Pundits pulverize plutocrats’ populist positions

The anti-business backlash begins with Andrew Sullivan, commenting on an “awful” John Kerry speech on C-Span:

I must say I find his Shrum-populism sad and dumb at the same time - the pathetic demonization of drug companies, and the vapid citation of Enron and Worldcom in whatever context he feels like dumping on Bush, to name a couple of examples.

Which sets off Professor Bainbridge:

Personally, I am getting very tired of plutocrat populists like Al Gore, John Kerry, and John Edwards (or, for that matter, Ross Perot and Pat Buchanan). As for Gore and Kerry, it's hard to believe people from their privileged backgrounds are really populists down deep. As for all of them, they can afford to be populists. Being zillionaires all, they can afford to pay the high marginal tax rates they propose. Not that they will, of course, since they can also afford to hire tax wizards to shield most of their income. Instead, it is those who are doing fairly well but aren't rich that will bear the burden of paying for all their fancy programs.

And the Business Pundit follows up with a Fortune magazine quote about how the Democrats’ are addicted to demonizing “Big Business.”

There is an implication by some that business should exist to provide jobs and health care, and that profit is a bad thing because it only benefits the rich.

Of course, if you hold company stock or have a 401(k), you’re not quite so anti-business when your investments rise on strong profits.