[Niuhuru]

I remember, writing a long time ago, about a gotterdammerung, wchich is when there is a winnowing out of the weak and the strong coming through. We’re in the beginning of one right now. At the moment, the people with a certified skill are the ones who will be setting up shop and succeeding while the philosophy majors are going to be falling to pieces. In the Old South, the shopkeepers and farmers and people in construction survived while the ones who depended on slave labor and lived leisurely on their incomes fell to pieces. Same withe the French aristocrats who spent more than they had and lived on credit. I see a collapse coming, that should have happened sooner and the bailouts only postponed the inevitable. If we let families who lived like kings on a pauper’s income fall apart and make them start over, the rest of society would move ahead just fine. Poeple wiht not too much to lose are going to do just fine; those who stupidly made speculation a career choice are the ones who will fall.

[Logic n' Reason]

I'm guessing here....but "per capita", I believe the "useless" outnumber the "useful" in your scenario by at least 10 or 15 to one.

What will the "useful" do with all the "useless" gumming up the works?? Kill them? Starve them out? Send them to another country?

The folks with the useful skills will surely get along (tho it begs the question if a welder can also farm, or a carpenter can also plumb, or a farmer also be an electrician), but how will they handle the "useless"?

Who will ultimately make the decision of "who wins and who loses"?

And...speaking plainly...what precisely is meant by "fall to pieces" and "fall apart"...and who is it that is going to help them "start over"...and start over doing what?

How does a man and wife without income and no skills...and by the way, 68 and 65 respectively - start over?

Just my thoughts....

[The Comedian]

while the philosophy majors are going to be falling to pieces.

Oh great...

Frowning takes 68 muscles.
Smiling takes 6.
Pulling this trigger takes 2.
I'm lazy.

[BenKenobi]

Who’s going to pass on these skills from one generation to the next?

I realise that you think philosophy is useless, but it’s essential if you are going to have something to pin your hat on. I mean heck, you can go with this whole survival of the fittest, but that’s not a great outcome for the individual farmer who has considerably more produce than he can reasonably defend.

If you want a working human society you need a philosophy of some sort to tie everyone together.

[Quix]

How many philosophy majors were in one coherent piece to begin with?