It's always a good idea to be prepared. But the economy may not collapse at once, collapse everywhere, or all collapse very soon.
The economy certainly seems to have collapsed in Detroit and some other cities are on the brink. Will the US economy collapse everywhere, and do it soon?
Rome has been in decline since about 180 A.D. and it's still a nice place to visit on vacation.
FYI
Someone in PA said they went to the credit union today and a sign on the door saying it would be closed and no e-banking or mobile service. Technical issues.
Be Prepared!
An excellent observation. The housing bubble collapsed in the same geographic order it started here in Silicon Valley: furthest away from the big cities first (Salinas, Sacramento suburbs), then worked its way in. People paying attention in San Jose had many months, maybe more than a year, of watching Sacramento deflate to know they still had time to get out at the top.
Detroit collapsed because of local laws which are now going national in a big way.
My guess is IF it does go, the entire world will go.
A lot of people think we will wake up one day and be living in a dystopia...
Unless there is a serious black swan event like a nuke going off in NYC or DC or both, our "collapse" will be a slow death spiral...month in, month out slowly choking on our own cultural and spiritual death and failed DC policies until we are a mere real banana republic...living a second world status
...and it will still be Bush's fault...