Do you think audiophiles are the most gullible hobbyists

Well stated, Shubert.  The greatest country in the world is great only in some regions, and this is often due to massive consumer debt.  Propping up the facade of affluence is a stack of credit cards, loans and cash-out re-fi's on endless mortgages.  This is how the middle class willfully hands over trillions of dollars to the wealthy. We should not speak of such things here, but go ahead. Most of these threads are boring, anyway.   

Schubert,

I am not a historical scholar. But from what I understand as a layman the policies have not changed since 2008. If that is true the same thing could happen again.

Yes, it's a disgrace that Wall Street has been able to privatize its profits, socialize its debts and rob average Americans for their bailout and then give massive bonuses to themselves.  The wealthy pay so much less in federal taxes than the average wage earner, and they accuse you of class envy. This is why the US Treasury is empty--and a certain ideology wants to end big government entitlements, citing our massive debt that makes SS and Medicare unsustainable, and they blame you and me. We are too expensive, even though We The People fund both programs.  A great country takes care of her elderly, but not for Ryan and his ilk, who admire Ayn Rand's "The Virtue of Selfishness".  But, we must adhere to the forum's bylaws about staying away from some topics, so I will add "Re-fi for Hi-Fi!".