What would it take to knock the USA down some post-apocolyptic/Jericho/The Postman sort of situation? A year ago hurricanes wiped cities and towns off the map from East Texas all the way down into Florida, yet when it came down to it, most Americans just shrugged and continued on with their daily lives. I think that's pretty impressive.

I wonder then how much would have to be destroyed to cause the USA to fall apart. Quite frankly, after pondering this for some time I'm coming to the conclusion that it would be very unlikely, at least in the next 10-20 years or so.

Possibilities:
Nuclear attack - how many bombs would have to go off/cities destroyed? How many countries have the needed number of bombs and the desire to use them in that manner? China, Russia, Uk, France...anyone else have enough? I don't know. What would any of those countries truely gain that would outweigh losing the USA? I don't know. It seems unlikely to me thouugh.

Natural catastrophe - Earthquake/volcano-supervolcano/global warming/asteroid impact. The New Madrid fault looks like it could really mess things up, over a wide area and cost trillions of $$$, but would it be enough cause the fall of the USA? Global warming? I have faith in technology helping out there. Other natural disasters? The odds look rather slim.

Financial failure:
Depression/recesssion/national debt/babyboomer retirement/etc... This one I have the hardest time deciding about. We survived the Great Depression and assorted recessisons. What are the chances of an "Atlas Shrugged" sort of collapse? I don't know.

The above thoughts have just been rolling through my head so I thought I'd dump them out for others to chew on. I definately believe people should be prepared for a year or more without help as localized disasters can take that long or longer to play out. It just seems to me that the chances of a complete collapse are *currently* slim. What are y'alls thoughts?

-Blast