The worries about the power of Wall Street have their roots in rural America. More than 120 years ago, rural Grangers and Populists were warning about concentrations of business power. Maybe it's time we listened to our rural forebears.

Critical to rural development are a regional approach, greater flexibility among federal programs, and more investment, from government, lenders and foundations.

For the first time since March, unemployment in rural America moved ahead of urban counties in December 2011.

From the Blues Trail through the Delta to the Walter Anderson Museum on the Gulf Coast, rural Mississippi's economy is bouyed by what we call the "creative economy."