Reply #4: Yeah, it matters.

[PDJane]

It matters because when the US goes down, the economic engine stalls and goes into a tailspin for the whole damn world.

It has a few beneficial side effects for the folks who steered the crash; the very rich who manage to own most of the world get very much richer. However, the rest of us get poorer and find it harder to live. If totalitarianism is the aim of the government, there are some very good excuses to put it in place, if the population doesn't get supremely pissed off and rebel first. (I do believe, by the way, that is what the new "pain" weapons are about.) It's an excuse for perpetual war, which means a very few get and remain wealthy. That the rest of the US will have to pay for it in perpetuity is a drawback, but the guys at the top get to have an orgy of control until their ouster.

There will be a lot of starvation and a lot of difficulty in the world at large. Europe is likely to come off better than most places, because of a more conservative (as in conserving) lifestyle in general. Africa is going to be a hellhole for years to come, as is the middle east, and Israel's nukes aren't likely to save it.

It needs an intervention, and that quickly, but this lot aren't going there.