In school, we once read about the "robber-barons" and monopolies of the 19th century, and we learned with a certain amount of pride that a President named Theodore Roosevelt came along and challenged them. He was called the "trust-buster," and anti-trust law came into existence during his heroic Presidency. So did the national parks. But today, we see that the robber-barons have returned, and so have the monopolies. Anti-trust law is rarely enforced any more, and is essentially ignored, treated as a meaningless vestige of history. The labor unions have been defanged, and as a result most American workers are now powerless. As long as the economy remains fairly strong, there is work for most (but not all). But there is trouble ahead....big trouble.
All too soon, in the next year or two, the housing bubble will burst, there will be a recession, and hundreds of thousands of people who are deeply in debt and cannot declare bankruptcy may become homeless, receiving the same kind of compassionate treatment that Katrina victims received. That is, almost no support of any kind.
Whatever happened to the trickle-down theory, the bogus idea that wealth gradually filters down from the upper class to the lower class? Why do we tolerate the diminution of the middle class? Does the "rising tide lift all boats," or does the rising tide actually swamp most of the boats and flood out the people living close to sea level (e.g., in New Orleans)?