I think the entire world views collapse as such a horrible prospect that they’d be willing to support ANY lie, for as long as they have to, in order to stave it off.
I compare it to the family that lives high on dads income and lots of credit card debt. One day dad loses his job. The family continues to live as they did simply by collecting more and more credit card debt until all the cards are maxed out. Not today, not next week, maybe not even next year - but eventually the sheriff is going to put them on the curb and they can’t do a thing about it.
The western economy is very close to that point. And the sheriff is not controlled by any human being. He comes whether anybody wants him to or not. Fact is, you can’t keep kicking the can. Sure, governments can just go nuts printing money, and that just may be the last phase before the sheriff shows up.
It will not go on indefinitely and it will not be a soft landing in the end. It will come down hard. It’s not a matter of if, but when.