Happy is the person whose hour has struck. Tom Naylor's hour has struck. It is the hour of the 1 per cent.

Naylor's day job is as an economist at McGill University in Montreal. But his secret identity -- about as secret as any superhero's -- is Muckraker, a heroic figure reaching back to crusading journalists during the robber baron age in the U.S. Their Canadian avatar was Gustavus Myers, also an American, with his acidic A History of Canadian Wealth (1914). Naylor rakes Canadian and global muck joyously yet assiduously -- not a contradiction if you're happy in your work.

Some people were outraged last week by a report that a member of the kitchen staff of bailed-out Wall Street firm AIG had received a $7,700 bonus.

Surely that was far less outrageous than the million-dollar bonuses paid to others at AIG who actually carried out the firm's financial business.

After all, the kitchen helper produced something that at least could be eaten. Apart from perhaps overcooking the Chateaubriand or leaving spots on the champagne glasses, what harm could the kitchen helper have done -- compared to driving the world economy over a cliff?

On September 17, in the midst of the publicity blitz for his cinematic takedown of the capitalist order, Moore talked with Nation columnist Naomi Klein by phone about the film, the roots of our economic crisis and the promise and peril of the present political moment. To listen to a podcast of the full conversation, click here. Following is an edited transcript of their conversation.

At the root of the public fascination with the fate of Michael Bryant is a question that lies at the heart of democracy: Do the rich and powerful get special treatment?

Preventing the public from answering "yes" to that question will be a challenge for authorities, with the spotlight glaring down on every aspect of the prosecution of the former provincial attorney general for his deadly encounter with a cyclist.

How much easier for authorities to go easy on the rich and powerful when no one's really watching.

The lack of spotlight is certainly making things easier for officials in Ottawa as they deal with another very different investigation that raises the same question about favouritism toward the rich.

It looked like it was business as usual for President Barack Obama on the first day of his Martha's Vineyard vacation, as he spent five hours golfing with Robert Wolf, president of UBS Investment Bank and chairman and CEO of UBS Group Americas. Wolf, an early financial backer of Obama's presidential campaign, raised $250,000 for him back in 2006, and in February was appointed by the president to the White House's Economic Recovery Advisory Board. Economic recovery for whom?