What results you get will depend solely on what measures you take; if you look at correlation between e.g. committing most kinds of crime and wealth, you'll see that it's negative.

In one of the episodes of The Sopranos, Tony's wife says. "There's a lot bigger criminals in this world than my husband, believe me."

And, as heinous as Tony is/was, I do believe her.

Many of the crimes of the wealthy are on a scale that gangsters only dream about. Well, scratch that, because some criminals whom LE acknowledges to be criminals also get very wealthy.

Many of the crimes committed by people to get wealthy and to get wealthier never make the statistics as a crime per se. And, if they do, it's a corporation who is prosecuted, not the people who caused the corporation to commit the crime or who covered it up (which is also a crime).

The addict who knocks over the local jewelry store or creates a disturbance in a barroom usually hasn't figured out how to hide behind the corporate veil.

And how do you measure killing a lake or a harbor or a river and all life in it forever because you'd rather not pay to dispose of waste properly vs. grabbing a purse? Both are inexcusable, but can we talk proportion?

And, of course, the rich don't cherry pick when they say things like 43% of Americans will never vote for me because they are takers?

I could go on, but it might turn into a sociology book instead of a post.

Last edited Wed May 21, 2014, 07:13 AM - Edit history (1)

I think that puts the cart before the horse. Most of these people become wealthy because that is the only thing they really value in life. Normal people will choose a profession (if they can afford to choose) because they find it interesting, challenging, or of value to society. These others choose a profession that will make them rich. They only care about money. They actually find having money, and accumulating even more money to be even more important than people without money do. People without riches build a framework for their happiness that is more dependent on relationships than on things. Rich people generally get rich (not counting inheritance) because money gives them their self-worth, not human relationships. They are destined to be uncaring, unempathetic, and soulless. And these are the very people that have the most influence in our politics and society.

That's just my uneducated take.