So, I'm curious...

What is the end result of this?  Where do we think this will lead?

I'm not one of the "Mad Max" advocates.  I do not think that society will fall to ruins around us, or that scenes from movies like "The Day After" or (more recently) "Revolution" will become the norm.  I'm not building a bunker and stocking it with MREs, bullets and old silver coins.  I don't see this as the end of the United States as we know it.

If I had to guess, I'd venture to suggest that we will see another depression.  Just looking at some of the graphs I cited in my last post, you can see why China has passed the US as the single largest consumer of oil on Earth... I say it is because Americans aren't "spending" money like some in government could wish.  We aren't buying gasoline like we used to.  We aren't travelling like we used to.  We aren't "consuming" like we used to.

The generation that produced my gandparents (the Greatest Generation) was the last that seemed to truly understand that individual effort and personal sacrifice were worth far more than government regulations and assistance.  They won a world war by doing more and doing without.  If people doubt that, just remember what happened when Carter gave his "malaise speech"... only 30 years after the end of WWII, the country freaked out when the President of the US asked America to tighten its belt and suck it up.  Ironically, it was coming from such a big-government advocate Carter... but that is beside the point.

I'm busy this morning, but I'd love to hear what you guys think.