A massive tsunami, a mega-powerful financial tidal wave, is growing in intensity off the shores of America. This government senses its ominous presence but refuses to prepare for the force that it will unleash. This highly dangerous condition has been brought on by decades of reckless government spending, together with banking and corporate industry policies and actions that further enrich those who are in control of this country.
America now has a monumental national debt of $18.1 trillion which continues to escalate. This debt that totaled some $5 trillion in the year 2000 has increased by 360% during the Bush and Obama administrations. There have been no serious attempts to put the brakes on this out of control spending especially that for the military, except taking such craven actions as cutting back the food stamp program.
Certainly one of the biggest factors in the current downward spiral that America is experiencing is that, instead of this country manufacturing products for home consumption and exports around the world that once pumped money into worker’s pockets and from there into the economy, we now have created a flat, lifeless service economy.
As this has taken place the profits of corporations have soared, dividends to rich owners and investors have followed suit but, at the same time, the majority of the people of America have taken a massive blow. Their wages have been completely flat since 2000 and now many millions of workers have been forced to take lower paying jobs; and in order to try to just survive they take on more and more personal debt.
The estimates vary but studies of Americans’ financial condition indicates that some 60% or more of them are living paycheck to paycheck, not having enough money in their savings accounts to cover at least six months of expenses; enough to help cushion the blow of a job loss, medical emergency or some other unexpected event.