The difficulty is that this regime was never going to be able to last. The Soviet Union collapsed. So the reason for the order, from an American perspective, was gone. Moreover, post-industrial, post-urban birthrates cannot be indefinitely sustained and the threats of climate change meant that our way of life was always going to have to change.
So: What happens when living standards flatline or begin to dip, when life expectancy declines, and the state-backed benefit system cannot be adequately maintained due to a lack of workers? In short, what happens when the bribe that made the trade worthwhile stops delivering?
Answer: We’re about to find out.
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