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According to a report on NPR, as of 2010, the top 1% control 90% of the wealth. That lopsided distribution of wealth has never before existed in history, not even among the Roman Emperors, or the absolute monarchs of the middle ages. There is a good side to the lopsided distribution of wealth; it will reduce the amount of conspicuous consumption in the middle class, force them to live within their means and practice more sustainable lifestyles. The upper classes are shrinking, too, as fewer and fewer super rich corner all the wealth, and there is a limit to how much even they can spend. When wealth is measured in the billions, however, it translates into power. The amount of guns in Americans' hands and their tendency to use them; they will be used against each other, rather than against the power elite. There will be no revolution like in Egypt or Tunesia, it will be more like Libya. The super rich will be well barricaded, and have the military's WMD on their side. On an another note, the American Midwest is littered with over 20 similar reactors to the ones in Sendai. Here's another alarmist angle to consider... The 1811 and 1812 New Madrid earthquakes were the most powerful ever to impact the United States: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1812_New_Madrid_earthquake They were so intense that they completely changed the landscape and made the Mighty Mississippi run backwards. That was in a time when there were very few buildings over one story, never mind cities with large populations and tall skyscrapers. If a massive earthquake were to hit in the New Madrid Fault Zone now, the United States, as we know it today, would cease to exist. Imagine 50 Katrina level events all happening at once, in the space of 15 minutes, with 20 nuclear reactors in the fault zone. The very same god fearing, decent, hard-working, salt of the Earth, heartland American red necks, who have been making smug comments about The Big One hitting LA, may want to temper those remarks. If the New Madrid fault blows, then they can kiss their red, white and blue, all American ass, goodbye since there will be no infrastructure left. Even the mega-rich, with all their WMD and emergency survival caches won't be able to survive. The US is littered with outdated plutonium processing nuclear reactors, so if there's a major event, like an asteroid impact, or the Yellowstone Super volcano: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellowstone_Caldera the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs will look like firecrackers... We can blame all this on the politicians, plutocrats and lobbyists, but the bottom line is we brought it on ourselves by burying our heads in the sand... Jon Mann ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
