A Question About Karma?

I was thinking recently about karma and what happens in this life will be echoed in the next life. I couldn't help but think about what that might mean about suffering in this life.

Personally, I've been having a bit of a hard go at this life at this particular point, and i was wondering if that meant I was a bad person in my previous life and this is what I deserve. I hear a lot of people, here and other places, talking about these horrible bankers and PTB and how the negativity they inflict on this world will be given back to them in their next life.

This statement is a little troubling for me. As i understand it, should we not be sympathetic to those who have bad stuff that happens to them in this life because, "Well, they must have done something lousy in their last."

Maybe those that lost their jobs and homes in this life, due to the economic times, are just the bankers and the corrupt elite of a past life and are simply, 'reaping what they sow'. To me that sounds a little less archaic than saying, 'bad things happen because God is punishing you.'

Please correct me if I'm wrong, I would just really like to understand this concept better.

Thanks!

-Space_Fetus