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8 Surprising Facts About The Shrinking Middle Class From 'Third World America' (huffingtonpost.com)
3 points by startuprules on Aug 10, 2010 | hide | past | favorite | 1 comment



The key events that I see are:

1) The outsourcing boom

2) The Nixon Shock: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nixon_Shock

3) The elimination of Glass-Steagal

#1 killed the well-paying blue collar job and unions. #2 killed the stability of the dollar. #3 (especially combined with #2!) allowed banks to leverage regular deposits to inflate M3 and create mega-bubbles and then drop their losses on the depositors and the taxpayers.

Put it all together, and we are indeed on our way to third world status: 10% own 90%, everyone else is poor.

Then add in the recent resumption of Vietnam-style expensive smoldering meat-grinder warfare, which is bankrupting the federal government. Then, for the cherry on top, throw in peak oil.




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