Our politicians are mostly too incompetent to do much damage. More often than not when they get elected they have too slim a margin so they can't get much approved by both the lower and upper house. This ultimately means not much changes, but you have a point, we do have a bunch of clowns running the show, but our clowns have very little impact for the most part. I am sure we have a number of scumbags in office that or totally corrupt, and I think it has been getting worse as our population gets bigger.
As for only the rich getting a say, I think our last election showed people do have a say as people voted against the major parties causing independents and minor greens party to have the balance of power. Will this change the long term outlook, I doubt it since as I have already noted, our politicians are "mostly harmless".
I applaud the recent protests across the world against the rich having too much say, I don't know if it will have an impact but I hope it does. Every government has its problems and I think corruption is a world wide problem, thus the protests have been world wide.
Examples of silly governments: You have crazy government agencies making silly rules where everyone has to be strip searched for the greater good, we have a silly government that doesn't realise an internet filter will not work. We all have lawyers trying to sue everyone and make lots of money through stupid software patents. We all have company CEOs that are legally required to put shareholders first. What about the impact they have on people and the environment?
As for our country being in trouble, I think that we should be impacted further with all the turmoil going on around the world. The constant up and down of the markets is keeping a lid on our reactionary treasury which is good, but we have a big problem with small businesses losing out while people put everything into savings. Also Internet sales are helping to kill the local shops. All this means is less jobs, and lower advertised wages. So yes we are impacted. I think eventually we will have another recession, but most of what happens here is due to external forces rather than local.
The important thing is when we have a recession, we can at least expect the government to try to help us find work and provide us with enough money to live. We may lose our home and most of our belongings in a worst case scenario but medical care is not withdrawn the moment you lose your job or have no money. I was feeling rather sorry for Americans when the Republicans rejected the idea of a medicare like service for your population, they would rather have more money and lower taxes for the rich. Not everyone who is unemployed is there because they want handouts. To me medical assistance is something all people should be able to access, especially in a wealthy society. A healthy population is in a better position to contribute towards society.