America - not just Detroit - already looks like the Roman Empire when it had collapsed. This is something I know Patrick Wyman would hit on in his podcasts. People have this idea in their heads that the Roman Empire was going all just fine and everything and then eventually the whole thing (at least in the western half) just collapsed. It was an uneven process over centuries. There are even some historians who argue that the Roman Empire never even really collapsed, it just evolved out of existence (not sure I agree but it’s an interesting perspective).
When the legions left Britain, the local economy there completely collapsed since it was dependent on the military. However, North Africa may have been better off economically under the Vandals because they no longer had to ship all their grain to Rome. “Collapse” was not something that was felt uniformly at the same time across the empire. Some places “collapsed” in the second century, others “collapsed” in the fifth. Some places got a lot worse without Roman rule, others thrived.
So much of the US has already “collapsed”. Drive through any rural town and you can see how many buildings are already in disuse, abandoned, or falling apart there. Take a map of your city. Look at all the areas where you have empty strip malls, closed down factories, crumbling infrastructure, or houses that are falling apart. Chances are it’a a huge portion of the town. For most of America, the only parts that aren’t collapsed or on a collapsing trajectory are a ring of newer suburbs of single family houses, big box stores, and chain restaurants. Then maybe a downtown with a business district and a few gentrified neighborhoods. Everything else, just from a physical standpoint, has already collapsed or is rapidly heading that way.
America - not just Detroit - already looks like the Roman Empire when it had collapsed. This is something I know Patrick Wyman would hit on in his podcasts. People have this idea in their heads that the Roman Empire was going all just fine and everything and then eventually the whole thing (at least in the western half) just collapsed. It was an uneven process over centuries. There are even some historians who argue that the Roman Empire never even really collapsed, it just evolved out of existence (not sure I agree but it’s an interesting perspective).
When the legions left Britain, the local economy there completely collapsed since it was dependent on the military. However, North Africa may have been better off economically under the Vandals because they no longer had to ship all their grain to Rome. “Collapse” was not something that was felt uniformly at the same time across the empire. Some places “collapsed” in the second century, others “collapsed” in the fifth. Some places got a lot worse without Roman rule, others thrived.
So much of the US has already “collapsed”. Drive through any rural town and you can see how many buildings are already in disuse, abandoned, or falling apart there. Take a map of your city. Look at all the areas where you have empty strip malls, closed down factories, crumbling infrastructure, or houses that are falling apart. Chances are it’a a huge portion of the town. For most of America, the only parts that aren’t collapsed or on a collapsing trajectory are a ring of newer suburbs of single family houses, big box stores, and chain restaurants. Then maybe a downtown with a business district and a few gentrified neighborhoods. Everything else, just from a physical standpoint, has already collapsed or is rapidly heading that way.