Many people think that the US is very stable and our leaders can help us to overcome almost any major problem that comes up. They expect their lives and economic stability to continue as they are for the next 20 or 30 years. They are totally unprepared for an economic collapse.

They make plans for children’s education and their own retirement as if nothing devastating could happen to derail their plans. They expect Social Security to be there for them and the money they save to still be worth what they need to retire on.

I believe that we are facing an economic collapse like we have never seen before. I think this will change all of our lives and drastically affect our plans for the future.

What would an economic collapse look like? I think it will start gradually and then speed up until it ends very quickly. I suspect we will first see debt defaults start to increase. Corporate defaults are already on the rise.

These defaults will probably start in either businesses or in personal finances. People have just about borrowed as much as they can handle. As these defaults increase, banks will be affected and start to have problems. Interest rates could rise which will accelerate the problem.

If a few banks start to have problems, people might start withdrawing their money from banks to protect their savings. If this becomes too widespread, banks and the government will limit withdrawals, which will create more defaults and more attempts to withdraw money.

For many people, it will seem like the banks are being closed with no warning as the government declares a bank holiday. Withdrawal restrictions will be in force. When people realize this there will be social unrest and rioting in larger cities.

If this unrest is throughout the country, martial law will have to be declared and troops will be called out to stop it. In order to provide necessities for everyone, the government will nationalize farms and other businesses to provide for everyone.

As the government seizes more control, productivity will drop and there will be even more shortages. I suspect there are those who are in government who will use this opportunity to seize more power.

I really hope we aren’t facing this type of scenario, but I am afraid it will sooner or later play out very much like this.