Your flame is pointed in the wrong direction!
1. Who the hell cares if some high-power bokerage shaved a few cents off the cost of a big transaction. Is that going to affect the unemployemnt rate or anything that you ranted on about? NO! If anything, some of those transactions actually made some money for some auto-workers retirement funds. Great!
2. Regarding your rant. How does someone making large amounts of money equate to kicking the poor? There is no mandate that rich people who use their wealth, political power, and intellegence to make more money are evil. In fact there are many who try to do good for their community. Of course their are some that abuse that power as well. The modern age has made educated people much more able to reap the benefits of that education.
3. Re: great empires fall. It's not just the elite that dont give a fuck about the poor. The poor dont give a fuck either. Just look at the voter regestration percentages. Only 57% of voters regestered in 2012 in the USA. Almost half of americans dont even care enough to decide their own fate. "Whateva" should be their motto. Reading the propositions and the candidate bios is just too much work! Its easier to just collect my unemployment check. Further proof: after 2008 financial crisis, what luxury did americans give up last? Their cable TV. Comcast shares went down, but their customer base just kept going up. Hey americans want their MTV. And that shit is expensive! Some plans rival a new car payment. -Walmart is another good example. Walmart did not brainwash people into buying their products. People flocked there because all people care about is me me me and the biggest TV they can afford on their credit limit. They didnt care if the as-seen-on-tv products really work, only bthat they saved $10!. They dont care if their imported vegetables were grown according to EPA standards cause they are only 99cents a pound!.
4. So yeah, the USA is in a downward trend, but thats to be expected, normal, and is even good in some respects. We made a ton of money by innovating, engineering factories and having a cheap labor force. We amassed a huge amount of money and have the luxury of buying many imported goods that no one else has access too. Now our currency is trading high so it makes it imposible to compete on manufactured goods. That is a great opportunity for other countries. Yeah some trade tarriffs wouyld have been nice to slow the decline but hey people want their cheap toaster, so everyone welcomed the 'free trade agreements'. yay. But things will normallize eventually as other countries become wealthy and start buying some of our stuff. Yeah it will suck for amny people but there is still a ton of opportunity in the US. It is still one of the best for human rights, infrastructure, environmental protection, and healthcare. I love this country and we should try to help each other personally, financially, or politically. Many ways to do each that accomplish more than raging about the rich.