Yes, it is going to spread to this country.

The problem in the UK is that there are too many people. No, I don't mean that in some kind of Malthusian over-population type scenario, but simply that there are more people there than there is a need for. There are not enough jobs, not enough places for them. There is nothing for them to do, no future, nothing to look forward to. The youth know this, they are angry, the older know it and they are discouraged, and they know their children will never amount to anything in that society. It's not a problem unique to Great Britain, although they have had the problem for a half-century now, it is part of the price they paid for the war. The problem is now worldwide, more a result of industrialization and trade and business patterns, not any particular political or social issues. But that is the problem. These are surplus people. And that is not their fault. Look at the successful societies on this planet, mostly in Asia, the ones that are growing and improving. They see a future.

You can feed these surplus people, supply them with social services and welfare, but they know there is no place for them in our society, they have no stake in it. In the past, people like this could always hope for the future, that their children would inherit a new and more prosperous world and life, now they know better. That is why they are angry and that is why they are furious.

You must understand that I'm not singing the same old liberal blues here about the 'poor, oppressed masses'. The rioters are just that, thugs, criminals, troublemakers. The authorities are justified in restoring order and rounding them up, throwing them in gaol. But there will always be more to replace the ones you incarcerate. The question is, why are there so many of them, why now, why is this unrest simmering under the surface so that the slightest spark can set it off and provoke a wave of senseless crime and violence with no political goal or program? This is not a revolution in the classic sense, an attempt to overthrow or reform a system. It is leaderless chaos, a total breakdown of the social order, nihilism. But that does not mean it has no cause, no underlying reason. Neither is it racially or socially or class-connected, although the underdogs will always be over-represented among the dispossessed. They always are. This is what happens when a society reorganizes itself and finally settles down to a new order that simply does not include everyone in it.

The same will happen here. America for all its wealth, has always promised more than it can possibly deliver. In the past, there was always hope because there was freedom, opportunity, and a vast empty continent to expand into. Then there was an industrial revolution thirsty for workers, and then after the first hint of collapse, the Depression, the end of World War II brought a time of unprecedented growth and prosperity. Even the Cold War was a challenge, of sorts. The result was always a momentum of growth, a new world just around the corner that would be bigger and better, and it always came, just in time.

But I think people are now sensing that this time it will be different. And people who always knew that no matter how bad things were they would always get better, have lost that faith. America is starting to realize that it will not be better for its children, that we have already seen the best of times. And when they finally get this through their heads, they will be ready to take it to the streets. Or their children will.

Is there anything we can do to stop it? Yes. We must seek a future where everyone will have an opportunity, not just a job, but a way to invest in one's own life in a dream for the future for the sake of their children. We did it before. Many times. We have conquered a continent, built an empire, freed the slaves (or fought to keep them!), fought wars, fashioned a great prosperity for the working poor and the middle classes, we need something like that. At one time I thought the exploration of the solar system would be it, but it appears I was mistaken. But we need to do something that involves us all in a great adventure, a great task.

People will work, if given half a chance. They will work at brutal, soul-killing tasks if they can see a point to it, for themselves or for their children. But if you deny them the means to better themselves, if you merely provide make-work and welfare for them, or bread and circuses, if you tell them they are not worthy of it, that they are not needed in YOUR society, they will rise up and destroy you. They helped build this world too, and they are entitled to a piece of it. You cannot pretend these people do not exist just because you don't need them any more.