<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/2d00d3d6-d2c4-4ecd-938f-6e95b0d6e9ef/0D52BC05-FA93-4CB3-B27B-B4BE5F5D3A97/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com/johnrobb/2009/09/no-rising-tide.html" href="http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com/johnrobb/2009/09/no-rising-tide.html" style="font-size: 11px;">globalguerrillas.typepad.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com/johnrobb/2009/09/no-rising-tide.html"><H3 class="entry-header">Nice depiction of a system in decline</H3> <DIV class="entry-content"> <DIV class="entry-body"> <P></P><P> <A href="http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451576d69e20120a5ab1936970c-pi"><IMG border="0" title="Productivity_wages_graph" src="http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451576d69e20120a5ab1936970c-800wi" class="at-xid-6a00d83451576d69e20120a5ab1936970c image-full" alt="Productivity_wages_graph" /></A></P><P>The implications of this chart are staggering....</P></DIV></DIV></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com/johnrobb/2009/09/no-rising-tide.html">There is a strong line of reasoning that the USSR collapsed when the nomenklatura (bureaucratic elites, the most important people in a government run economy) decided to work against the state.  In short, the non-financial benefits of being in the bureaucracy were in decline as attempts were made to reform the Soviet system.  So, when a window of opportunity arrived (the attempt to privatize sectors of the economy to improve economic performance), they jumped at it.  A trickle of privatization turned into a flood as the nomenklatura looted the state of anything/everything of value.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com/johnrobb/2009/09/no-rising-tide.html">How the mechanism that collapsed the USSR (per the above) applies to the US has yet to be seen.  But, as the chart above shows us, something very, very wrong is in motion.   It goes beyond Republican/Democrat, conservative/liberal, public/private, and all of the common methods of division or debate.  It's systemic.</blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/0D52BC05-FA93-4CB3-B27B-B4BE5F5D3A97/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content6.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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