In The Words of Bastiat

When men of a certain propriety
By plunder, advance in society,
They fashion their cause
By a system of laws
And morals to cloak it in piety.

"...une loi qui la sanctionne, une morale qui la glorifie."

So said Frédéric Bastiat 162 years ago, and it has never been truer than today:

When plunder has become the livelihood of an agglomeration of men united by social ties, they soon make a law that condones it, and a morality that glorifies it.

Hat tip to Barry Ritholtz.