This quote has been tossed around for a while, not sure who actually put it out there first:
A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the majority discovers it can vote itself largess out of the public treasury.
Over the past 30 or so years, the financial sector has abandoned it's traditional role (facilitating business investment) and done it's best to extract money from the lower and middle classes. When the bubble burst and disposable income dried up, it has moved to raiding saved wealth in the form of retirement accounts and property, and ultimately the collective savings account of the people. The above quote has been proven false, a small minority now has the keys to the Treasury. We payed them voluntarily, then indirectly, and now at the point of a gun.