https://notes.kateva.org/2026/03/american-salvage-root-causes-of-long.html

Automation / Globalization / AI? -> no middle-class bourgeois lifestyle for non-elite
Rural collapse (esp US)
Corruption (governmental, corporate, non-profit)
Wealth and power concentration and the oligarchy (Citizens United)
Collapse of journalism business model
Regulatory ratchet (career-ending to remove, path dependency)
American societal response to the rise of women
Capture of the GOP by the MAGA powered by LIV exploitation