JL@96: “The world is going to see a few life altering events in the next 10 years. The fall of the US will be one of them. The only question now is how? Will it happen like Greece, like Japan or total anarchy?”

I share your viewpoint for the most part. Though, that’s not the ONLY question. A rather important and relevant question is what happens with the power vacuum when the US withdraws from the world stage to deal with its own issues? I don’t think China is really ready to be more than a regional power, as they’ve got a whole host of their own internal problems. Same for Russia, really, and the EU has their own things going on obviously.

History shows that the world really thrives only when there is one or two major powers that set the agenda and keep the nasties at least a little in line. The Babylonians, Greeks, Romans, Spanish, British, French, Russians, American….all these powers and many others have at one time or another risen to the top of the heap and steered or helped to steer the world. When you have a rudderless world, just throw in an epidemic or other black swan and you’ve got a lost 1,000 years just like the dark ages.