When talking "collapse" you must be referring to something's ability to hold weight, or support value.

The dollar has gained value recently against other currencies and commodities have become less expensive in that deal. The global economy has been thrown off balance. America was the marketplace of the world and America was a strong- the strongest manufacturing place as well. You cannot have a marketplace unless the people have money to spend. And you cannot have honest money if you are not producing value for others.

China soaked up the manufacturing base, which also soaked up the engineering and support markets. This depleted Amerika of millions of jobs... productive jobs. Instead we now have government jobs, low-paying menial service jobs and welfare. This does not make a strong consumer base. The purchasing of cheap crap from China will slow down more and eventually Amerika will be marginalized out of the equation if the Chinese market can gain enough purchasing power to support its production. Methinks not.

We are seeing deflation. There are less dollars on the street to buy the still-abundant supply of goods. The wages do not support further expenditures. That does not stop government from spending further into debt and legislating more blood-sucking parasites onto the economic machine. Money velocity drops. This deflates the money supply. Borrowing drops. This is the lack of new money production. Debt default is direct money destruction.

The debt money system requires payback plus interest, which has deflation built into the design. Its life cycle pulls more money from the marketplace than what was created. To combat this, more money must be borrowed into existence with a growing economy than is destroyed by debt payment and debt default. Fail at this and the money system- not the dollar- collapses. The dollar will follow as a component of the money system since its value is based on confidence in the money system.

There is no fair way to inflate the money supply when the sytem is broken, and it is broken by design. Government printing- or borrowing on behalf of those who cannot borrow, and then putting that debt onto the unwilling taxpayers is a sure way to destroy the money system. It buys some time but its result is like tasty poison water to a thirsty crowd. Debt money is poison water to a consuming body. When the body can take in no more water and is still dying, more water is not the answer.

We all consume more than we produce. The supply of solar energy grows food and provides energy for our physical needs. If the sun stopped shining, we would soon die because our energy source was cut off. The money system requires an energy source to survive. As good old Hypertiger noted, when we can no longer supply what the sytem needs, the system dies. And since the system is so intricately tied into the survival of many people, they will die. Imagine having a son that was emitting energy on and off sporadically. It would be unbalanced and impact plant growth. We have an unbalanced economy that cannot sustain economic growth.

How long will it last? As long as the people continue to allow the parasite to make their decisions.