Ain't that the truth, brother. There are so many different developments over the years and decades to point to that help explain how we got into this mess. Ultimately, the "solution" to this situation is a political one but since we're not a political discussion group, I'll leave it at that. Unfortunately, political change on that scale is not something readily achieved through one person's effort, so it's hard to truly "prepare" for it, the way we individually prepare for disasters and such.

I still dread the possibility one day when we all suddenly realize (some say we did, last fall) that investing in financial markets like the stocks and bonds we buy in our 401K's were just another long-lasting bubble or Ponzi scheme after all. Just look to Japan's stock market as a real life example of what is possible. Personally, I'm so disgusted with the financial system that I have stopped putting money into my mutual funds since last year while I reassess what to do, not that I have much left over these days for retirement savings anyway.