Money

There is a difference between earning money and making money. There is a difference between earning money and taking (stealing) money. However, there is a narrow difference in the U.S. today between making money and stealing it.

The Great Theft, known as the 2008 Financial Crisis in the U.S., was a case of making money by taking money. Madoff may have gone to prison, but score of people just like him are living exorbitant international lifestyles among those of us who struggle to live in the urban environments they are turning into gated communities. Madoff was just a clumsier thief.

The trend of making money at the expense of others is not new. Usury was banned in the Middle Ages in reaction to the earlier versions of day-traders and hedge-funders. Those who become rich through aggression and wily manipulation of money easily develop shell games to gain more. This is as old as money itself. 

Those who earn their money through service, skill and/or hard labor have been told in recent decades that they are worth less than those who make money from money. Earning money is considered retro and a sign of low intelligence. Scheming and bilking are elevated to the level of art or academic (mathematical) brilliance. 

This represents the corruption of human civilization by diminishing resources, deteriorating environment and overpopulation. Look to India and China for the histories of this corruption and its inevitable result in the context of overpopulation and deteriorated environment. Strip away the novelty and charm of the cultures of these countries and look at the hard facts of their histories. Look into the future of the U.S. in its current course.