One of my associates chimed in recently with his latest thoughts on the collapse. He’s had some interesting achievements, like selling off his two biotech startups and writing important articles in psychoanalysis and systems theory, among other things. He’s been right thus far about the severity of the collapse. He notes in a recent communication

Things seem to be as serious as I had expected—but we are just at the beginning. It is going to get quite a bit worse. However, I don’t think it will be as bad as past inflationary collapses (eg in the 14thC we had the Black Death, roaming bandits, famine and depopulation—well it might be like that in Russia!)….

In crises of this magnitude, things can go either way…. Best and most likely result would be that we muddle through for several years with a lot of pain, unemployment, repetitive asset destruction etc etc while developing new technologies and improving democratic systems—worst results might be collapse of the monetary system, China descends into social chaos, closure of borders with fascist controls, EU disintegration etc etc. It all depends on how constructively authorities and people generally respond to their stresses and losses….

By the way, all those out-of-work investment bankers and mortgage salesmen believed money grew on trees, so they will probably come to believe it is buried underground—anything but productive work. I suspect we may witness another gold rush before 2020.