Well said.
A question: when US corps talk about profits, how much (if any) is due to current stock market bubble? Are returns or expected returns from equity counted in this arithmetic? I'm not doubting that profits have gone up, but I'm wondering how much is due to financial returns, how much from productivity growth (value added/ hour) in manufacturing.
Christian
P.S. I wouldn't put my marbles in the "crisis" basket right now, since from the way you describe W's definition of it, it seems pretty vague. Does it start as a currency crisis? U.S. stock market bubble bursting? A solvency crisis in Southeast Asia? Each of these scenarios could make the contours of a crisis different. And then, there's what Michael said: a hyptertrophy of the welfare state? Where?