Photo-illustration: Everett Bogue; Photos: Getty Images

For a few rocky months it has seemed that our great nation has been on the brink of a kind of civil war. The poor, or at least poor-ish, have been clamoring for the heads of the very rich, causing the very rich to withdraw into themselves, to hoard gold, wear drab clothes, and even talk of barricading themselves in their mansions. But today during Duke University's commencement proceedings, the sage Oprah, whose program has for years encouraged conspicuous consumption among all classes, did her best to quell the fevered state of our culture by setting the priorities of the youth of America firmly back in line. Despite the behavior of a handful of certain CEOs and the grotesque caricatures featured on Bravo's Real Housewives series and The Hills, wealth, she reminded the youths (and in turn all of us, because, like God, when Oprah speaks we somehow all hear it), is not synonymous with evil. Wealthiness is something to admire, to aspire to. To put it simply:

“It’s great to have a nice home. It’s great to have nice homes! It’s great to have a private jet. Anyone that tells you that having your own private jet isn’t great is lying to you."

Make no mistake, this is huge. The Wall Street Journal is already heralding the end of "hair-shirt capitalism and envy politics." The markets, down this afternoon, will surely see an uptick tomorrow once the Word spreads. Let the healing begin.

Oprah: It’s Great to Have a Private Jet [Wealth Report/WSJ]