The protests will begin in earnest when the Republicans get elected and learn they can't make the recession go away either. Yes, Mr Perry is going to be our next President, and he will probably have a Congressional majority to rubber-stamp all he wants. Nothing will change, and he will just blame Obama and Clinton.

Our economic problems are systemic, not amenable to correction by a policy fix. Nobody, left or right, upper, lower or middle class, wants to hear that, but that's the way it is.

All the Democrats can do is borrow money and prevent catastrophe among the poor (no food riots on their watch), and all the Republicans can do is cut taxes, cut spending and boost corporate welfare to make sure that the elites aren't too inconvenienced by the general unpleasantness.

The people in the middle who do the work and pay the bills will simply decline in numbers until they no longer matter. And by the time they figure out what's really happening, they're going to be pissed. But by then it will be too late.

Fasten your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy ride.