Prosecution Disparity

A major theme of “The Divide” by Matt Taibbi is the different approaches by prosecutors when a minority is accused of fraud and when one of the Masters of the Universe on Wall Street obviously is involved in fraud and on a much larger scale. Although Wall Street executives and hedge fund managers through their dubious and even criminal actions were largely responsible for the 2008 financial crisis that nearly brought down the global economy, not one of these individuals was prosecuted.

It is the law that when a person seeks financial aid from the government that the individual cannot lie on his or her application. Doing so is committing fraud and places the welfare recipient at risk for prosecution and sentencing. At the same time a minority woman who needs $300 a month in order to feed and care for her children is in jeopardy of prosecution if...