re: At some point, the reality and seriousness of where we are headed is sinking in

Throughout the course of human history there have always been periods of great suffering, followed (eventually) by better times. That has definitely been the case in the US. Perhaps the people of this country NEED to experience a little bit of pain. Often times that puts things in perspective and allows for the appreciation of the good times. For FAR too long our leaders and society have done everything possible, often at the detriment to society, to attempt to eliminate consequences for poor decisions. Human nature is to live, make mistakes, then learn from those mistakes. Here, you can be a complete frick up, make countless poor decisions, and remain completely unaccountable for your constant poor decisions while society tells you it is ALWAYS someone else's fault. All that leads to is continued poor decisions...that almost always negatively affect someone else.

Bad times absolutely suck. I hate it for children primarily. But, perhaps, that is necessary to make people, particularly in the US, realize none of this was necessary.