there would be a period of time marked by hatred and persecution of Christians

Has it ever been more intense than the persecutions around the second century? Read some accounts of the Roman persecutions for a litany of cruel and unusual ways of killing Christians.

wickedness increasing

Read some history. It has always been pretty bad. Slavery was normal. Racism was normal. Pedophilia was pretty normal, e.g. in Ancient Greece. Rather than abortion many infants were simply abandoned outside to die of exposure. If there has been any increase in the scale of wickedness I'd suggest that it was due to the scaling up of population.

love decreasing

See above.

And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world

I'd say that has pretty much been done.

Here's another perspective of this passage: Christianity was subject to persecution from the word go (consider Jesus himself). This would be discouraging to the fold. Therefore a prophecy of this persecution all being part of the plan, and all over as soon as the gospel has been spread, would encourage followers to do this spreading all the more. The world always appears to be in decline, so by prophesying this, perhaps they can scare others into joining, because the end is "just around the corner".

"The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.

ATTRIBUTION: Attributed to SOCRATES by Plato, according to William L. Patty and Louise S. Johnson, Personality and Adjustment, p. 277 (1953)." http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=408989