It’s gotten to the point where the majority of Americans are either too stupid, too corrupt, or kept way too busy. There is no chance of recovering from this.
The only thing you forgot was - too arrogant to believe the US could be brought to its knees. Certainly the welfare system has contributed massively to our current crisis (entitled to be cared for by the government), our schools do not teach anything but mush, and those of us who care are working 2 and 3 jobs to stay afloat.
But I disagree that there is no chance of recovery. The pressure and strain of multiple jobs, massive personal debt, oppressive taxation, lessons never learned in school, and general apathy are unsustainable. Something will give.
It seems to me we have two choices: either become Marxist as the article suggests, or in the face of a social and financial meltdown, we could possibly pull ourselves out of the morass and become a productive nation once more.
The chances of the latter happening are indeed slim, and many would suffer terrible privation at least initially. But Americans have done it before, and we can do it again IFF sufficiently motivated.
Motivation is the key. What would motivate Americans to remove corrupt politicians from office? What outrage would sufficiently spur us to move our well-larded behinds from our comfy recliners and turn off the TV?