The capital markets must reward for success and punish for failure. When the risk is taken away or even failure rewarded, then the markets are so distorted that there can be no efficient application of capital. Our system was (is) so distorted that fools are saying the solution is spend, spend, spend! I almost choked when I heard that the Pres thought that loss of jobs at an RV plant was a crisis. I wonder he didn't stop by a Hummer assembly plant on the way back. Don't get me wrong. Any loss of valid employment is sad. It's just that we, as a civilization, need a serious dose of Values Clarification. If you don't understand ENTROPY, and cannot appreciate that FINITE is now measured in generations, not centuries, you are part of the problem. As an engineer, I think there are long term solutions. I just don't think the political process can allow them to be discussed, much less implemented.
because it is not possible to make everyone be good the world will be fair only when everyone learns to be evil
There's an old saying. "If you can't hold your whiskey, at least STFU when you're drunk." You would be wise to abide by that gem.
That's what Republicans from Dumbfuckistan and their parasitic Fascist Zionist brethren would like you to think. The world is changing faster than these parasites are able to cope with or control. Fixed fractional banking will be dead within the next 30 years. The parasites know this too. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yPToWiHlYU
that would be the ultimate punchline... the big banks go toast, and average americans don't miss a beat while the water of actual capitalism rushes into the gaps. if we're all theoretically broke, realizing the loss doesn't prevent those with real wealth and value from exchanging it. labor, real assets. maybe the credit collapse is more of a y2k than a 911. that would be pretty funny. i guarantee you any business that's actually worth running in a capitalist (not risk forgiving) regime will adapt to continue functioning. it's nature.
Note that the IRS has plenty of special forms to allow barter. I'm with the Founding Fathers. The best basis of Barter is silver and gold.
so what really???? anyone who expects america to be top honcho beyond the next fifty years, no matter what happens, seriously lacks an understanding of history. the roman emprie collapsed. the british empire collapsed. the ming dynasty collapsed. so will america. life goes on.
In almost all cases you mention, the collapse of the influence of the state was because it moved from a stable governing system to a (corupt) kleptocracy. When the heart was taken out of the common man and he/she realized that no matter how hard they worked, their overloads were going to screw them, the cost of of supporting the empire outstriped it's ability to generate wealth at the rates the masters could squander it. Without a moral base, no system can survive.