Stiglitz: Of the 1%, By the 1%, and for the 1% and the Downward Spiral Into the Abyss resisting financial and political reform which caused the crisis in the first place. Three years after the crisis and no major player has even been indicted, the bonus system is flourishing again, and politicians are taking many millions in funds from the bankers and wealthy elite to promote their agendas. - blaming the victims, and compelling them to take the greatest pain of the bailouts, and continuing bailouts and subsidies to the financial class through spending reallocations. The bailouts and spending on the military industrial complex are crowding out the public functions of government. There are even people trying to justify the theft of the Social Security Trust. Look, the funds are gone, weâve taken them and given them to the banks! So no use crying over spilt milk, suck it up, and letâs move on and take your cuts. - shifting the impulse to reform from financial reform to âtax reformâ that further supports the monied interests. Cut taxes for the wealthiest as your primary agenda using a variety of deceptive means like promoting a consumption tax, of a flat income tax with offshore havens and loopholes, so the burden falls most heavily on those who spend the greatest percentage of their labor on subsistence, basic needs. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=cZC1HVRz450 http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=v8s1p7NdHm0