The dimensions of US economic collapse are catastrophic! It is strange that the US elite still does not realizes that in all its fullness. Professor Pananin is apsolutely right!

As a Canadian I'm not sure we would want such a big chunk of the US, possibly the border states at best including maine, vermont, oregon etc

Is this guy a bit of a nutter? Funny though I would like to read how he thinks it will collapse and in what state the spark will be lit. Texas?

A lot of people are predicting at least a civil war by end of 2010. We will see; there have been lots of predictions before that did not come true. For instance, California was supposed to have fallen into the ocean in the 1930s, then the 1950s, then by 1980, etc. We are still here and still taking tourist dollars! I do agree with Mr. Panarin that there are tough times ahead, and I expect violence when many government workers and retirees find out they are flat broke. We've had threats and minor violence over just the "tea parties" and health care town meetings. Wait until everybody realizes how much was stolen from them. By the way, I do not entirely blame Obama for this. He was set up by the Bush administration, which left him a trillion dollar deficit before he was even a month in office. Of course, all of his fine programs will greatly increase that deficit, if they pass Congress. That is a big "if".

I dont think there is going to be a colapse. The world will burn to peaces before this happens. I am not American, but sure know that a "good" war can fix any economic problem :(

The Professor is totally clueless here. There may be an economic collapse and there may be Civil War eventually but the US will never be divided under foreign influences. The Professor needs to look at a county-by-county US map of the last 20 years of Presidential elections. There he will see that the Urban Population Centers, the cities, vote overwhelming to the left while the rest of the country, the less populatation-dense non-urban areas, vote overwhelmingly to the right. It works out to about a 50/50 population split with the lefts 50% occuppying about 20% area, the cities. On the Right you have mainly non-urban white people. Minorities live mainly in the Urban areas and make up the majority of the Lefts base (the Democrats, Obama, Clinton). US blacks vote 97% to the Left and make up about 20% of the US Population,( Hispanics 20%, whites 50%, Asians and others 10%). Now look at who is buying the guns, it's the white non-urban people who make up the Conservative right. If the US does implode it will be more of a Bosnia type situation than anything else. The Urban areas will be surrounded and isolated while the non-urban whites control the guns, transportation networks, and most importantly, the food producing farm lands. The Left might invite UN forces in to 'save them' but the Right never would nor allow it. (PS: Tell us about the ship full of Russian missiles/lumber headed for Iran being 'Pirated' by Israel.)

Wow! and Montana, with all its missiles, will suddenly become a world power! Seriously, though, Americans identify themselves too closely with being American to let their country break apart. There may be a large degree of civil unrest, but I highly doubt the country will break apart. and even if it does, the pieces will declare independence rather than join other nations.

quote: John Brewer September 01, 2009, 01:08 As a Canadian I'm not sure we would want such a big chunk of the US, possibly the border states at best including maine, vermont, oregon etc LOL I didn't realize Oregon was a border state. And they say Americans are bad at geography. :) On the other hand, isn't the author cum professor also an ex KGB analyst? Be afraid. Be very afraid.

I don't think he means a breakup due to civil war, but rather a breakup due to extreme demands by the federal government on states, counties etc. For the past forty years, the Feds, through Congress, the Courts and the President, having been placing greater and greater financial and regulatory demands on states without funding or compensation. A perfect example is California. It is not the reponsibility of the people of California to defend the US border with Mexico that is the reponsibility of the federal government. But unless you've been living under a rock, it should be clear to everyone that the approved policy of the Republican Leadership, Democratic Leadership and The Corporate Leadership of the United States is for endless immigration to suppress wages, create bodies for war, generate dissension and destroy public unity. When we are divided we cannot fight back. As a result of the immigration, citizens of Calfornia are expected to pay for programs, they cannot afford. Yet the federal government continues to demand more in taxes while providing fewer services and more regulation. At some point in time, the citizens of California will say enough. I am not going to give you anymore money because I do not have it and if I did I would not trust you with it. This scenario is repeated throughout the states to varying degrees. Thus break up will be based on anger and disgust. Whether it is violent depends only upon the Feds reaction to succession.

The USA was destroyed years ago; Billion dollar paydays for banking crooks & worthless "Life Skills" classes for single bare-minimum welfare mothers desperate for career/trade training.

This is virtually, functionally, true now: it doesn't really work as a whole except for some manic federal agencies. Funnier yet is that the American 'sheeple' won't notice, as long as they have television. Yah! Pass me a BigMac baby!

The US won't break up into regions because there is no government organization at that level. If the federal government implodes the state governments will each become sovereign.

This smells of KGB propaganda. The constitution is our Holy document :-) I wish all could get along better in the world instead of all the strife we see today. The sky is not falling...

What a beautiful news! I'm been waiting for this moment for a lot of time. At last Yankees will pay for the evil thay have done to the humanity.

You do all realize that a collapse of the US would bring the entire world capitalist system to its knees, yes? Instead of cheering for a US collapse, we should be work to avoid it.

I think a radical shift towards societal "civil war" or any outwardly aggressive tendency towards other Americans is a ridiculous assumption. The unstable economy is a result of internationalization and poor planning/management, only on rare occasions will humans intently hurt others (sociopaths). But the Machiavellian approach to gaining popularity and influencing others hurts the inevitable subjects of their rule. If power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely, then no person, or body of people should have absolute rule. The world will evolve into a more habitable environment, when we limit our collective focus to local and regional endeavors, while integrating the progressive improvements of all societies. Inclusion not exclusion or seclusion will promote peace. twitter.com/readysetproject www.readysetproject.com

This professor has it completely backwards. There may be a collapse in the U.S., but it will be at the State level, not at the Federal level. The end result will be a much more powerful Federal government and much weakened States. The U.S. is undergoing deflation as a result of the credit bubble bursting. Debt-based, fiat-currency economies cannot cope with deflation because deflation causes bank loans to become insovent, which creeps though the financial system resulting in system-wide insolvency. As asset prices fall, consumer mortgage defaults continue to climb, consumer bankruptcy is at an all time high, and commercial mortgage default rates are rising fast. In this environment it is not surprising that virtually all our major banks are now insolvent as their debtors walk away from the loans on their deflating assets. The FDIC, which guarantees bank deposits, is insolvent. Declines in asset markets have rendered insolvent virtually every defined benefit pension plan, most of which are owned by state and local governments. California is bankrupt. Numerous other states (mostly Blue states) are insolvent as they cannot afford to meet their pension obligations and fund continuing operations. The remaining States and local governments will tiptoe toward insolvency as tax receipts decline, further limiting their ability to finance operations. The Federal government will address this problem by printing money in sufficient amounts to cause inflation sufficient to counter the deflation we are currently experiencing. This may be done explicitly through the Federal Reserve expanding its . Indeed, this has already begun. This may also be done implicitly, for example by having the Federal government assume the liabilities of State pension plans, the benefits of which will be paid with printed money. Either way the end result is a much more powerful Federal government vis-a-vis the states.

Readers here will probably enjoy the following article. "Social Collapse Best Practices" by Dmitry Orlov http://cluborlov.blogspot.com/2009/02/social-collapse-best-practices.html

The whole economic system is about to collapse and no Russia and China don't want it to happen due to the fact that they have invested billions and in the case of China trillions in US bonds and treacheries. If anyone would want the US to collapse it would be Great Britain so they could cut there losses in the US and move there money to China. Soros and his Quantum fund are hyping up China for future investment. Forgotten history but it was Russia that saved the US from collapse during the civil war giving money to Lincoln and threatened to intervene on Lincoln side if Britain intervened militarily aiding the Southern secessionists.