If you want to know what the early stages of an economic collapse
look like, just walk around some of the downtown areas of our major
cities. Today, nearly all large U.S. cities are either flat broke or
they are on the way to being flat broke. Yes, New York City and
Washington D.C. (and a few others) are still doing fairly well, but for
most U.S. cities economic reality is catching up with them very
quickly. Right now, there are a number of major cities that are so
broke that they cannot keep the street lights operating. Down in St.
Louis, parents in some areas are carrying golf clubs with them as they
walk their kids to school in order to fend off roving packs of wild
dogs. In other major U.S. cities, open-air drug markets conduct
business without fear. All over the United States, cities that used to
be clean and prosperous and full of hope are now being transformed into
post-industrial wastelands. We are certainly not in "Mad Max" territory
yet, but it doesn't take too much imagination to see where all of this
is headed.
I have previously written about how Detroit is literally coming apart at the seams. Well, now in many areas of the city they can't even keep the street
lights on anymore. There simply is not enough money, and even if there
was, thieves are stealing the copper wiring out of the street lights
faster than the city can repair them.