The U.S is in the midst of catastrophic change that will determine our standard of living for decades to come. We are witnessing the destruction of our social, economic and enviornmental systems on a massive scale. The fraud and abuse that has taken place threatens our very freedoms and threatens to impoverish us as none could ever imagine before. The layers of technology we have built our society on are becoming dysfunctional and drastic action must be taken to stabilize our nation before we are no longer able to affect the outcome. The need to return to more sustainable systems that operate on a local level will be critical to solving our problems. Americans will have a lower standard of living in the future, but how low it will become depends on the actions taken during the next few critical years. Only by returning to the social, economic and enviornmental models that have proven to work will we solve our national problems and insure a good quality of life for future generations.