Collapse will be backdated to when the silent billions were enslaved to Globalization
When archaeologists "pinpoint" the beginning of the collapse of the industrial age, they will backdate it before this time, by decades. To the point in time when the ponzinomic pseudo-economy became a zero sum game between wages and corporate profits. It's not going to date from Dow collapse when an entitled few were startled by the sudden shattering of their sacred illusion.
Those of us still awaiting "the collapse" have what is known as survivor bias. Most people who will be ultimately affected by final collapse have already been ploughed under. They have no voice. A critical aspect of maintaining the illusion of the status quo is pretending that the people who have already been abandoned, just don't exist. It's a clear indication of some measure of callousness to discuss collapse as if it exists in the future, when for the majority it has already occurred...
Reading through the various articles on GlobalRiskReport, it's clear that events are accelerating along multiple parallel vectors towards economic and ecological collapse. The planet is exhausted. Other species are exhausted. Human beings are exhausted. Still, the specialization of all fields within their own silos prevents the holistic conclusion from emerging that the status quo is on the verge of obliteration. Nevertheless, these issues are all intertwined. These parallel collapse vectors all have one critical aspect in common - they are all subsidized by "unsustainable financing patterns".
The illusion is already massively degraded
Beyond looking at reams of charts indicating that government published "recovery" propaganda is all a massive lie, we are constantly reminded every day in subtle ways that the status quo is eroding. I say subtle, because we still live in a world where on paper, human wealth has never been higher. And yet the concentration of that wealth in ever fewer hands manifests itself in more foodstamps, more charities, more bread crumbs for the indolent masses. More dependency and far less opportunity. We currently live in a world having almost no economic opportunity in any direction outside of Silicon Valley and IPO land. Everywhere else, the economy is stagnant or declining. All of this stagnation is obfuscated by the never-ending flow of massive lies telling us that "this" is the only way forward. Have faith. Have confidence. Ignore the ever-louder gunfire.
This planet can't sustain 7 billion people
Many people want to talk around collapse, but few really want to discuss collapse. It's not an easy subject since it will change almost everything. Our only hope lies in some distant future held by the prospect that most of these sustainability issues will have been "resolved". Nevertheless, there is only one way these issues will be resolved and that is by shrinking the size of global population until such time as human economic activity can be sustained indefinitely. The best we can hope for is that the population reduction occurs via natural "attrition", however, we all know that is a fantasy - war, famine and pestilence will play an outsized role. The trickle down model will cease to function on the other side of collapse. We have made many millions and billions of people dependent upon an illusory lifeline that is merely a figment of trickle down Ponzi capitalism.
Today's paper wealth is a nominal illusion
Again, bear in mind, that these observations are all purely academic. From an historical perspective, the collapse of the globalized industrial society is already well underway. It will be backdated by decades i.e. to when the upward mobility of the billions was lost, not when the upward mobility of the remaining wealthiest millions was lost. We are part of the illusion. By discussing collapse as if it exists in the future, we help to reinforce the lie that it isn't already well advanced. This is the manic blow-off phase. This is the phase wherein the greatest lies are told in the desperate hope that no one will panic. Still, insolvency already exists today, on a scale never before seen in human history. Lenders continue to lend so that borrowers can make interest payments. Ponzi borrowing is global. Insolvent banks lend to insolvent governments. We are well into the final "confidence" phase. And when this phase ends, therein will lie the brutal discovery that the real "assets" underlying all of these IOUs, no longer exist. There is no collateral.
Slowly at first, then all at once
All of this dislocation will take place fast and slow. The liquidation phase itself will be fast and brutal. Prechter and company at EWI predict, based upon Fibonacci time ratios, that the markets will likely bottom within a couple of years from the onset of collapse - with 90% wealth destruction, varying by asset class (See: Surviving Extreme Deflation). Despite being wrong on timing to date, for much of this post-2008 period, their overall thesis calling for a secular collapse on a multi-century scale, is already occurring all around us in real time. (See "Daneric's Elliot Waves" for a supercycle wave count). Bear in mind that "b/B" waves are phony waves indicating corrective retracement of the prior trend - and yes they can exceed the previous impulse highs, but only in the most lethal of circumstances given the amount of capital that is committed to the false rally. Bull traps.
The consumption oriented lifestyle is on the verge of extinction
What happens after the collapse phase is anyone's guess. We all have our theories. However, one factor that will play back into the sustainability debate is that the vast majority of financial capital will have been obliterated. Only the most nimble and cautious investment approaches will avoid the oscillation between extreme deflation and likely extreme inflation and debasement. Therefore, the consumption-oriented lifestyle will be an artifact of history. It will be buried under miles of "archaeological rubble" along with anyone who embraces it wholeheartedly going into collapse.
That is 100% certain.
Plan accordingly.
