If I can be philosophical, what we are seeing is part of the growing pains of the world economy. We are all still separate countries, but the major powers are inexorably intertwined.

I would not be surprised if part of the outcome of this will be something even more like a "global economy" than what we experienced the last 10 years.

It "usedta be" that all the countries were more idependent, but those days are gone.

I'm just be philosphical about it, thats all.

To answer the question more directly... I think that all of this is halfway between "likely" and "inevitable". As a country our people have grown to hate compromise, like, "Sorry, the majority of the people voted for candidate X." This is also evidenced in the discussion about the 51st state of Jefferson.

Prepare for recession crimes, limit your public exposure, batten down your personal finances, and try to be wiser than you have had to be for most of your adult life. And, get some chickens. They are so good at generating protein that scientists are trying to figure out how to get them into space as a renewable food source.

I'm also trying to get into hydropnoics, Amazon has some very interesting large kits.