Poverty and inequality are big problems. But how big are they? It's tempting to define them as only concerning aggrevied parties- the poor, the displaced, the underemployed. But the reality is that these problems have something to do with a whole lot of people. There's the aggrievee, and the aggriever. It takes two to tango. So who are the aggrievers? In other words, who's getting rich under the new inequality? Who are the new Rockefellers and Morgans? And what exactly did they do to deserve all that money? These question have to be answered in political narratives about social justice, I think. It must be established that grievances are being redressed with rewards that were going to undeserving parties. Otherwise, we'll have to do something wrong to make something right, which is not the most comfortable position. Fortunately, there's a growing sense that too much wealth is owned by the undeserving- in this respect, Paris Hilton is the most effective advocate for greater equality I know, an unconscious traitor to her class. But this financial downturn we're in could be the kicker, if it spreads to the rest of the economy. Not only are the hedge funders not really as good at making money as we all thought, but they'll have made a royal mess out of the economy and too many people's lives. Managers of capital are today's economic hero. Guys like Donald Trump, Warren Buffet and Robert Rubin practically have cult followings. Knock them off their pedestal, and who knows what will happen. First up- start taxing them at the rate everyone else pays, and use that money to defer the taxation of the upper middle class under the Alternative Minimum Tax.