The Fact That Wall Street Is Useful Doesn't Mean People Have To Like It

To the tender sensibilities of some foreigners, the U.S. seems like a hypercapitalist society. This view misses, among other things, the fact that Americans themselves look askance at capitalism and capitalists. A Harris Poll documents the ambivalence many people feel toward Wall Street and its money-minded denizens.

Overall, 22 percent of the poll’s respondents said Wall Street benefits the country “a lot” and 51 percent that it does so “somewhat”; 6 percent said Wall Street harms the country a lot and 17 percent that it does so somewhat.