Historic lack of investment in infrastructure and other necessities obviously sets the stage, but climate change acts as a catalyst. You’re absolutely right that the underlying problem is lack of resilience, and inability to deal with unexpected problems. The reason I highlight climate change is because it ensures that there will be a constant crisis going forward. Every megafire, tornado, or a flood translates into billions of dollars in infrastructure damage, and thousands or even millions of displaced people. At this point, it’s not even clear how US will be able to recover from the effects of the pandemic.
It’s also worth noting that the effects of the collapse are not evenly distributed. While many working class people experience significant effects personally, nothing has really changed for the policy makers. This creates a lag between problems occurring and the leadership becoming aware of them. Thus things have to degrade significantly before people in power become aware of the severity of the problem and the need to act.
The further along collapse of the empire progresses the more difficult it becomes to arrest it. Halting and reversing current trends requires honestly acknowledging root causes of the problems in order to take corrective action. However, existing political climate precludes this from happening.
So, I definitely think that US collapse is locked in at this point, and there is nothing that can be done to reverse it. The real question is how things will play out. US could descend into civil unrest, there could be a civil war, states could secede, and so on. It’s an incredibly volatile situation, and it’s hard to predict how it will play out.
Indeed, although being in Canada I’m somewhat concerned how things will turn out here when the inevitable happens. On the bright side, I did start learning Chinese this year, so hopefully can immigrate to China at some point before everything falls apart here. :)
Historic lack of investment in infrastructure and other necessities obviously sets the stage, but climate change acts as a catalyst. You’re absolutely right that the underlying problem is lack of resilience, and inability to deal with unexpected problems. The reason I highlight climate change is because it ensures that there will be a constant crisis going forward. Every megafire, tornado, or a flood translates into billions of dollars in infrastructure damage, and thousands or even millions of displaced people. At this point, it’s not even clear how US will be able to recover from the effects of the pandemic.
It’s also worth noting that the effects of the collapse are not evenly distributed. While many working class people experience significant effects personally, nothing has really changed for the policy makers. This creates a lag between problems occurring and the leadership becoming aware of them. Thus things have to degrade significantly before people in power become aware of the severity of the problem and the need to act.
The further along collapse of the empire progresses the more difficult it becomes to arrest it. Halting and reversing current trends requires honestly acknowledging root causes of the problems in order to take corrective action. However, existing political climate precludes this from happening.
So, I definitely think that US collapse is locked in at this point, and there is nothing that can be done to reverse it. The real question is how things will play out. US could descend into civil unrest, there could be a civil war, states could secede, and so on. It’s an incredibly volatile situation, and it’s hard to predict how it will play out.
Yes fully agree. Its gonna be interesting to watch, I will stock up on popcorn.
Indeed, although being in Canada I’m somewhat concerned how things will turn out here when the inevitable happens. On the bright side, I did start learning Chinese this year, so hopefully can immigrate to China at some point before everything falls apart here. :)