>>The sorts of predicaments the world faces — ranging from over $200 trillion in debt
That number always cracks me up. Who does the “world” owe $200T to? Aliens? /s
One very big issue already facing many areas in the US is the fact that there is nobody to raise the money to fix these things; as the “makers” dwindle in number the “takers” certainly have no interest in contributing towards infrastructure improvements (or anything else related to a common good). Even if we don’t “owe” money to aliens, we certainly have nothing but IOUs left to repair this stuff.