[Psalm 73]

"...no one thinks the US isn't #1, let alone that collapse is on the horizon"

That may just be "normalcy bias" - we're No. 1 and will always be no matter what.

We have proved to be more resilient than thought possible, but we cannot get caught believing we are indestructible.

We 're not sure where the edge of the cliff is, but that doesn't mean it's non-existent.

[Zhang Fei]

[That may just be “normalcy bias” - we’re No. 1 and will always be no matter what.

We have proved to be more resilient than thought possible, but we cannot get caught believing we are indestructible.

We ‘re not sure where the edge of the cliff is, but that doesn’t mean it’s non-existent]

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You wrote: [Will we even survive long enough for the adults to get back in charge of things?]. That suggests impending collapse into a Mad Max scenario, with a time frame measured in months or single digit years.

Plenty of major powers have declined over time, both absolutely and relatively. It’s hard to think of a single one that has fallen into Mad Max style anarchy over decades, let alone single digit years. The Roman decline, for instance, was over centuries and driven by a combination of hyper-inflation and problematic successions where rival generals touched off devastating civil wars to make themselves top dog every decade or so, with both of these factors feeding off and reinforcing each other. We don’t have hyperinflation, and modern armies don’t have marauding generals establishing themselves as kings in their own right, for various practical reasons interesting only to specialists in these topics.