James Howard Kunstler is a good example of some very sceptical American thinking – http://kunstler.com/blog/2011/01/forecast-2011—gird-your-loins-for-lower-living-standards.html#more
The basics are that most of what we call banking is a scam, any recovery is just a re-elaboration of the scam, most of what we call ‘the economy’ is about pointless crap and we’d be better off having lives rather than globalism. Scary reading, a bit like Banksidebabble or the better ‘evil poor – police farce’ stories on Gadget writ large in the idiot global economy. Britain is cast as a European and Middle Eastern banking centre with little other economic activity. China is probably being screwed by an even more corrupt banking system than ours – one without even minimal scrutiny, building empty cities that may put Ireland’s ‘Ghost Towns’ in minimalist perspective.
Kunstler is worth a bit of a read. The question is what might make us wake up to reality. We have a legitimation crisis, something done to death in academe as ‘postmodernism’ for 30 years. He suggests the moment may come through an Indian war against Pakistan.
Allcoppedout's Blog 
Pingback: Global Grumpy? (via Allcoppedout's Blog) | THE BANKSIDE BABBLE
Forget living standards, I’d be happy if the system wouldn’t enslave people, taking away their time as well and keeping them poorer still, only to convert their output into paper money collecting among 10% of the population, who then go on to appropriate the country – product, services, resources and environment – and raising prices at will, because they can, because it is legal and socially approved ( duly agreed, ain’t it ! ), and because it is politically so useful and expedient.
And the cycle repeats with more enslaving environment… …
Money in his sense probably never ‘dirties’ itself with anything real.
Pingback: 3G Babbles: Grumpy Goes Global? | THE BANKSIDE BABBLE
“He suggests the moment may come through an Indian war against Pakistan.”
Nope. It’ll be when the US economy collapses, or something happens with China.