term is often employed in loose, inconsistent and undefined ways to denote appeals to ‘the people’.

Administration officials and the corporate media characterizes the growing popular anger against AIG and the bailout of Wall Street as “populist” in an attempt to de-legitimize it, portraying it as backward or ignorant, implying that it could disrupt supposedly necessary measures to revive the economy.

But what are these measures? One measure initiated by the Obama administration will divert at least a trillion dollars more to the Wall Street banks through a program to entice hedge funds and private equity firms into purchasing toxic assets from the banks. The hedge funds will be given cheap loans from the government and will be guaranteed against major losses. The scheme, like all of the previous measures, is designed to privatize profits and socialize losses, guaranteeing that the interests of the financial parasites will not be impinged upon in the slightest.

The fear that popular outrage over the AIG bonuses could interfere with this program is well-founded because they are of a piece, both involving the bailout of a wealthy oligarchy at the expense of the rest of the population.

What they fear is that all of the rhetoric about “change” and “hope” notwithstanding, Obama will be seen more and more for what he is: a front man for finance capital who is implicated in its criminality and fraud and is carrying out a naked class policy to defend its interests.

The Battle Of The Collars is beginning.