The Blindness of James

James is speaking to landowners, people who controlled regions of the area of Galilee. He's denouncing these wealthy landlords for three things: accumulating wealth, defrauding their workers and allowing their self-indulgence to lead to actions or negligence that have actually resulted in the deaths of innocent people. Though the situation James has in view is specific to his time and place, he highlights a problem that is universally applicable.