Unlike Kevin, I don’t think we’re headed for a thunderdome future.
People forget that we are not our government. The government meddles in things to a ruinous extent these day, but while we can get along just fine without it, it needs us desperately.
I think a more likely scenario for the US is something more like the collapse of the Soviet Union than Mad Max.
Money is not wealth. Goods, knowledge and skills are wealth. When the US Government goes bankrupt, and it will, the buildings, houses, cars, ships, airplanes and various items we surround ourselves with will still be here. The people and all their knowledge and skills will still be here.
Fortunately the bloated, busybody government won’t be.
The hell it won’t. A significant percentage of the population will be demanding that “the government” DO SOMETHING, and that something will include confiscation of private property and virtual enslavement of the skilled.
The former Soviet Union didn’t get that because the people there were used to their government either ignoring or terrorizing the populace. Not so here. Here, the masses have been told since birth, the government is the solution to problems, not their source.
I’m thinking of picking out a face colander for myself this weekend.
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Well, if Kevin *is* right, at least he can probably spell “Humongous” correctly. We could use a little more intellectualism in our colander-wearing warlords.
I suspect we will look more like Britain after WW2. Government rationing for most at just above starvation levels. More activities federalized with a resulting massive increase in socialism and the nanny state..
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I wish I were more optimistic. While I think the total collapse scenario is unlikely, I also don’t believe that the government will just up and die under the stress of its own financial ruin. I see it grabbing for more and more control over the economy and its citizens, trying to revive the nation through a system that has only caused nations to collapse.
In the end, I foresee default on loans, a deep economic depression, and increased government control over every aspect of our lives. We will become like a European nation with soft socialism and government regulation over all aspects of industry and our private lives. As we settle in to an existence of comfortable mediocrity, the meaning of true freedom and exceptionalism will fade from our collective memory.
Where’s the Delta I used to know?!?
Awww! Bluto, they’re gonna take over! Awww! Bluto, I’m out of ammo! Awww! Bluto—-Horse Hocky!
Did we quit when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!…..
Double down on essentials and precious metals(e.g. brass,lead) and when the Gummint comes to “help” and take it away, give it to ’em ….bullets first!
Figure out your neighborhood and who’s reliable and who’s less than. Organize locally and make use of everyone’s skills. Back ot Frontier Days , People! We did once, we can do it again!
The big problem as I see it, even if the gov’t doesn’t do a huge confiscation grab like Kevin suggests, is that as a society, we’re really really used to money being the grease that makes transactions happen. And if we have a hyperinflation, yes, all that capital wealth is still there, and skilled people will still exist, but we won’t have any idea of how to trade more abstract skills to the farmer, without that highly flexible medium of exchange.
I would love to be wrong.