3 ms·

> While you could reasonably ask if the US or UK are on the brink of collapse No, in fact you can't reasonably ask that. It's a very unreasonable premise in bo

> While you could reasonably ask if the US or UK are on the brink of collapse No, in fact you can't reasonably ask that. It's a very unreasonable premise in both cases. It's hyperbolic. There is zero risk of collapse right now in either the US or UK. Financially, politically, socially, militarily: zero risk of collapse in either case. Nations having problems doesn't constitute a risk of collapse. To seriously discuss collapse in eg the US, a person has to take a problem that isn't remotely collapse-threatening (eg student debt or partisan anger), and amplify it artificially 10x-100x to mean the end of the world. The sort of headlines & stories that a site like ZeroHedge specializes in 24/7 in the financial sphere (the world is ending every day of the week there, the next great recession has been about to start for a decade now). In general it requires a very high level of avoiding using reason and logic to assess risk, and falling back to emotional-based statements derived from what are actually modest, controllable problems. The same is true in the context of the UK, brexit or no brexit.

sb057 7y ago
In the words of BJ Campbell[1] the US is currently undergoing increasing partisanship[2], civil disorder[3], coup rhetoric[4], a widening wealth gap[5], a further-entrenching oligarchy[6], dysfunctional governance[7], the rise of Nazism[8] and Communism[9], violent street protests[10], people marching and dressing like Blackshirts[11], attempts at large-scale political assassination[12], and I'll add to that a widespread (~35% among both lay people and experts) expectation of a looming civil war[13][14]. And it's true people have been saying the sky that is the economy has been falling for a decade now, but pretty much everyone is in agreement the status quo is completely unsustainable. [1] http://freakoutery.com/2018/07/the-surprisingly-solid-mathematical-case-of-the-tin-foil-hat-gun-prepper/ http://freakoutery.com/2018/07/the-surprisingly-solid-mathem... [2] http://www.people-press.org/2017/10/05/the-partisan-divide-on-political-values-grows-even-wider/ http://www.people-press.org/2017/10/05/the-partisan-divide-o... [3] https://www.usnews.com/opinion/civil-wars/articles/2017-02-16/americas-divisions-have-led-to-a-civic-war https://www.usnews.com/opinion/civil-wars/articles/2017-02-1... [4] https://www.thenation.com/article/are-we-witnessing-a-coup-operation-against-the-trump-white-house/ https://www.thenation.com/article/are-we-witnessing-a-coup-o... [5] http://money.cnn.com/2017/11/03/news/economy/wealth-gap-america/index.html http://money.cnn.com/2017/11/03/news/economy/wealth-gap-amer... [6] http://www.businessinsider.com/major-study-finds-that-the-us-is-an-oligarchy-2014-4 http://www.businessinsider.com/major-study-finds-that-the-us... [7] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/03/business/economy/trump-election-democracy.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/03/business/economy/trump-el... [8] http://www.dw.com/en/us-neo-nazi-groups-on-the-rise-under-president-donald-trump-report/a-42688331 http://www.dw.com/en/us-neo-nazi-groups-on-the-rise-under-pr... [9] https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/communist-party-membership-numbers-climbing-in-the-trump-era/ https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/communist-party-members... [10] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unite_the_Right_rally https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unite_the_Right_rally [11] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/29/style/black-bloc-fashion.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/29/style/black-bloc-fashion.... [12] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHM73eJCa7k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHM73eJCa7k [13] http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/june_2018/31_think_u_s_civil_war_likely_soon http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/gene... [14] https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/03/07/will-we-have-a-2nd-civil-war-you-tell-me/ https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/03/07/will-we-have-a-2nd-civi...

sb057 7y ago

In the words of BJ Campbell[1] the US is currently undergoing increasing partisanship[2], civil disorder[3], coup rhetoric[4], a widening wealth gap[5], a further-entrenching oligarchy[6], dysfunctional governance[7], the rise of Nazism[8] and Communism[9], violent street protests[10], people marching and dressing like Blackshirts[11], attempts at large-scale political assassination[12], and I'll add to that a widespread (~35% among both lay people and experts) expectation of a looming civil war[13][14]. And it's true people have been saying the sky that is the economy has been falling for a decade now, but pretty much everyone is in agreement the status quo is completely unsustainable. [1] http://freakoutery.com/2018/07/the-surprisingly-solid-mathematical-case-of-the-tin-foil-hat-gun-prepper/ http://freakoutery.com/2018/07/the-surprisingly-solid-mathem... [2] http://www.people-press.org/2017/10/05/the-partisan-divide-on-political-values-grows-even-wider/ http://www.people-press.org/2017/10/05/the-partisan-divide-o... [3] https://www.usnews.com/opinion/civil-wars/articles/2017-02-16/americas-divisions-have-led-to-a-civic-war https://www.usnews.com/opinion/civil-wars/articles/2017-02-1... [4] https://www.thenation.com/article/are-we-witnessing-a-coup-operation-against-the-trump-white-house/ https://www.thenation.com/article/are-we-witnessing-a-coup-o... [5] http://money.cnn.com/2017/11/03/news/economy/wealth-gap-america/index.html http://money.cnn.com/2017/11/03/news/economy/wealth-gap-amer... [6] http://www.businessinsider.com/major-study-finds-that-the-us-is-an-oligarchy-2014-4 http://www.businessinsider.com/major-study-finds-that-the-us... [7] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/03/business/economy/trump-election-democracy.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/03/business/economy/trump-el... [8] http://www.dw.com/en/us-neo-nazi-groups-on-the-rise-under-president-donald-trump-report/a-42688331 http://www.dw.com/en/us-neo-nazi-groups-on-the-rise-under-pr... [9] https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/communist-party-membership-numbers-climbing-in-the-trump-era/ https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/communist-party-members... [10] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unite_the_Right_rally https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unite_the_Right_rally [11] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/29/style/black-bloc-fashion.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/29/style/black-bloc-fashion.... [12] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHM73eJCa7k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHM73eJCa7k [13] http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/june_2018/31_think_u_s_civil_war_likely_soon http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/gene... [14] https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/03/07/will-we-have-a-2nd-civil-war-you-tell-me/ https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/03/07/will-we-have-a-2nd-civi...