Reply #2: If you read Kevin Phillip's "Wealth and Democracy" concentration of wealth

[EVDebs]

is the key determinant of an empire's decline as with Spain in the 1500s, Netherlands in 1600s, and Britain post 1700s, and now with US. Concentration of wealthiest:

"Here is a summary of the statistics for the distribution of wealth in the US as
of 1998, the most recent information available that has been fully analyzed:

% of US Population % of Wealth Owned
==========================================================
Top 1% 38.1%
Top 96-99% 21.3%
Top 90-95% 11.5%
Top 80-89% 12.5%
Top 60-79% 11.9%
General 40-59% 4.5%
Bottom 40% 0.2% "

From http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=2050

It's only a matter of time, unless our leaders wake up and smell the coffee.