Bylo, you should chill out. You keep thinking like this and you are gonna create some health issues. I understand your concern for the wellness of the USA but focusing on all the negatives is only gonna make things painful and unhealthy for you...
You've just described almost every group with power in the whole world lol Capitalism doesn't reward intelligence for the most part, it rewards marketing, all the way from leaders running running for office down to a high school student trying to get into the best college. Why do we expect a high level of intelligence out of the leaders? We haven't built that into the system. Not sure how you would either, but it would be nice if in economic system 2.0 we could somehow. Not betting on that coming in my lifetime.
Try living in the U.K. like I do and just check out the news and see what our politicians are up to with all the expenses scandals I mean they really are taking us tax payers to the cleaners , we are all just suckers , I mean we bail out banks thanks to the politicians which we are paying for and now I see that I am paying some £18,000 for a bookcase for some damn politician who claimed it on his expense . We are all suckers , Watch the movie "The Distinguished Gentleman" with Eddie Murthy and see how close to the truth that those politicians behave..
No one wants to go around angry or depressed all day so you just have to laugh, the alternatives will either land you in an asylum or in jail. Some very bad times are coming. The backlash against public pensions is just the start and the end will be major geopolitical instability as the world adjusts to the fall out of this economic crisis that is about to get much worse over the next 18 months.
Is this a serious question? You really think the campaign contributions which get politicians elected come with no strings attached?
So you think those contributions come from people to the politicians who hold the opposite political views? The contributors and the politicians who receive money from them are 2 birds of a feather. So who you think is behind the current government and what you think the government does reluctantly because of the outside pressure?
We're walking down the exact same path as the U.K. At this rate, we're about 5 years to 7 year to behind you from everything to income tax rates, to 'city driving' fees, and cameras (London has more cameras spying on people than any other piece of land on earth). I've been telling people that the hollowing out of manufacturing and explosive growth of government set us upon an English 'path' for much of the last 4 years. In ten years, the income tax rate on the upper 15% in the U.S. will be 48% or more of their income. Probably more. Top 10% - look for 55% or more. Top 1%? Might as well just not try.