Dmitry Orlov (author of the excellent book, Reinventing Collapse) has an excellent presentation he calls the Five Stages of Collapse -- a pattern of collapse seen in Russia and Eastern Europe during the 90's (on Google Docs, click to view in new window). These stages are:
- Financial Collapse. Already in motion.
- Commercial Collapse. Just started.
- Political Collapse (a loss of faith in ideology). First part is over (the recent election in the US). Second part is going to be nasty.
- Social Collapse. Potentially the end state or stable equilibrium point for most of the world. Everyone against everyone with points awarded by the global marketplace.
- Cultural Collapse. Full meltdown. Global market breaks.
The collapse in the USSR/Eastern Europe ended due to connectivity to a large external environment, collectively the West, which provided stability and a route back from chaos. We don't have an external environment to gain support from with our collapse. It's global.