These days it seems like there is a never-ending stream of dire predictions for the United States and the global economy. Many of them have merit of course, since the fundamentals of our economy are being held together by little more than duct tape and string.

However, any prediction that suggests that the system is going to come crashing down at a moments notice, is hard take seriously. It’s certainly a possibility, but it’s not the most plausible end to our way of life.

In reality, our society enduring a long-term collapse that may take decades to fully develop. There will be moments of rapid decline, much like the financial collapse of 2008, but overall we seem to be falling on a long trajectory.

Goldman Sachs admitted as much this week when their top analysts claimed that the third wave of the financial collapse of 2008, is rapidly approaching. Aside from how weird it is to hear a major financial institution admit that the crash of 2008 never ended, a fact that Austrian economists, conservatives, and libertarians have been saying for years, they also admitted that debt will be at the root of the approaching crisis.

This wave is characterised by rock-bottom commodities prices, stalling growth in China and other emerging-markets economies, and low global inflation, Goldman Sachs analysts led by Peter Oppenheimer said in a big-picture note.

This triple whammy has its roots in the response to the first two waves of crisis — the banking collapse and European sovereign-debt crisis — and it is all part of the so-called debt supercycle of the past few decades.

Central banks all rushed to lower interest rates in response to the first two debt-fueled crises, encouraging investors to lend in emerging markets such as China for a decent return.

Now that interest rates are looking as if they might go up, lenders are heading for the exits and investors are pulling out of commodities, which are closely linked to the fate of the emerging economies.