Bill Moyers’ Journal hosted an interesting discussion with Thomas Frank and David Sirota on the bailout, the economic stimulus, and what people can expect and/or hope for from Obama.

I think Sirota’s point (toward the end of the segment) about the longing some people feel for an “authoritarian capitalism” or a “czarist” model for fixing our problems is an important one. I think there’s a very legitimate concern that we’ll end up further centralizing power in essentially unaccountable hands for the sake of fixing the economy. As Sirota says, progress shouldn’t be in competition with democracy.

You can watch the segment here.