>Aren't pure or at leas semi-pure coupon clippers a significant
>source of cash for right-wing (and liberal) think-tanks, conferences,
>even politicians?
Actually I think most of them work too. A major source of funding for the Newt/Contract With America crowd was new Wall Street money, guys (gender deliberate) who ran hedge funds and such, rather than working at an established firm - e.g. Richard Gilder (the principal investor in that great airline, Valu-Jet, and the head honcho of the Central Park Conservancy, the manager of the now largely privatized park).
On a somewhat related topic, I think it's pretty interesting that the image of the archetypal financier has changed from the 300-pound J.P. Morgan to the slender marathon runner Robert Rubin. Of course Morgan worked plenty hard, but he looked like a guy who spent a lot of time sitting around - a sharp contrast with the hyper-busy Rubin.
Doug