I don't want this to be some conspiracy theory thread, I am just curious as to what other people's opinions are on this subject. I am no economic expert, just a 20 year old Construction Management major trying to make some money in the stocks, but I don't want to be left out in the cold if something catastrophic does happen.

I also don't know if this is the right place for this thread, so please move it wherever acceptable.

Here it goes:

Does anyone else realistically foresee a large scale global economic collapse?

Isn't there only so much debt all the nations can pile up before something catastrophic happens? The US is bad, with $13 trillion dollars in debt, but that is nothing compared to Europe's situation right now with $136 Trillion (US equivalent)... With so much debt across all nations on virtually all continents, how in hell are we supposed to make that up? We simply cannot... The only way numbers could return to semi-normality would be massive deflation across virtually all nations. The economy in Europe seems to be going down the toilet, and when that happens, I see that as just foreshadowing for what could happen here in the US.

I am thinking of it in terms of credit card debt almost. When people get in over their heads in CC debt, usually they just file for bankruptcy. When a government gets in over their head in debt, what comes next?

Again, I am certainly no expert. These are just some thoughts that have been running through my head when reading about the economy and watching the news, and I want to know what other people see in all these facts.