Dmitry Orlov describes what he calls "superpower collapse soup" common to both the U.S. and the Soviet Union: “a severe shortfall in the production of crude oil, a worsening foreign-trade deficit, an oversized military budget, and crippling foreign debt.” He believes the U.S. will fare worse during the coming economic collapse because Americans have fewer backup plans than did the Russians.
And remember the USSR was not a very knit together empire. It was to young. The US doesn’t have the sense of several nations forced together (not even in the South), so the collapse will be harder to think about for many.