Larry, if what we’re seeing is a revival of egalitarianism (and I think we are, for a number of reasons, including, I suspect, the emergence of a new class of super-rich) you’re certainly correct that Wall Street has not priced it in.

And nor, politically speaking, have many of those on the right (what’s left of it). A couple of days ago, Ross Douthat wrote this:

I don’t just think that the left is doing well politically; I think that they may get the chance to enact a pretty substantial and wide-ranging policy agenda if things go well for them in ‘08. Taibbi (and Rod) think liberals don’t have anything substantive to offer; I think that’s plain wrong, and it’s a dangerous delusion for conservatives, in particular, to entertain. True, what the left has to offer now is roughly the same thing it offered in the 1970s and ’80s, which is to say a dramatic expansion of the welfare state – but the ideas for how to go about this are much sharper than they used to be, thanks to years in the wilderness and a greater appreciation for free markets, and the political climate is a lot more favorable to a renewed push for social democracy than it was in, say, 1979.

In my view, that’s very true, and with the GOP still in the hands of the Trent Lotts of this world, it’s difficult to see what is going to change this between now and the 2008 elections.