Ponzi Schemes require using the money from those who join later to pay back those who joined earlier along with the huge profits they were promised. It can continue as long as the new arrivals supply enough funds to keep those in the scheme happy....

....workers were encouraged (or forced) into becoming investors to supply the needs of their old age. Participation in the stock market used to be in the 10-15% range, but the creation of IRA's and 401K's has pushed this number to over 50%. This money flows into the financial sector every month and provides the fresh blood that a Ponzi scheme needs....

....firms were encouraged (bribed by tax breaks) to shift their pension funds from bonds and other secure investments into the stock market and other risky activities....

....So much money has to go somewhere and since there are a limited number of stocks (and corporate bonds) issued there is competition to hold them. When there are many buyers and fewer sellers you get price inflation....

....In the past decade or so the influx of money into the stock market from investors has slowed because many more people were already in the system.... Fortunately for the financial sector, the shift to globalization occurred at the same time and the funds available expanded to include much of the rest of the world.

Now the financial markets had infusions of cash from China, Japan and elsewhere to buoy them up and the party continued for almost another decade...

The stuff isn't much more complicated than that! I was describing something like that two years ago.

This Ponzi trap of debt/monetary expansions is not a new phenomenon for the civilization: it probably regularly occurs through centuries, since Babylon times. The humanity never learns... or does it? Could this trap be the most valuable secret of some behind-the-curtains deciders?