this post was submitted on 31 Mar 2026
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Roads (and cars) underpin so much of the American lifestyle that if you pull on that thread, so many other things start unraveling.
One that isn't readily apparent to the average person, but that also keeps the modern world working are just-in-time supply chains. We had a taste during Evergrande and 2020, but if something were to seriously disrupt the axioms of it (good infrastructure, relatively cheap fuel, short lead times from order to delivery). It would mean the end of cheap consumer goods and the diversity of products on the average westerner's basket would be severely curtailed
That is a global problem unless that consumptive demand can be replaced. China is the obvious answer, but it really ought to diversify through increasing the median global income.