[miss marmelstein]

When societies blow up or are destroyed from without, brawn is very necessary. No so when you live in a decadent society likes ours - at least, for the moment.

[Mmmike]

IMO, our level of prosperity is just plain irrational given our present national character and our lack of civilizational awareness.

I think we're just in limbo, waiting for the U.S. Dollar to cease to be the world's reserve currency. When that changes, everything will change indeed.