What did we get for our money?

During the Go-Go 80s, Tech Stock 90s and Housing Boom aught's, we were periodically treated to crowing in some corner of the media industrial complex how this golden age had created so many millionaires or billionaires, God bless us every one. These newly minted Croesuses (Croesi?) were harbingers of the success that awaited us all in our new, never gonna be a recession, powerball economy. If we believed fervently enough, we too would be rich beyond compare by day-trading, taking our retail startup online or flipping houses.

Well maybe next time.

We may not get to live out this wealth fantasy, but we get to pay for it. The elect who did in fact amass such spectacular fortunes went on M&A sprees across the economy, buying viable if “underperforming” companies with debt, looting the pension funds, sending the productive facilities overseas, repackaging the the remains and walking away with the excess. They then created a wondrous casino on Wall Street to gamble their new found blessings on CDO's backstopped with CDS's that were never meant to be used. All good fun until somebody loses... everything. Now we are left with a bill for this mischief pegged at $2.5 trillion maybe up to 7 or 8. If the dollar loses reserve currency status, and we had to pony up with real money, the final bill could be incalculably higher.