Bill,

I agree, especially that there is a strong connection between lumpen inertia in the entitled who benefit from the status quo, and physical action by the rest.

You'd understand why Louis might not have seen what was coming, but in 2014 there's plenty of information and no excuse for the self-described Elite believing it can go on like this forever. Seems to me that the Emperors and Czars could have survived as other monarchies did. Ditto today's plutocrats in Egypt and elsewhere and ditto the Western wealthy who are sneetches for the most part. Even George could have stayed King of the Americas had he not been so stubborn and high handed when loyal subjects first asked for reasonable concessions. It's the back-turning and "let them eat cake" behaviors that seem to cause the most reaction.