4 in 10 Americans fear a ‘total economic collapse’ in the next 10 years: poll
www.independent.co.uk
Many respondents believe the US economy is already in dire straits, the poll found

Many respondents believe the US economy is already in dire straits, the poll found

More than four in 10 Americans believe the country is heading toward a complete economic meltdown within the next decade, according to a new poll.

The survey, released by YouGov on Wednesday, shows Americans are more worried about the economy than potential threats to the democratic system or the prospect of civil war.

42% of respondents said it is very or somewhat likely that there will be “a total economic collapse” in the next 10 years, while a smaller share, 38%, described this outcome as unlikely.

Financial anxiety ran much higher among Democrats, 53% of whom feared an economic breakdown, compared with just 28% of Republicans.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      8 days ago

      Today’s empires are tomorrow’s ashes.

      The US goes through recessions roughly every ten years, thanks to credit expansion and contraction. If anything, the next recession has been postponed far longer than expected.

      The idea that we’re going to be “ashes” in another ten years… the fucking doomer juice has blasted basic American history out of everyone’s brains. Go back and live through the Great Recession, then talk to me about End Of Empire. Live through 9/11. Countries don’t just stop existing because of a stock market sell-off, ffs.

      • baller_w@lemmy.zip
        0·
        8 days ago

        Upvoted and agreed. But I think the US financial collapse has more to do with:

        ∙	Short-term incentives — businesses chasing next quarter while ignoring the long game. CEO tenure averages around 7 years, but comp structures reward short-term predictability over long-term health. Make the number go up, cash out, someone else’s problem.
∙	Crushing debt — not “insolvency” in the household sense, since the US prints its own currency, but debt-to-GDP at ~120% and interest payments consuming an increasing share of federal revenue creates real risks: inflation, dollar credibility erosion, and crowding out actual investment.
∙	No savings cushion — ~57% of Americans can’t cover a $1,000 emergency. That’s not a recession risk, that’s a detonator.

        Empires don’t fall suddenly — they transform. The Roman Empire never really “ended”; the eastern half ran unbroken from Constantinople for nearly a thousand years after Rome’s western collapse. The threat isn’t a single dramatic crash. It’s a long, slow institutional rot that’s already underway.m

        • wavebeam@lemmy.world
          0·
          8 days ago

          This isn’t your fault, but I’m on mobile in the default web interface and fuck this side-scrolling code block thing.

        • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.worldEnglish
          0·
          8 days ago

          The threat isn’t a single dramatic crash. It’s a long, slow institutional rot that’s already underway.

          You could have made the same critiques under Bush in 2007 or Reagan in 1987 or Nixon in 1971.

          These aren’t new problems or new forms of rot. I think you’re underestimating the forces keeping the gears turning. This isn’t our first rodeo with a shit President. Go back and read about Bush 41, LBJ, or Truman. Go read about Cleveland and McKinley and Wilson and Hoover. These people were shit. But they weren’t the end of the nation. They certainly weren’t the end of the system.

          • 7101334@lemmy.world
            0·
            7 days ago

            The difference, imo, is that the US was trending upward in terms of influence and had no meaningful competitors on the global stage after WWII except the USSR, which collapsed.

            With the slow death of US dollar dominance and the rise (and much smarter politics) of China, I don’t see how that trend will reverse itself.

            • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.worldEnglish
              0·
              7 days ago

              the US was trending upward in terms of influence and had no meaningful competitors on the global stage after WWII except the USSR, which collapsed.

              The US had the USSR as a direct competitor, but it also had a thousand anti-colonial independence movements that were tearing away the fabric of the old European empires, which the US had intended to inherit.

              When the USSR failed, the US moved on to try and pick off all these smaller regional adversaries. And it’s this endless campaign to recolonize the Global South that’s described as “upward influence”.

              With the slow death of US dollar dominance and the rise (and much smarter politics) of China, I don’t see how that trend will reverse itself.

              Americans can just stop the wars. This won’t end the bleeding, but it can be the beginning of the end.

              We can kick out our own despots and return to the bargaining table. We can pay reparations and turn our bad actors over to the ICC.

              We can reform if we want to do so.

              We don’t want to. But we could.

              • 7101334@lemmy.world
                0·
                7 days ago

                I think we would want to if people were adequately educated and aware of their power. The trick is how to accomplish that in a country which is actively hostile towards education and working class empowerment. Unfortunately, the only answer I’ve found is, “slowly and gradually.”

                • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.worldEnglish
                  0·
                  7 days ago

                  The trick is how to accomplish that in a country which is actively hostile towards education and working class empowerment.

                  It’s a real snarl, no doubt.