Not surprisingly, troubled economic times often beget proselytizers of wacky, extreme ideas.

During my 30 years on Wall Street, taxes on “unearned income” have bounced up and down with regularity, and I’ve never detected any change in the appetite for hard work and accumulating wealth on the part of myself or any of my fellow capitalists.

Most troublesome is the legalization of 'crowd funding,' the ability of start-up companies to raise capital from small investors on the Internet.

Indias rigid social structure limits intergenerational economic mobility and fosters acceptance of vast wealth disparities.

China has lunged into the 21st century, while India is still lurching toward it.

Increased revenues, meaning higher taxes, will be a central element of any successful long-term budget plan, and President Obama is right to insist that the wealthy - the slice of America that has come through the recession in by far the best financial health - should provide those funds.

Not surprisingly, troubled economic times often beget proselytizers of wacky, extreme ideas.