@Snarp – I agree with you that this argument is somewhat overblown for many of the reasons you stated (I was presenting it as a counterpoint to demonstrate one at least plausible coherent argument). I do believe that China would be shooting itself in the foot to cut off our credit, and I believe China knows this, but of course that does not make it impossible to foresee a series of events in which it could happen. You think about large companies that have customers who owe them way more money than the company ever wanted to give that customer, but that customer may account for so much of the well being of the company itself that they have to keep upping the credit limit far beyond their comfort zone. But there will ALWAYS come a point where someone will say, enough is enough, we have to cut our losses, and therein lies that danger.
As for spectacle, I believe humans are ingrained with the desire to consume spectacle, I don’t feel our appetites have gotten more voracious, but what has changed is the supply side of the equation. It used to be that prurient interests needed to search to satisfy that all too human need for observing the unimaginable, but our culture in pursuit of the largest profit has become all too indulgent in creating spectacle. Wherein with past generations we had real news coverage from real journalists who did not take sides and sought out the truth, now we have news that is designed for maximum shock value in order to achieve the highest ratings, only the most sensationalistic stories pass as actual news today, and whereas say 50 years ago, one was inundated with facts and data and information and had to search long and hard for spectacle, the difference is that today one is inundated with spectacle and has to search long and hard for facts and data and information.
In ancient Rome, certainly people didn’t just wake up one day with the desire to see a lion eat a person, that is something that throughout history would have drawn an audience…it was only when the powers that be realized they could make money and gain power by providing this spectacle that it became a commonplace part of life. When that happened, the people were too driven to distraction, too bloodthirsty from whetting their appetites, too out of touch with reality…having had reality supplanted by spectacle…to realize how despotic the ruling class was becoming, and this is what led to the cultural fall of the Roman Empire and the ensuing “dark ages”. That is what the book argues, and I think it makes a valid point, though in my opinion, there are enough of us still who do care nothing for this type of spectacle, who are willing to put in the time and effort to seek out the truth, to keep this society from falling.
That said, at this point, I believe it could go either way.