2030 Is the Deadline, America’s Collapse Is Already Set Thomas Sowell

[Beaches & Nature fan]

Hi folks,

A very interesting take on the decline of America by Thomas Sowell:

2030 Is the Deadline, America’s Collapse Is Already Set Thomas Sowell

Would love to know your thoughts on this, if interested.

Best,

Vik

[Ernest Prabhakar]

I generally agree with all you wrote. 

In fact, I would go further. 

All empires decline, and the Pax Americana is to the British Empire as the Roman was to Greek. 

The remarkable fact about the 1960s is that it split our ruling elite, rather than overthrowing the entire system. Which bought us another half-century, but led to the bizzaro universe we live in now.  Of which I agree Trump is a symptom more than a cause.  

Perhaps this empire only has five years left, but I am starting to catch glimpses of What Comes Next, so we might even be ahead of schedule. :-)

— Ernie P. 

Sent from my iPhone

On Jun 18, 2025, at 08:09, Beaches & Nature fan <mountai...@gmail.com> wrote:



Oh and let me add: A big part of the reason I am not part of either party is that times have changed too much. Therefore, while I don't suggest "reinventing the wheel", I think we all do need to figure out new ways of doing things politically, economically, etc. that are more adjusted to 2025, not 1985. Let's see what happens. I sure don't know. We can either take the lessons from this time and move forward in a positive way, or go down deeper and deeper in decline. But we'll see what happens from here.

On Wed, Jun 18, 2025 at 11:01 AM Beaches & Nature fan <mountai...@gmail.com> wrote:

I think America never really got over the 60s. In other words, the 60s revolution.

A lot of good things came out of the 60s revolution: civil rights, increasing spiritual introspection in more diverse ways, greater respect for the environment. Technology for so many things has become so much better than those years and back. A wonderful diversity of people of different ethnic groups, religions, cultures, etc. 

But a lot of bad things came out of that time too: increasing divorce rates, greater single-parent homes, instant gratification (both physical and in terms of profit) became a much higher priority over values than it should be, which probably caused those divorces, etc. More crime. 

And while the good things from the 60's's still remain, we've been in a constant cultural and family decline in the ways I mentioned, since that time. And it hasn't gotten better.

There was a New York Times article recently, that compared the 60's revolution to today's "revolution". The writer said that the difference in the 60s the attitude was, that change is possible. However, today, it's more about doors closing on certain people. I would add, it's about increasing political violence, and benefits being taken away from them and catering to the rich. That's why today's "revolution/protests" are considered worse by this writer. And I agree, due to the factors I mentioned in these times, it probably is worse. 

(Although of course, recency bias makes people forget that the Vietnam War created a significant amount of violence on the streets in those days).

But that writer - and this is why I do not identify as Democrat or Republican, and never will - is biased, and left out all the bad things that came out of the 60s, in that article.

This leads me to Trump. I am not sure where you are regarding him, but I am not at all a Trump supporter. But while I am disappointed people voted for him, I also do not harbor any bitterness or resentment toward them either. I am someone who (with some notable exceptions) generally always keeps sane with perspective.

 No doubt, Trump is "the problem" causing all this angst on the streets, etc. But he also is very much the symptom of the cultural and values decline we have had for decades. And this decline is not just for any one party. It's the whole country. Democrats act like they are so out of the woods from this problem, like they are not a big part of the reason Trump won. That is NOT true. I don't even know where to begin, as far as how much the Democrats have declined. I think I will send another email on that aspect, later.

But again, the whole country has declined, not specific to one party. Trump should have never been close to winning in 2016 or 2024. But the very fact that so many people voted for him, is more a product of the times we are in, than strictly about him. I firmly believe that if this was the 1990's on back, we wouldn't have dreamt of voting for someone like Trump. But...here is where we are. And so it is.

On Tue, Jun 17, 2025 at 11:41 PM Ernest Prabhakar <ernest.p...@gmail.com> wrote:

What do you think? 

I’ve been assuming America as we knew it was heading for a reckoning since 9/11. The interesting question for me is what would come next… and how to get there as gently as possible!

Best,

Ernie

Sent from my iPhone

On Jun 16, 2025, at 10:47, Beaches & Nature fan <mountai...@gmail.com> wrote: