If you have not yet read Why Our Central Planners Are Breeding Failure available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.

In Part 1, we examined a variety of reasons why the apparent success of Keynesian monetary and fiscal policy may be transitional and brief rather than permanent.

Here in Part 2, we delve into the six other dynamics that make success destabilizing.

Rising Inequality—Perceived and Real

The highly touted “recovery” has been highly uneven in its distribution. The benefits of rising income and wealth have flowed disproportionately to the top 5%, 1% and even 1/10^th of 1%.  Those who didn't make it onto the limited-seating Recovery Bus feel the gap between the prospects and wealth of the top tier and their own wealth and prospects widening. Indeed, psychological studies find that we assess our wealth and social position not by our actual material prosperity, but by the narrowing or widening of the perceived wealth gap with our peers.

This is precisely the situation in the U.S. and China. Both economies are supposedly expanding smartly, but the gains are concentrated in a relative few hands; the Rising Prosperity Bus has few seats.  The vast majority perceive themselves as being left behind, and that is highly…