Former IMF chief Simon Johnson's Atlantic Monthly article, The Quiet Coup is not exactly subtle about what is happening to the United States:

The crash has laid bare many unpleasant truths about the United States. One of the most alarming, says a former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, is that the finance industry has effectively captured our government—a state of affairs that more typically describes emerging markets, and is at the center of many emerging-market crises. If the IMF’s staff could speak freely about the U.S., it would tell us what it tells all countries in this situation: recovery will fail unless we break the financial oligarchy that is blocking essential reform. And if we are to prevent a true depression, we’re running out of time.

You must read the entire article. Johnson echos many of the sentiments expressed on this blog and also goes through the recent history of other economic crises as well as emerging markets. He also describes how Wall Street amassed so much power in the United States. Implied is we do indeed have financial oligarchs running the nation....right into the ground.