We face a dangerous new kind of economic uncertainty—uncertainty in the rule of law. After settling with the banks, the government wants the system to snap back into the old rules, with everyone acting as if widespread institutionalized theft never happened. It doesn’t work that way. What assurance do we have that the rules won’t be rewritten again, when more blind forgiveness is needed for us to "look forward, not back"?

GOP politicians have no policy answers which don’t result in more money flowing into the hands of the already rich. And all they can think of in terms of messaging is to fall back on their tired history of dividing Americans. But it’s not working this time.

Unfortunately for the political- and ruling-classes, cold weather will not make this go away. The focus has shifted away from a small park in Manhattan and landed squarely on every working class kitchen table.

The constant short-term status-quo focus of policy in the United States, manifested in the knee-jerk violent suppression of non-corporate sponsored protests, is actually going to be the protesters' greatest asset—in the long-term.

To let the banks fail means wiping out the investments of the stockholders completely. Will Congress champion capitalism and let the banks fail, or will they rush to the rescue of their Wall Street benefactors from self-inflicted ruin? Either way, they're looking at "Socialism!"