The past few weeks in Sociology and Criminal Justice classes we've been covering territory that overlaps more and more. As it should, of course. During a discussion on white collar crime last week, I jotted down on a piece of note paper the following, "the greatest act of white collar crime, in history, was called 'trickle down economics', and this crime was committed with our permission."

We've discussed, in Sociology, the widening gap in America that has impacted so many, and enriched so few. I can not blame this gap of the past 20 years on 'trickle down economics' but certainly if we start to look at the various rules and regulations that have been put into place during that time we can see that a pathway was illuminated for some to make huge profits.

I wonder if the U.S. was always like this, and answer to myself that it must have been.  Men like, J.P. Morgan, Henry Ford, Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller and many others were no different than the men of today - or were they?  Is it that those men all employed vast sums of manpower in order to achieve their great wealth. Today wealth can be created by betting for or against a company or process in the stock market.  It seems, more and more, that all Wall Street is now is Las Vegas in New York.  What exactly is the difference, except that the people in Las Vegas have more morals and values than the folks on Wall Street, apparently.  So creating wealth today does not rely upon all those toiling and laboring, earning a wage while producing a product that will be bought, exported, consumed, and replaced.  That's how wealth used to be created, and yes, some of it did have to trickle down through middle management and skilled laborers. They in turn purchased goods and automobiles and created more jobs to fill their needs.  This was how many were able to achieve the American Dream...not a multi-million dollar mansion, just simply a decent living and the ability to provide for them and their families.

I'm not for a socialist society, but I do think that the scales are unbalanced, they have tipped and all the gold is on one side. We don't need income or wealth redistribution, we need regulations and taxes that place the burdens squarely on all shoulders. It's our Country, we are all responsible for it equally.