Only the rich are getting a larger share of the total income pie in the United States. Dmitry Orlov, in his popular book "The Five Stages of Collapse" identified the symptoms of a declining society based upon his own experience in the collapse of the Soviet Empire. Stage One sounds eerily prescient as "faith in business as usual is lost and financial institutions become insolvent". But Stage Three, political collapse, in which faith that the government will assist you is lost, also appears in today's headlines as the government shuts down for three weeks because of political gamesmanship at tremendous cost to taxpayers, the federal legal department (aka 'Justice' Department) cuts a friendly deal ($13 billion fine versus $700 billion in taxpayer money handed out to Wall Street) with JP Morgan's CEO Jamie Diamond, and the feeble attempt at virtual health care reform melts down to a malfunctioning website. The United States is well on the road to decline and fall unless the way we run the country is significantly changed for the better. This chart showing increase in real GDP per dollar of incremental debt, may be the signpost to the country's eventual ruin:
“The truly unique power of a central bank, after all, is the power to create money, and ultimately the power to create is the power to destroy.” --Paul Volcker, US FED Chairman 1979 – 1987 |