Excellent article (WORLD | Repeated exposure | Andrée Seu Peterson | June 14, 2014) drawing attention to the process that America is prey to.

30   I went past the field of the sluggard, past the vineyard of the man who lacks judgment;  31   thorns had come up everywhere, the ground was covered with weeds, and the stone wall was in ruins. 32   I applied my heart to what I observed and learned a lesson from what I saw: 33   A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest— 34   and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man.

Pr 24:30–34