Powayseller, your response hits the nail on the head. I have been having this conversation with colleagues for months now. The U.S., like all empires that have risen since the dawn of mankind, will one day collapse. Our dollar, like tghe pound before it, will one day be replaced by a stronger, healthier currency. And the U.S., like the U.S., will relinquish its leading role in world affairs. This is not to say that the American Empire was not once a phenomenal beast. It was! But let’s face it, we’ve been here 200 years and change — which is a drop in the bucket when compared to the Roman, Greek or even Mayan civilizations. Their is an astounding book called the Collapse of Complex Societies (by Joseph A. Tainter). He recounts literally endless examples of societies — all which bear striking resemblance to the U.S. in its current form — that literally collapsed under their own weight. Taken from a historical perspective, it seems almost inevitable: as societies become more sophisticated, complex, and prosperous, its constituents increasingly consume more than they produce. The formula seems to work at first, but then there is a tipping point at which the society begins to fray under the demands of the machine. Competing interests (business vs. social welfare, the environment vs. business, upper class bs middle and lower class) literally tear the complex society apart. And your Easter Island example is spot-on. Except, instead depleting timber, we are depleting the fossil fuels upon which this society (and all complex societies in this age) currently depend. When the Babtboomers start to retire in the next few years (read The Coming Generational Storm if you really want to get the crap scared out of you), our society literally will not be able to meet the overwhelming level of entitlements that will come due to this aging portion of our population. Our coluntry is becoming older, not younger (as is also the case in Europe). The burden of the young to support the old will be yet another stress of this complex society that will quite literally be too much for it to bear economically.
To think the U.S. will continue to exist forever in its current form is to literally deny and ignore 10,000 years of world history. I know we all like to think that we are special and that we are smart enough to “build a better mousetrap.” But seriously, if the Romans couldn’t keep it together after 1000 years, how do we think we are going to make iteven half that long if we are showing serious signs of stress on the joints after less than 250 years? Like the Romans before us, we carry exorbitant debt — although by historical standards, current U.S. debt far exceeds that of any known society known to man. You might be interested in knowing that to cope with its mounting debt, the Romans steadily devalued their currency and launched manyh fruitless military campaigns to maintain the consumption levels of its empire. In the end, Rome collapsed under hideous inflation and social disorder ensued. The Roman Empire is the single greates example of societal achievement to date. Given our current course, who can plausibly argue that we will not meet a similar fate?
Collapse is inevitable; I would only hope that it occurs at a measured pace. However, given the current political leadership, I am gravely concered that the timeframe for the inevitable U.S. collapse is being fast-tracked.
I am late for an appointment, so please excuse the typos. And please don’t accuse me of being apocalyptic. I am an avid stuent of history, and the unfortunate byproduct of that is to become acutely aware of how utterly insignificant man truly is. That doesn’t mean we should stop enjoying life or having kids or buying CDs. it just means that we would all do well top better understand our place in the world and in history. For that matter, a simple course in astronomy might teach one the same lesson 🙂
