this post was submitted on 19 Mar 2026
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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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[–] DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world 39 points 3 days ago (4 children)

This is why billionaires are building bunkers. They know what's coming, because they're the ones doing it.

If you buy the Dollar Endgame hypothesis, the dollar, which hasn't been backed by gold for over 50 years, will become virtually worthless. But, that will only be the beginning.

If you think the worst thing that can happen in America is a fascist dictatorship, you're wrong. This isn't an America problem, it's a world-wide problem. The entire world economy, currently held together by nothing more than incestuous lies and wishes, will very likely collapse, and not in the distant future.

I'm glad my parents died before they could see this, I'm not looking forward to seeing it myself, and had I any clue about this 30 years ago, I would not have had a child.

[–] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 29 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Bunker building idiots. Bet they’re selfish as fuck and have nothing but items for their own survival saved up instead of maybe a hoard of books, seeds, tools and the like.

One of two outcomes:

  1. If you actually truly need the bunker, the world has gone to absolute shit and there will be nothing worth living for except hand-to-mouth subsistence farming. I don’t think anyone has a clue as to what actual collapse would look like. Congrats, you’ll just starve last.

  2. If you’ve got hundreds of thousands of hungry and starving people and any small percentage know you have a bunker with food and medicine, they will get in or burn you out with fire trying. They literally have nothing else to do and nothing else to lose.

[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 17 points 2 days ago (2 children)

I've often had conversations with preppers, asking them questions, basically asking them if they are ready to ultimately become farmers. Very few seem to have really gamed things out beyond having bullets and some MREs or whatever. That might be helpful in very short-term types of scenarios, I guess?

They say they'd hit the local Costco or grocery store or whatever when they are running low.

LOL, have they even seen what happens when a power outage hits an area even for a few days? Even if one has zero morals applied to anyone outside one's immediate family and start raiding houses and businesses for food - do these people think no one else is going to be doing this? All grocery stores will be cleared out in short order, without question.

SMH.

[–] lemmyng@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

Hell, we saw this with the pandemic, and yet those same doom preppers are the ones blaming Biden and the Dems for empty shelves despite those shelves veing emptied during Trump's admin.

[–] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 13 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

They really don’t have a clue. They just assume they can take whatever they need by threat or violence and whoever else has guns will be on their side. Plenty of those guns will be aimed at them to take what they have, too.

And then?

Next to none will have a clue about “after.” Civilization is a community full of skilled trades. From the blacksmith to the tanner to the farmer and the miller. Think any of the preppers will be out in the field, day in, day out, planting, harvesting, storing, cutting wood, prepping food for winter? Got any draft animals? Got a place to care for and feed them all winter? How about getting sick or hurt and being unable to work? They ate up this “American Self Reliance” BS with a shovel, and it’s complete trash. Their personal chauvinism will see them just as dead as everyone else.

[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I'm vegetarian, and I get lots of stupid questions about how I'll survive "the apocalypse" or whatever. Literally, I was asked that question about the apocalypse, specifically.

Anyway, after I addressed how I don't believe in xtian mythology or eschatology....

For one, how many omnivores have the ability to be full-time hunters, as is implied? I'd say it's close to zero, including the so-called "hunters" that do it for sport now. Oh, and what happens when you run out of bullets? The answer from some is "bow and arrow". Oh really? You know how to make new arrows? If you shoot arrows anywhere, you know how incredibly easy it is to lose them...not mention what happens when your neighbors all have the same idea - what happens when the whole place is completely devoid of any game?

It's not nearly as tacticool-sounding to talk about doing back-breaking work, working the soil, tending to your crops, saving seed, and so on. It sounds way more romantic to talk about yourself shooting animals and eating them, skipping the technical bits of how to clean and process said animal, including building a fire to cook it. Pulling a trigger is something any ape can do. I'm not so sure about the rest of it for any given person, most especially these big talkers. I'm not sure about my ability to start a fire from scratch, without a lighter/matches, especially under less than ideal conditions.

Secondly, how many people know how to properly clean and process things like deer? Oh and then there is storing the meat, without refrigeration... I'd would submit that surviving omnivores would have their diet drastically changed, too. Anything you kill you'd have to eat in short order. For people that know how to jerk meat, that might give it longer shelf life. I bet most people after such a collapse would get quite good at foraging for things like mushrooms and plants, as well as taking to learning something about raising crops. I have a feeling all of us would end dropping anywhere from a few to several pounds, again, assuming survival.

Lastly, it's not like being vegetarian is some kind of suicide pact, if the entire world is turned on its head, LOL. These people sit there and ask all these stupid hypothetical questions with a big smug grin on their face while the current situation is that we are more awash in options for fruits and vegetables than we've ever been in history and it's clear that they think because they are currently omnivores and have a gun or two and maybe a few dry goods in their basement that they have all contingencies worked out...

[–] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Foraging for wild plants is a skill you need fully established before having to rely on it for survival, it’s just like hunting, dressing an animal, and meat preservation. Do it wrong and at best you’ll get a little sick, at worst it will kill you quickly.

Also, in a hypothetical apocalyptic situation, you’ll be competing with millions of people who will be eating anything they can. I can’t remember the stats, but I think the Appalachian deer population took something like 40-50 years to fully recover from the Great Depression. A lot of hungry people will do a lot of damage.

[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Foraging for wild plants is a skill you need fully established before having to rely on it for survival, it’s just like hunting, dressing an animal, and meat preservation. Do it wrong and at best you’ll get a little sick, at worst it will kill you quickly.

Oh, without question. I don't mean to imply it's something all us coddled moderns could just start doing. As you point out, it's like these other things most people (myself included) have no idea how to do. Even people fairly decent at identifying mushrooms sometimes get it wrong.

Also, in a hypothetical apocalyptic situation, you’ll be competing with millions of people who will be eating anything they can. I can’t remember the stats, but I think the Appalachian deer population took something like 40-50 years to fully recover from the Great Depression. A lot of hungry people will do a lot of damage.

Yeah, I would think it'd be like catastrophes of old - all the cats and dogs would mysteriously disappear. Again, people have this romantic notion of "living off the land" as a homesteader and "hunting for food" and thinking they are going to bag a deer whenever it's time for lunch and it will be easy and something sustainable and I think it's pure delusion.

Ever watch Alone? Those people are avid survivalists, just doing it for a few weeks and even that looks hard as hell.

[–] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

No, I watched Frontier House and Survivor Man. Frontier was families put in frontier style homes that were told to work and live like they did back in the land rush days. They had the convenience of most of their log homes being built for them, and an occasional delivery from a mercantile. All period, of course. A very interesting sociological experiment. The results of their labors were inspected by analysts to see if they and their animals would have survived the winter. I think only one family might have survived.

Survivorman? Pretty much learned that surviving in the woods sucks, could easily kill you, he only had to do it for a few days at a time and even he knew he had help just a radio call away.

[–] Reygle@lemmy.world 13 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Look at the bright side- when it happens, people like you and I can commandeer concrete mixer trucks, load and prep them entirely, and go on an adventure to find all intake/exhaust vents of the billionaire bunkers, seal them shut, and stargaze above them while they asphyxiate. Sure, we'll go soon after, but we'll be able to go out having made new friends, under the stars, knowing we did a good thing.

[–] ShaggySnacks@lemmy.myserv.one 12 points 2 days ago (2 children)

This is why I started hoarding bottle caps. I will be rich in the wasteland!

[–] backalleycoyote@lemmy.today 8 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I started hoarding bondage gear and leather jackets to outfit my war band. I’m also sitting on a few hundred cans of silver spray paint.

[–] quick_snail@feddit.nl 5 points 2 days ago (2 children)
[–] backalleycoyote@lemmy.today 9 points 2 days ago

More of a studded codpiece guy myself. Though I do worry about any exposed skin when the ozone layer is burned off. Guess I should add sunscreen to the hoard.

[–] otter@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 2 days ago

Redundant? Non-assless are just leather pants. 😜

[–] otter@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

You're gonna be a quick-cash side-quest for some hoard-happy "protagonist"

[–] ShaggySnacks@lemmy.myserv.one 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Psh, I have main character syndrome. I’ll be fine.

[–] otter@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 day ago

Heh. That's gonna go great. 😅🤓🖖🏽

[–] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)

So we just lock them in their bunkers and let them starve.

[–] otter@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 days ago

Vault-dwellers're terrible. Don't let them out.