Meteors large enough to destroy life on earth lurk in the outer reaches of the solar system. Carbon dioxide is building to levels that will cause a sudden and catastrophic melting of the ice caps and runaway global warming. North Korea will launch nuclear weapons at LA when the regime collapses. Al qaeda will set off dirty bombs in the 3 largest US cities, rendering them unusable for hundreds of years……. Oh, and the most severe deflation in 100 years will take hold in the US and cause another great depression and political turmoil.
In my opinion, thinking about these things in moderation is entertaining, possibly slightly useful for a few hundred disaster specialists in the world, and a waste of time for most other people and purposes.
For some perspective, look at the economic history of 1973-1984. I think you will find that big bad things happened, lost of people complained a lot, and we all got over it and moved on and, obviously, mostly forgot about it.
