Daily Bafflements

Robber barons of yesteryear: Vanderbilt, Field, and
Gould. / Illustration from Puck magazine, 1879.

• Here’s Baffler co-founder Thomas Frank in Salon on Hillary Clinton’s calling our current economy “a throwback to the Gilded Age of the robber barons.” When The Baffler used this same term in the subtitle of our 1997 anthology, of course, we were referring to the economy built by Hillary Clinton’s husband. Frank traces the use and popularity of the term since then.

• In the Washington Post, a sob story from Ben Terris on “the anguish of the Tea Party patriots” as right-wing media starts to turn against the movement. One flag-bandanna-ed patriot tells him, “The way we are being portrayed is like we’re domestic terrorists with baby’s veins and guts hanging out of our teeth.” Oh, my.

• The ancient ruins at Pompeii are currently closed because of ongoing labor talks over unpaid wages.

• Today in Billionaires: Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart, grants $50,000 to the person who best defends the mining industry against “far left or non-understanding media attacks.” The winner? Len Buckeridge, a fellow billionaire. Congratulations, everyone!