Unsustainable levels of personal and corporate debt cause widespread panic and financial failures. The US withdraws inward. New extremist political parties emerge. As worldwide resources grow scarcer, the US covets Canada s oil, gas, water, timber and minerals. The US trade deficit soars and the value of the dollar falls sharply.
Manufacturing industries rebound as technology slows.
Pollution makes Mexico City largely uninhabitable. Trade and political rivalry between the old allies grows. NATO withers away. The European Union is enlarged, but becomes unstable, paralyzed by regulation and bureaucracy. Members begin to decamp, led by Britain.