Well, it's all down to how we've broken our economy; it's stretched so thin to accommodate the greed of the top 0.1% there's no elasticity to fill the void in emergencies like this one. It's long been common wisdom that the average American spends most of their career a handful of missed paychecks from homelessness. It's no accident; just another form of indentured servitude to those .1%ers. ![Roll Eyes ::)](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/rolleyes.gif.pagespeed.ce.XcUK202Yqt.gif)
But it's more insidious than that... that financial model applies to all but the biggest mega-corporations as well; by engaging in the current race to the bottom so assiduously, the only companies that aren't so bound by the need for positive cash flow are those which are so big already they essentially have money constantly flowing by extraction rather than the forces of the free market; whether it be government contract, monopoly power or in many cases, both.
It's not if, but WHEN it breaks; this constant taking from the have-nots to profit those few can only last so long: The center cannot hold.
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I do not disagree, in fact I think your analysis is spot on as far as it goes. I feel compelled to interject, however, that it takes two to tango.
Nobody held a gun to the "average American"'s head and forced them to blow their meager excess disposable on 50" TVs and spinner rims instead of saving up for real assets.
Sure, the elites peddled the debt drug, but it is the common man that injected it.
Until that changes, no amount of griping about the top whatever percent is going to amount to anything.
But hey, we got Schrödinger's Kim Jong Un on second stage if you are not sufficiently entertained by the main show.