Greetings, my friend @taskmaster4450... Very interesting and timely your post. When you ask if we are really heading towards a total collapse, I can't help but think of the country where, fortunately and unfortunately, I live, that is, Venezuela. In spite of being going through the biggest economic crisis in our history and, surely, one of the biggest in the world and that can be defined with a very technical but terrible word such as Hyperinflation. The truth is that, as you say, even though there have been localized riots, amazingly people still find something to eat and you don't feel in the streets the sensation of a final collapse. It happens here what you say "Somehow, they managed to prop things up for a decade...". However, in spite of the government tricks, such a system is unsustainable in time. I, for my part, although I am not remotely an expert in cryptocurrencies, I simply connect more and more every day with the economy of the future that began a long time ago. As a professor at a University of the Arts I try to instill in my students the idea that their minds are anywhere the networks allow and that at least they know what all this movement of bitcoins and other bugs is. I recently won a literary contest whose amount, in bolivars, is quite important... Well, I'm not going to let hyperinflation devour my effort, so I'm looking for options in the blockchain... It's very true what you say: "being in cryptocurrency is a great way for people to protect themselves".

Of course, I'll give my little upvote, resteemit and follow you ;-)