I previously noted that Simon Johnson, the former chief economist at the IMF, wrote that “unless the government of the day is willing to take on the entrenched elites [read Wall Street and hedgies] and force them to take the pain, the path of least resistance is rising inflation and possibly hyperinflation.” Social backlash? Back on May 3 I wrote that the New York Magazine reports a quote from a Citibank executive as an illustration of the culture of entitlement: No offense to Middle America, but if someone went to Columbia or Wharton, [even if] their company is a fumbling, mismanaged bank, why should they all of a sudden be paid the same as the guy down the block who delivers restaurant supplies for Sysco out of a huge, shiny truck? When I start seeing items like this in the popular press, there is little question that the social backlash is starting.