factors
deregulation of banking and finance
deregulation of insurance, combined with the above
de-unionization
federal college grants largely replaced with federal student loans and lately private student loans
rising healthcare costs
destruction of the manufacturing base
de-nationalization (or multinationalization of corporations)
stock bubble
housing bubble
These and a bunch others that have built up over the last 25+ years will contribute to a major economic meltdown at some point.
Some of them plus things like the massive federal debt and deficit may prevent our government from doing much about it when it comes. Don’t think for a second that the massive debt that built up under Reagan, Bush I, and Bush II was any kind of accident. Whether you want to read Naomi Klein’s recent work or look at Cato Institute and Libertarian Party stuff from the 80s and early 90s, they want our government to be incapable of fixing the big meltdown when it comes. They want us to be left with no choice other than to privatize everything, so that they can overturn all of the progress that the middle and working classes made in the 20th century. They want a world where the wealthy and powerful call the tune the rest of us have to dance to it or starve.
