this post was submitted on 19 Mar 2026

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Almost half of all Americans fear a ‘total economic collapse’ in the next 10 years, new poll shows (www.independent.co.uk)

submitted 3 days ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/politics@lemmy.world

183 comments fedilink hide all child comments

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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[–] JoMiran@lemmy.ml 36 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Financial anxiety ran much higher among Democrats, 53% of whom feared an economic breakdown, compared with just 28% of Republicans.

That's because a hard requirement to be a Republican in 2026 is to maintain a complete disregard for obvious facts and an utter disdain for realities that do not match a fantasy of their own greatness.

[–] DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world 39 points 2 days ago (5 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 2 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:

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.
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.

[–] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 13 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (4 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.

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[–] 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 (7 children)

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

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[–] moonshadow@slrpnk.net 19 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Today's empires are tomorrow's ashes. This too shall pass. A better world is possible.

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 9 points 2 days ago

sure. eventually. The times between empires are not always great.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 10 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Today’s empires are tomorrow’s ashes.

The US goes through recessions roughly every ten years, thanks to credit expansion and contraction. If anything, the next recession has been postponed far longer than expected.

The idea that we're going to be "ashes" in another ten years... the fucking doomer juice has blasted basic American history out of everyone's brains. Go back and live through the Great Recession, then talk to me about End Of Empire. Live through 9/11. Countries don't just stop existing because of a stock market sell-off, ffs.

[–] baller_w@lemmy.zip 13 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (9 children)

Upvoted and agreed. But I think the US financial collapse has more to do with:

∙	Short-term incentives — businesses chasing next quarter while ignoring the long game. CEO tenure averages around 7 years, but comp structures reward short-term predictability over long-term health. Make the number go up, cash out, someone else’s problem.
∙	Crushing debt — not “insolvency” in the household sense, since the US prints its own currency, but debt-to-GDP at ~120% and interest payments consuming an increasing share of federal revenue creates real risks: inflation, dollar credibility erosion, and crowding out actual investment.
∙	No savings cushion — ~57% of Americans can’t cover a $1,000 emergency. That’s not a recession risk, that’s a detonator.

Empires don’t fall suddenly — they transform. The Roman Empire never really “ended”; the eastern half ran unbroken from Constantinople for nearly a thousand years after Rome’s western collapse. The threat isn’t a single dramatic crash. It’s a long, slow institutional rot that’s already underway.m

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[–] Tylerdurdon@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

10 years?

10 months!

[–] Prove_your_argument@piefed.social 22 points 2 days ago (5 children)

In 2015, I used to say "A vote for trump is a vote for total system collapse."

Glad to see I was right.

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[–] Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works 29 points 2 days ago (4 children)

Must be infuriating to do a survey on the American public. No matter what you are trying to find out around 50-60% are just going to drool on your survey and maybe draw a phallic symbol with a giant crayon.

[–] discocactus@lemmy.world 13 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Idiocracy was a documentary.

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[–] HugeNerd@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 day ago

Um, but we have two very important democracies that need some more money, they will be passing by with their best begging hat out, we expect generosity, Citizen!

[–] 13igTyme@piefed.social 21 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I expect a massive economic collapse every 5-10 years.

[–] ayyy@sh.itjust.works 8 points 2 days ago

Which is about how often conservatives get full government power. I wonder if the two are related…

[–] SnarkoPolo@lemmy.world 17 points 2 days ago (1 children)

At least trans people can't use a public john, and dangerous books are being kept out of libraries. That's the important thing. /s

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[–] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 28 points 3 days ago (8 children)

There have been total economic collapses every 10 years or so for my entire life.

[–] grue@lemmy.world 27 points 2 days ago (1 children)

No, there haven't. If you think the dot-com bust or the great recession were bad, you ain't seen nothin' yet!

[–] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 19 points 2 days ago

Well then they should stop calling them “once in a lifetime” and just consider them part of capitalism

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[–] artyom@piefed.social 24 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

Definitely when the AI bubble pops there will be a financial collapse.

It's propping up basically our entire economy.

[–] grue@lemmy.world 22 points 2 days ago (7 children)

That would be just a normal recession. Between fucking with the Fed and basically doing everything possible foreign-policy-wise to destroy the dollar as the world's reserve currency, Trump's policies are capable of being way more disastrous than that. Think Weimar Republic-style, "wheelbarrow of cash to buy a loaf of bread" hyperinflation.

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[–] Netraven@hear-me.social 23 points 3 days ago

@MicroWave LOL... the other half are sure it will collapse this year.

[–] anon_8675309@lemmy.world 7 points 2 days ago

Yes but their reasoning differs based on political preferences.

[–] audaxdreik@pawb.social 12 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

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