An interesting moment in the second presidential debate was when Hillary Clinton was asked about transcripts of speeches she made to Wall Street institutions, for which she was paid lavish sums. The transcripts were recently distributed after being purloined by a computer hacker.

Perhaps you remember these speeches. They were the ones she gave after leaving government in 2013, and they were evidently stuffed with rhetorical riches that she was paid some $22 million to give. Or maybe Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank, UBS and the rest just weren’t really impressed by her insights and were just making an odds-on bet that she’d soon run for president and win. They’d have paid her the same to recite nursery rhymes if that’s what she’d offered. In other words, she enriched herself by flogging her past and future power, and the financiers, knowing a good hedge when they see one, were more than willing to part with the lucre.