Recently somebody wrote to a forum I subscribe to asking the question "What is happening to our country?" and then went on to describe consequences they saw in their own community from the severe financial problems that have come to a head for so many citizens, so many U.S. communities this year.

The best described explanation I have found is on the website of economist Henry Liu: http://www.henryckliu.com/. He explains it in more depth than most of us have the time to read, but the jist of it is: in an economy where wages aren't high enough for the majority of people to purchase the goods produced, then the producers go out of business and the economy implodes.