What Causes Crime?

Well it's complicated. So let me ask a simpler question.  What causes homicidal feelings?

I can tell you quite simply what causes me to have homicidal feelings*....

A former student (of UMass and two of my courses) who answered the "what causes crime" question in an interview, in reference to the neighborhood we share, along the lines of;  "poor people are greedy and will do anything to have more".  If nothing else, I hope my Marxian economics course gave him the intellectual framework to be the best damn enabler of exploitation he can be! Unfortunately, my guess would be that section of the course was ignored as well.


*Not literally. 

Chrysler sales were up 40% for February: Who the F($* is buying these things?

http://www.freep.com/article/20120301/BUSINESS01/120301018/Chrysler-February-auto-sales?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE
The recovery is supposed to be mostly jobless, and mostly for the wealthy.  Rich people don't drive Chrysler vehicles.
Poor people don't either (they don't buy new cars at all). 

Only middle income, retirement age people buy these things right? 
Am I completely out of touch with a remaking of Chrysler's image, or have recent stock market gains been enough to pad the retirement accounts of people born in the 1950s so that they are comfortable trading in the 2002 Honda Accord? 

Is There a Future for Mainstream News Coverage?

Sure, but the role is shifting.
I find myself getting more and more of my news from sources that are completely secondary. 
For example; I get most of my Detroit Tigers updates from:
http://www.blessyouboys.com/
Someone still has to pay the original reporter though right?