Gov. Jindal parents immigrated from the Punjab. Vikram Pandit (Citigroup) himself immigrated from Nagpur, India. I'm not sure they'd consider themselves white. I've heard that the President's dad came from Kenya, btw. The money seems to be coming from China.

The racial/ethnic politics of the stimulus package are complex and fascinating, and I think Walsh is probably right about the motivations of the unemployment compensation rejectors in the South. But, as she points out with her mildly racist and misleading "white banker" comment, the whole package itself is weighted toward American (and world) elites of any color.

I would have preferred an equitable direct payout, regardless of class or color or age, to all citizens. Capitalizing banks and big business directly, and routing the stimulus through federal and state agencies, excludes low-level players in the economy. And those people are exactly the demographic that should be targeted to stimulate the economy. Obama is paying off campaign debts to the powerful with this second stimulus; it is not racist to reject it.

Let's hope Plan C actually addresses our economic problems. If it is another payout to world elites, I will assume Obama is as corrupt as the Clintons, even if less white.

OK, so most bankers are white. And a disproportionate number of Wall Streeters are Jewish. As are members of congress. Is either fact fundamentally relevant? Joan blasts Republicans for pointing out that Barney Frank is Jewish (and gay), but feels fine pointing out that bankers are white (despite Pandit, who, for the love of Ganpatti, is a HUGE and visible exception to this rule). She also calls the bankers "boys." As always, Walsh's analysis says more about her own prejudices than the world around her.

I find it all interesting, but also just a bit simplistic and absurd in the age of global capital flows, and the obvious class-based rewards of the (so-called) stimulus. Walsh is right that the stimulus hurts black people more, and rejecting the unemployment compensation hurts more black people than white in Southern states. But that's because the stimulus really hurts POOR people (and young poor people the most of all).

The ever-oblivious and privileged Joan Walsh is entertaining on these issues, particularly now that the election is over. And I confess that my own pet name for the economic brain trust is "the Sanhedrin." And I sometimes I think of Obama as Jesus H. Christ (we finally know what the H. stands for!) Racism lives on in all of us, but it's power is peanuts compared to the elites' preference for the color green.

Haven't you noticed that human rights are no longer US policy in China, central Asia, and the Middle East? Is it any surprise that those are EXACTLY the world regions that bankrolled Hillary Clinton's presidential bid? Of course Walsh isn't about to call Hillary "the poster girl for corruption."

Is it really any surprise that Obama has kow-towed to the bidding of wealthy industries, particularly those that leaned heavily toward supporting his candidacy? I still have hope that he'll pay off the corrupt and still help the rest of us. White or not, male or not, even the poor, even the young.

Is social unrest "disaster" or movement toward positive change? Was the union movement of the 30s or the civil rights movement of the 50s/60s, etc. "disaster"?

Russia and China (and others) are state capitalist dictatorships sustained by the idiotic elitist "globalism" [sic] of Clinton et al. Many countries brought unsustainable economic benefits to many of their people as a sort of bribe (and with huge income disparities), and now the shit is hitting the fan, yes.

I feel sorrow for the all the lives injured and lost by the disaster of the past decades, and particularly the role played by our own greedy self-serving idiots like Clinton and Bush. But there are alternate forms of internationalized democratically sustainable, environmentally consious, citizen-based cooperation available. But we do need to act.

The ruling world elites overplayed their hand. Their hubris has been as ovverinflated as Mugabe's prostate gland or Putin's ego or Clinton's libido.