The phrase jumping the shark is an overlooked but concise expression to say something was once great, but is no longer. It refers to an episode of Happy Days where Fonzie jumped a caged shark whilst wearing water skis. Fans of the show agree that that episode was the peak of the series, and afterwards the series was never quite what it was before. There’s even neat web site dedicated to tracking people’s opinions about what exact season and episode, where applicable, a particular TV show “jumped the shark”.

What I propose is we apply this expression to other things besides TV shows. For example:
1) The federal government. My vote is that US Federal government jumped the shark back in 1913. That’s when the Federal Reserve and the Income Tax Act rolled out. One led to inflation, the other led to taxes. That’s jumping the shark and being attacked by it at the same time.

2) Politics in general. They say politics is the art of the possible. Perhaps that was true in Aristotle’s day. That was before the creation of the trial lawyer.

3) Automobiles. They’ve jumped the shark. Every year they cost substantially more, but they seem to be less durable and more complicated to fix.

4) The state of New Jersey. That’s a tough one. Critics say it jumped the shark on day one. I disagree. Any state that’s home to Tony Soprano, is a good enough for me. By the way, I love the Mafia too.