Jumping in at the fourth page without reading the entire thread....
Whenever austerity to comes to America and a large segment of the population moves from being disenchanted to openly hostile because they aren't getting a job, a place to live or a steady supply of essentials (food, water, basic consumables).
If an army marches on its stomach, that's doubly true for a population. People won't riot over their 401Ks, they'll riot went the rule law is widely disrespected from the top to the bottom of a society (it already is in many ways), add to this the magic ingredient of hunger and then we get civil unrest.
If the Teabaggers get into office, they'll be going after food stamps. How dare people have food on their tables! If they just had decided not to be poor and to find all those magical jobs that are just a little too elusive... then they'd be able to eat with their own money!