This reminded me of a post-housing bubble NPR interview where the journalist was interviewing a few Wall Street suits at a local watering hole. In short, the journalist was aghast to find that these guys that had made a killing during the bubble weren't the least bit remorseful about what was happening to their fellow Americans across the country. Even more upsetting to the interviewer, the Wall Streeter's attributed their position to being smarter than the rest. I thought Idiocracy was an awful movie, mainly because it could have been 30 minutes long. But, I do find the notion of 'elitist guilt' fascinating, especially when it comes to commercialism. That's one interesting aspect that Idiocracy touches on (although my memory of the movie is pretty faded): you might only be 'giving the people what they want' or you might be 'socially engineering', and the difference depends on whether or not you are making money on it. Hell, that's why Capitalism is so noble and Communism is so perverse, right? :)