According to this measure, the USA is almost finished as a nation

You won't believe how bad it's gotten.

It's a sign of the end times for our government as lawyers and special interests have overwatched the publication of 81,405 pages of new laws in the Federal Register. The 81,000 pages marks a new record over last year's 77,687 pages.

LOS ANGELES, CA (California Network) - In all, a total of 3,378 new laws, most several pages long, added to the law of the United States. The increasing complexity of our legal environment is a sign of the end times for America.

The legal code has become so byzantine that not even Supreme Court justices or legal experts can remember all of it. Nobody can even read all of it. Packed with special exceptions, only the special interest lobbyists know their little bit, designed to exempt and permit all kinds of chicanery, mostly at the hands of big business.

The word byzantine, used to describe the U.S. legal code, comes from the Byzantine Empire, which eventually became so legally complex that very little could actually be accomplished, and corruption was rife.

Over time, systems become increasingly complex as people attempt to correct minor aberrations and close loopholes. But in so doing, they add complexity and subjectivity. The more we fix, the more damage we do, especially at the hands of lawyers and lobbyists who actually write most of the text of these laws. Add legislators who do not bother to read the laws and we have a perfect storm where the laws apply only to those who don't know, and those who know, know enough to avoid compliance and prosecution.

In addition to the 3,378 new laws, President Obama signed 29 executive orders and 31 executive memorandums, which have the same effect as law, since they direct how existing law should be enforced. 

Eventually, the legal code will reach a point of complexity that nothing will be accomplished either politically or privately. The gears of our national political engine will finally grind to a halt, and paralysis will prevent us from taking action in an emergency.

Then comes the reboot.

There are currently no viable plans to slow, stop or reverse the crisis.