The ecomomy is not in Armagedon mode. It has however been exploited by two and three figure billionaire parasites to the point where the host will not recover for 2 or three generations.

Earlier I meant to say Gilded Age. The Golded Age is known for Robber Barons of Railroad and steel fame. They made the laws and they called the shots. The robber barons of today have tools today like media, think tanks, religious exploitation, law making, electronic trading preference and an anominity that ascribes more power to a concentrated few than any 6 Presidents will ever have.

We have an administration that has new agencies like HLS answerable directly to the president.   NSA and CIA have been decimated/ purged of the truth tellers. Now even the EPA is directly controled by the WHite House. A KGB style Executive office is poised to create new hot and cold running wars and legal authority to yell enemy combatent and make people disappear. Bush, Pinochet and Putin have everything in common except for the astounding W factor of emotional and personal incompetance. One thing we might thank god for.