Discussing his new biography of Clarence Darrow today, author John Farrell quoted one of the famed defense lawyer's thundering speeches:

With the land and possessions of America rapidly passing into the hands of a favored few, with thousands of men and women in idleness and want; with wages constantly tending to a lower level…with the knowledge that the servants of the people elected to correct abuses are bought and sold in legislative halls at the bidding of corporations and individuals; with all these notorious evils sapping the foundations of popular government and destroying personal liberty, some rude awakening must come.

In short, Farrell noted, Darrow described an era not unlike our own.

Income inequality has become so severe in this nation that people in Really Important Positions (except for most Republicans in Congress) are starting to take note—and issue warnings.

Stan Sorscher, labor representative for the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace/IFPTE  Local 2001 ( SPEEA /IFPTE), describes what he sees as an emerging American Aristocracy in this excerpt from  Washington Policy Watch .

I went to France in June and couldn’t help comparing the French revolution to our own. So, let’s start with aristocracy, then we’ll get to Ayn Rand. Stick with me.

How appropriate. We’re drowning in rain here in the nation’s capital, while outside the Beltway, America’s working families are drowning in one disastrous economic wave after another. A few recent nuggets.