“The United States is witnessing the ‘second wave’ of economic depression as pressure grows on the US administration to hammer out a deal to avoid a debt default that could have global ramifications.”

Much of today’s bad news is the result of the long, and ongoing, growing gap between the rich and the poor, with its devastating, decimating effect on the middle class, any nation’s real engine of growth. Without that engine, good luck.

This is the legacy of unfettered, unregulated free market capitalism, characterized by free (not fair) trade, growth in regressive consumption taxes that are gradually replacing the former progressive income tax and corporate tax systems as revenue sources, the outsourcing offshore, and the deregulation of the investment sector, etc., “crisis economics” if you will.

In any casino, the motivation is “the big score”, to be one of the few big winners among the multitude of losers necessary to grease the wheels and keep the profits flowing to the “house”. This pretty much describes the North American markets and economy, particularly in the U.S.A..

Until this trend in the growing gap between the rich and poor is reversed, leading to the revival of a viable middle class in the U.S.A., the decline of “Rome” will continue, and soon spread to Canada. Don’t hold your breath, though!