The fine line between law and ethics

This recent "movement" called "Occupy Wall Street" has people talking.

True, most of it is partisan rhetoric on all sides, as is typical.  Let's focus on a few things here though.

First of all, it is not a crime to be "rich" in the united States.  How much money one does or does not have should have no bearing at all as to their protection under the Constitution.

One of the big questions here though is, "How did some of these people become rich?"


There are gaps and loopholes in the tax system that allow deductions and opportunities to "hide" income from taxation that only some are able to take advantage of.  They are not equally accessible by anyone and everyone.  That is one problem right there.

Another problem is that so called "Wall Street" or as I like to refer to them as the "Corporate Crony Capitalism" bunch, have established a culture of 'money first'.

Here is where some things that are done by the big money folks are often considered un-ethical but are not necessarily illegal.

For example, no matter how you try to justify it, preventing fair and open competition in the marketplace is not considered "fair play" by most individual's standards.  Yet, our colleges and top business people teach exactly that as "professional business" behavior.

It's been pretty well acknowledged by most folks that our elected representatives are on the take form corporations and millionaires. They have been for many years now and it seems that they won't be changing that any time soon.

Obviously, our government bureaucracy finds it ok that if one has enough money, bribery and extortion of our elected representatives is just something that has to be tolerated because none of them will have the fortitude to stand up to and put an end to the practice.

No,  I will never say that just because someone has chosen to make money the most important thing in their life and dedicate themselves to the accumulation of it, they have every right to not be unfairly taxed or unduly pressed by the government because of it.

I might disagree with the notion that accumulation of money is the most important thing in one's life, but hey, we're all different people.

However, the infamous "they" say that everyone/everything has a price tag on it.  There are people with the financial resources out there who apparently take every opportunity to test that theory out.

However, our government and our elected representatives must be taken off the auction block.  Steps need to be in place that removes those temptations and prevents that atmosphere of greed from reaching our duly elected.

By all means, hunt and convict everyone who made their riches illegally.  Yes,  I applaud the effort to shame every rascal who used immoral and unethical means to make their money.

At the same time, there is another phrase I think is just as important.

"Fool me once, shame on you.  Fool me twice, shame on me."

When are we going to stop allowing these charlatans and crooks who make their money mischievously to keep playing their same games and treating people, us, the same way over and over again?

I think we are all as much to blame for the financial woes of the world because we keep going back to the bankers and the con men and the day traders and the investment brokers who we allow to herd us through a never ending chute that inevitably leads us to our own financial demise.

When will we demand the government stop getting into bed with corporations and forcing people to do business and make purchases in the name of bureaucracy and back door dealings.  The government has no ethical or legal right to make people buy something.  Yet they continue to finagle and "interpret" with their rooms full of lawyers what the Constitution says.

No, in the long run, it's our own dang fault that the government and rich folk are in bed together.  As long as we they threaten that our air conditioning and microwave ovens will keep going, no one wants to rock the boat.  The larger population keeps falling back into line.

When we want to blame someone for the decline of our great country, point first to the person in the mirror.