under self inflicted/invited attacks from the edges it gets difficult for a poor empire to survive;

 Is the United States enduring a “Quiet Coup”? Economist Peter St. Onge:

In the wake of the 2008 Financial Crisis, former chief economist of the IMF Simon Johnson warned that the same dysfunctional policies he saw in his basket-case banana republics had taken hold in the United States.

Johnson warned that if America didn’t act fast, we would plunge into a “Quiet Coup” as the American financial system effectively captures the government, bailing itself out until we run out of money.

The United States did not “act fast.” It did not act whatsoever. The result?

The subversives of the American financial system have seized the commanding heights.

Much of the financial and governmental apparatus is in their grasping hands.

The Triumph of Financialization

As Mr. St. Onge reminds us: Between 1973 and 1985, the United States’ financial sector never exceeded 16% of the domestic corporate product.

Yet by the early 2000s? The United States’ financial sector was spitting out 41% of the domestic corporate product.

Meantime, the United States financial industry represented some 10% of the gross domestic product in 1970.

By 2010 the financial system ballooned to 20% of the gross domestic product… inflated and levitated by the Federal Reserve’s false helium.

The Origins of the Quiet Coup........more.........