My point is simply that the system is not delivering jack shit anymore...unless you are quite rich.
[WS:] I think you are quite mistaken on this - it is delivering quite a bit to every social stratum. This becomes quite obvious when you start traveling around the world.
The living standards of the middle and lower-middle (working) class are still quite high by international standards, except perhaps a few countries in Western Europe. The material living standards of the underclass are much, much higher than those of underclass elsewhere - not just Africa, but all of Asia, most of Eastern Europe, and South America. The same pertains not just to bread but to the circuses as well.
In addition to offering one of the highest material standards of living in the world to people of all social classes, the US offers a very important benefit that few other countries are in a position to offer - a sense of being on an ass kicking team. Being a part of the biggest and meanest gang on the block provides a very important emotional gratification to many people, probably more important than material payoffs - and the US plays to those sentiments rather well.
This, btw, reminds me of an old Russian joke: A hare walks through the woods and finds a bottle of vodka that someone lost. He smiles and says, "Wow, we will have a little party here." A red fox heard that poked her (foxes are often female in Slavic folk tales) through the bushes, saw the vodka and the hare and said "Wow, we have vodka, we have food, we will a party here. A wolf heard that, poked his head from the bushes, saw the vodka, the hare, and the red fox, and said "Wow, there is vodka, there is food, there is a redhead slut, we will have quite a party." A bear heard that, poked his head from the bushes, looked at the scene and said "Wow, there is vodka, there is food, there is a redhead slut, and there is someone to kick his ass, we will have a really great party here."
The moral of this story is that bread, circuses, and being able to kick ass travel a really long way in keeping most folk happy. The US system is yet to fail to provide all these ingredients in abundant supply.
Wojtek