See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ix1fpndaqX4&feature=player_embedded  and my solidarity site w/ occupylosangeles (http://www.peterthottam.com).  Analysts Nouriel Roubini, Harry Dent, and John Mauldin are predicting a Dow Jones Industrial Average as low as 5,000. The 2007-2011 mortgage defaults in U.S. and European housing have resulted in Trillions in asset write-offs in U.S. banks' debt assets. The asset liquidations have been truly unprecedented and destroyed any real equity in most of the world's major banks. The underlying detioration -- without addressing any of the underlying structural & labor/capital problems -- are far worse than 1929-33. The U.S. government's balance sheet has been used -- primarily via faux MIC war spending (Iraq/Afghanistan/Libya/Pakistan, etc.) and "too big to fail" bailout funds -- to stimulate aggregate demand and to bailout the top "1%" and -- to an extent -- the top 5%. The top 1% and their lackeys have been bailed out by unprecedented leveraging of the public balance sheet and by the creation of trillions of dollars in growing liabilities that taxpayers & consumers will have to eventually pay for.

Future U.S. taxpayers & a corporate subservient public sector have rescued the Fortune 500 via vesting "too big too fail" banks with government backed interest rate payment streams via explosive growth in public sector debt that they have purchased (guaranted by the U.S. govt/U.S. taxpayers). The ponzi-scheme U.S. economy now has doubled down its stakes via an incredible $122 TRILLION in fully aggregated cumulative public & private sector debt (an unprecedented 7 times GDP). Get this-->: In 1946, the US financial sector owed $3 billion of debt, or 1.35% of GDP. By 2009 this increased to $15.6 trillion, or 109.5% of GDP. (See the IOUSA video at the top of this column.)

This has been driven by New York & London money center banks' 2001 -2011 multi-trillion dollar buildout of a global military-industrial-congressional complex via a 5 TRILLION DOLLAR financing of foreign wars in return for essentially non-productive jobs (USA) & for dollar support as the global currency of last resort (i.e. of the global policeman/hegemon). It has also been enabled by a complicit Fed's faux enabling of public sector demand that has monetized a phantom stream of illusory earnings for all sectors of the economy, especially a partial reflation of the prior "new economy" bubble.

However, China's property bubble & overbuilding now rivals even Dubai's -- except it is on a far far greater scale. A devastating Chinese real estate implosion & parallel U.S. stock market crash is now inevitable. This will likely occur sometime between Oct 2011 and April 2012. Already, markets are starting to cave in New York and Hong Kong.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, America's U-6 rate, i.e. its real unemployment rate, is now somewhere between 23% to 25%. China's #s are comparable and probably closer to 30%. 1 out of 6 Americans is now officially on food stamps, SSI or General Relief. 50 million+ are in poverty and the middle class is rapidly shrinking.Wealth has become incredibly concentrated with the top 1% owning 42% of the nation's wealth and 56% of its financial assets. (See also Domhoff, part I and part 2) Banker controlled corporate media is now primarily a cesspool of ongoing lies & distractions. Use the below-left links to share this site & its links with others with unprecedented fragmentation & entertainment driven social engineering. Global events are being spun continously by establishment linked talking heads without any attempt to provide historical perspective or context (U.S./UK military & empire support of proxy & client states) & underlying class realities.