Now this is worrisome:

Perhaps even more important than job-creation efforts is the threat of diminished trust among Americans—in each other, in those responsible for large public and private institutions, and in their own ability to get ahead by investing their talent and resources. While the U.S. has strong scores on social capital measures such as reliance on others, religious engagement, and community involvement, it turns in mediocre scores on social trust overall. In other words, Americans trust those with whom they interact on a daily basis, but their level of trust for people they do not personally know is low

Why? Here’s some reading for you.

The Billy Joel is for GorT & Mrs. GorT.

Update:

Or you can read this:

Most historians agree that earthquakes, droughts, or barbarians did not unravel classical Athens or imperial Rome.

More likely the social contract between the elite and the more ordinary citizens finally began breaking apart—and with it the trust necessary for a society’s collective investment and the payment of taxes. Then civilization itself begins to unwind.

Confucius, Œc. Vol.

Don’t ask impertinent questions like that jackass Adept Lu.