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Almost half of all Americans fear a ‘total economic collapse’ in the next 10 years, new poll shows (www.independent.co.uk)

submitted 13 hours ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/politics@lemmy.world

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Many respondents believe the US economy is already in dire straits, the poll found

More than four in 10 Americans believe the country is heading toward a complete economic meltdown within the next decade, according to a new poll.

The survey, released by YouGov on Wednesday, shows Americans are more worried about the economy than potential threats to the democratic system or the prospect of civil war.

42% of respondents said it is very or somewhat likely that there will be “a total economic collapse” in the next 10 years, while a smaller share, 38%, described this outcome as unlikely.

Financial anxiety ran much higher among Democrats, 53% of whom feared an economic breakdown, compared with just 28% of Republicans.

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[-] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 6 points 4 hours ago

Today’s empires are tomorrow’s ashes.

The US goes through recessions roughly every ten years, thanks to credit expansion and contraction. If anything, the next recession has been postponed far longer than expected.

The idea that we're going to be "ashes" in another ten years... the fucking doomer juice has blasted basic American history out of everyone's brains. Go back and live through the Great Recession, then talk to me about End Of Empire. Live through 9/11. Countries don't just stop existing because of a stock market sell-off, ffs.

[-] baller_w@lemmy.zip 7 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

Upvoted and agreed. But I think the US financial collapse has more to do with:

∙	Short-term incentives — businesses chasing next quarter while ignoring the long game. CEO tenure averages around 7 years, but comp structures reward short-term predictability over long-term health. Make the number go up, cash out, someone else’s problem.
∙	Crushing debt — not “insolvency” in the household sense, since the US prints its own currency, but debt-to-GDP at ~120% and interest payments consuming an increasing share of federal revenue creates real risks: inflation, dollar credibility erosion, and crowding out actual investment.
∙	No savings cushion — ~57% of Americans can’t cover a $1,000 emergency. That’s not a recession risk, that’s a detonator.

Empires don’t fall suddenly — they transform. The Roman Empire never really “ended”; the eastern half ran unbroken from Constantinople for nearly a thousand years after Rome’s western collapse. The threat isn’t a single dramatic crash. It’s a long, slow institutional rot that’s already underway.m

[-] wavebeam@lemmy.world 2 points 2 hours ago

This isn’t your fault, but I’m on mobile in the default web interface and fuck this side-scrolling code block thing.

[-] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world -1 points 2 hours ago

The threat isn’t a single dramatic crash. It’s a long, slow institutional rot that’s already underway.

You could have made the same critiques under Bush in 2007 or Reagan in 1987 or Nixon in 1971.

These aren't new problems or new forms of rot. I think you're underestimating the forces keeping the gears turning. This isn't our first rodeo with a shit President. Go back and read about Bush 41, LBJ, or Truman. Go read about Cleveland and McKinley and Wilson and Hoover. These people were shit. But they weren't the end of the nation. They certainly weren't the end of the system.

this post was submitted on 19 Mar 2026

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