signs we're on the brink

I'm hoping that the HotCopper community may be able to assist me in putting together a list of things (signs we're on the brink of economic collapse) for some research I'm compiling. Essentially I'm wanting to creat as big a list as possible of signs things aren't quite right in your observations.

I'll start things off with two I think are obvious ones;

1. State Governments doing nothing about problem gambling (poker machines etc) because of the cash flow generated by them (at the expense of a great many I might add),

2. Local Governments that now rely very heavily of the revenue that is generated by parking fines. Seems ludicrous that the very members of the same community are fined (and heavily in many cases) by those running it. Where's the community spirit.

I haven't elaborated on these for obvious reasons but feel free to do so and I look forward to your contributions.

TIA

Paper Tiger