More than anything, this would show the federal government simply is not omnipotent as has been assumed since the Great Depression; it has just been coasting for decades on raw dollar imperialism, and then when that ran out, a series of macro-financial scams to keep the status quo going and politicians in their cozy dynastic tenures.The US is not so terribly different in this regard from the old USSR. The Soviets coasted for almost half a century on the assets looted from Eastern Europe. When those ran out and Reagan/JohnPaul/Thatcher pushed, the whole thing collapsed. Now our government has been coasting on the assets it has stolen by deflation and regulation from its own citizens and from the rest of the world and has run out of assets. The feet are still running but the cliff edge has been passed and China and Iran and the kenyan are pushing.
Deflation is a consequence of increased productivity. Every economic sector in America has been subjected to intense deflationary pressures for the last 20+ years as computerization, roboticization, automation and mechanization proceed.
How does improved productivity "steal"?