As the economic (and especially monetary) paradigm we've been operating under for the last few hundred years once again tears itself apart, the measures undertaken to keep the whole thing together can't help but become ever more extreme - and absurd, really.

Except this negative income is part of an attempt to make cash go away, it isn't a "natural reaction" to things, it's a result of people meddling in things to "improve" the economy in false ways.

Maybe unleashing capital globally in the manner we've seen since the 80s wasn't such a smart move, after all.

False, having a global economy connects economies, has gone a long way towards eradicating poverty, and has raised standards of wealth across the world.

Reducing taxes on the rich, allowing super PACS, and so on, are what we shouldn't have done in the 80's.

the option clearly seems to be on the table as far as I can tell from following the daily news.

Except it really isn't, thanks to that globalization, nations not only fear nuclear war, but cutting themselves off from the world cripples their economies. Look at what has happened to Russia.