I'm absolutely convinced that the United States which is the modern Rome is captured by outside interests. Those outside interests want to see Rome fall or if they cannot achieve this then have such leverage over Rome that they can use it for their own personnel agendas. Dalio is right regarding his end of an Empire Thesis but too early. We are seeing early top signals emerging and Civilization Decline. Silicon Valley Elite are beginning to step in attempting to course correct the Empire and revive it to ensure energy, military and technology supremacy to defend the pillar of Western Civilization. I think the SF Elite are probably the best hope for the future of the United States as technology begins to advance rapidly and volatility from it begins to substantially increase. The debt issue is real and deficit spending is not slowing down. Only real hope is to out grow the deficit through rapid advancements in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics. The only way forward for the United States is through.