Karl Marx, on page 243 of his infamous book The Communist Manifesto, states that the “proletariat will use its supremacy to wrest, by degrees, all capital from the bourgeoisie, to centralize all instruments of production in the hands of the State.” He then states that “the following will be pretty generally applicable:

1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes.
2. Abolition of all right of inheritance.
3. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.
4. Centralization of credit in the hands of the state, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly.
5. Centralization of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the State.”

Marx’s predictions have not come to pass; there is no proletariat trying to wrest capital from the bourgeoisie. What we have are crony capitalists and politicians consolidating power, and implementing with great gusto the wishes of Mr. Marx. When Luigi Zingales stated his opposition to the Paulson Plan he asked some pertinent questions: “Do we want to live in a system where profits are private, but losses are socialized? Where taxpayer money is used to prop up failed firms? Or do we want to live in a system where people are held responsible for their decisions, where imprudent behavior is penalized and prudent behavior rewarded?” He then finished with quite a zinger: “The time has come to save capitalism from the capitalists.” Amen Mr. Zingales.