History has shown over and over again that crisis events (ie. war, calamities, financial meltdowns) have precipitated draconian measures from government that benefit certain groups at expense of the people.

One of the greatest examples of this is Abraham Lincoln's provocation of the Southern States to fire on Fort Sumter which precipitated the civil war. President Lincoln used the event to galvanize the people of the Northern States against the Southern States. In the end, the cost of the preservation of the "union" was 650,000 lives, suspension of habeas corpus, and the incarceration of some 10,000 Northerners for unacceptable speech. Most importantly, as far as Lincoln was concerned the war prevented the lawful secession of the Southern States and therefore helped maintain prohibitive tariffs that benefited northern corporations at the expense of southern agriculture.

Today, not surprising the governments of the world have now used this current financial crisis to bailout speculators, nationalize banks, and further legitimize central banking institutions which caused the crisis in the first place. With these measures we now have more fascism (ie. amalgamation of the government and corporations) than ever before.