Placing the USA on a Collapse Continuum

A story not many people will like as it sheds negative light on pretty much both political parties as their policies have driven us to bankruptcy and a slow collapse. We are currently bordering / creeping into stage 2 now.

Kind of a toss up between meltdown and survival for this one. I would recommend preparing as it appears there is no chance for halting what is to come. It will get worse before it gets better.

www.zerohedge.com...
www.unz.com...

And that will put paid to the entire US adventure in the Middle East since 9/11: $4,704,439,588,308 has been squandered, to be precise, or $14,444 for every man, woman and child in the US.

At this point it is important to explain what exactly a “final collapse” looks like. Some people are under the very mistaken assumption that a collapsed society or country looks like a Mad Max world. This is not so. The Ukraine has been a failed state for several years already, but it still exists on the map. People live there, work, most people still have electricity (albeit not 24/7), a government exists, and, at least officially, law and order is maintained. This kind of collapsed society can go on for years, maybe decades, but it is in a state of collapse nonetheless, as it has reached all the 5 Stages of Collapse as defined by Dmitry Orlov in his seminal book “The Five Stages of Collapse: Survivors’ Toolkit” where he mentions the following 5 stages of collapse:

Stage 1: Financial collapse. Faith in “business as usual” is lost.
Stage 2: Commercial collapse. Faith that “the market shall provide” is lost.
Stage 3: Political collapse. Faith that “the government will take care of you” is lost.
Stage 4: Social collapse. Faith that “your people will take care of you” is lost.
Stage 5: Cultural collapse. Faith in “the goodness of humanity” is lost.

a reply to: infolurker

Wow, that is pretty impressive in terms of an analysis and you can see progress going forward on all 5 or the listed stages.

Although, thinking about it, it looks to me like we are seeing more progress on the Political, Social and Cultural collapse elements.

That said, there's no denying the kill potential of the Debt bomb and I saw a show the other day that claimed that something like 25% of transactions that had once been the exclusive province of the Dollar as the trade currency are now being conducted on other currencies. When the Dollar is abandonned as the world reserve and trade currency, the collapse in the Financial and Commerical spheres will follow on in short order.

a reply to: infolurker
I think nothing could be further from the truth. How could our society be collapsed, and we still maintain the dominant position on Earth? The only thing that has happened is that our multiple rivals are now challenging us on multiple global fronts. However, we are still holding all that ground. Hardly the hallmark of a collapsed society.

If trucks are still delivering, nothing has collapsed. This opinion piece seems to try and equate a poor perception of ideals as an indicator of a collapsed society. Utter nonsense is what I say.

a reply to: infolurker


I would say we are going into stage 4 possibly stage 5 actually

a reply to: infolurker


I would also say that you should never have "had faith" in any of those stages in the first place. Who "takes care of you" should always have been placed in yourself and your family.

a reply to: norhoc

I began to have glimmers of collapse in 1970, Any attempt I could make to envision a sustainable society pivoted upon dramatic changes immediately. By 73 it was clear, we were heading down hill. Sustainability was almost gone and the whole structure of our nation was like a rubber band stretched to the max and ready to snap.

Well I was wrong, society is much more resilient than I had guessed. Our ability to adapt to change was underestimated. However even though we have made it longer than I expected,

That is how I saw the election of 2016. Clinton offered a continuation of that slow decline with Trump being the leap into ''free fall''. Ans as much as I hate to admit it, now that I am in my 70s, I will settle for that slow decline over free fall any day.

a reply to: infolurker

Zero Hedge is a Russia backed propaganda site, I would not read too much into what they say about us. And UNZ I do not know about, but given that it looks to be the same format and uses the same pictures in the article, they may be affiliated. I'll have to look that up.

But about that first one. Don't panic and don't listen to Zero Hedge. That's flat out 100% Russian propaganda, you're wasting time even reading that.




Edit: Update UNZ is also linked to Zero Hedge. Tyler Durden, who may have written the article for UNZ, is the owner and main writer/editor for Zero Hedge. His real name is Daniel Ivandjiiski, even though it says on their page that the article was authored by Dmitry Orlov. Unless the Dmitry who wrote it is Russian ice hockey champ.

In any case, all these guys are pro-Russian agents and all this writing is propaganda.

You have to assume that this scale is meaningful in the first place. It has several flawed concepts right from the beginning. Why would anyone expect Government, younger generations or anyone to take care of them? People should be taking care of themselves.

It is no ones duty...especially a nanny state...to take care of us.

a reply to: infolurker

Stage 1: Financial collapse. Faith in “business as usual” is lost. Stage 2: Commercial collapse. Faith that “the market shall provide” is lost. Stage 3: Political collapse. Faith that “the government will take care of you” is lost. Stage 4: Social collapse. Faith that “your people will take care of you” is lost. Stage 5: Cultural collapse. Faith in “the goodness of humanity” is lost.

I think the stages are in reverse order and 3 stages are almost complete now.

1: Cultural collapse. Faith in “the goodness of humanity” is lost.
2: Social collapse. Faith that “your people will take care of you” is lost.
3: Political collapse. Faith that “the government will take care of you” is lost.
4: Commercial collapse. Faith that “the market shall provide” is lost.
5: Financial collapse. Faith in “business as usual” is lost.