America’s Red Flags: Tom’s 5-Step Playbook to Survive Turbulent Times | Tom Bilyeu Deep Dive

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Impact Theory

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4.7 • 5.1K Ratings

🗓️ 25 August 2025

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Tom Bilyeu delivers a powerful deep dive into the warning signs of societal collapse that are blinking red across America. He draws on lessons from history—citing the downfalls of the Roman Empire, the USSR, Argentina, and more—to show how debt spirals, the hollowing out of the middle class, collapsing trust, and rising populism are patterns we've seen before, and are seeing again right now. Tom breaks down why these cycles are so hard to interrupt, why common solutions like socialism and “just grow the economy” fall short, and most importantly, he lays out a practical playbook for not just surviving, but thriving during chaotic times. From protecting yourself with assets and skills, to finding business-friendly environments, Tom gets specific about what you can do to come out stronger on the other side—because every collapse hurts most, but creates unprecedented opportunity for a prepared few. If you care about your future, and the future of the country, this is an urgent and actionable listen. SHOWNOTES 00:00 America's Growing Political and Economic Threats 11:28 Trust Erosion in Economic Collapse 23:25 "Structural Instability and Populism" 35:19 Wealth Creation Amidst Crisis 43:30 Embrace Bitcoin as Alternative System CHECK OUT OUR SPONSORS Vital Proteins: Get 20% off by going to ⁠⁠https://www.vitalproteins.com⁠⁠ and entering promo code IMPACT at check out Allio Capital: Macro investing for people who want to understand the big picture. Download their app in the App Store or at Google Play, or text my name “TOM” to 511511. SleepMe: Visit ⁠⁠https://sleep.me/impact⁠⁠ to get your Chilipad and save 20% with code IMPACT. Try it risk-free with their 30-night sleep trial and free shipping. Tailor Brands: 35% off ⁠⁠https://tailorbrands.com/podcast35⁠⁠Shopify: Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial period at ⁠⁠https://shopify.com/impact⁠⁠Hims: Start your free online visit today at ⁠⁠https://hims.com/IMPACT⁠⁠. Linkedin: Post your job free at ⁠⁠https://linkedin.com/impacttheory⁠⁠ What's up, everybody? It's Tom Bilyeu here: If you want my help... STARTING a business:⁠ ⁠⁠join me here at ZERO TO FOUNDER⁠ SCALING a business:⁠ ⁠⁠see if you qualify here.⁠ Get my battle-tested strategies and insights delivered weekly to your inbox:⁠ ⁠⁠sign up here.⁠ ********************************************************************** If you're serious about leveling up your life, I urge you to check out my new podcast,⁠ Tom Bilyeu’s Mindset Playbook⁠ —a goldmine of my most impactful episodes on mindset, business, and health. Trust me, your future self will thank you. ********************************************************************** LISTEN TO IMPACT THEORY AD FREE + BONUS EPISODES on APPLE PODCASTS:⁠ ⁠⁠apple.co/impacttheory⁠ ********************************************************************** FOLLOW TOM: Instagram:⁠ ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/tombilyeu/⁠ Tik Tok:⁠ ⁠⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@tombilyeu?lang=en⁠ Twitter:⁠ ⁠⁠https://twitter.com/tombilyeu⁠ YouTube:⁠ ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@TomBilyeu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Two-thirds of Americans now say the other political party is not just wrong, but a serious threat to the United States itself.
0:09.7	Trust in the government has collapsed to just 22%, which is near historic lows.
0:15.5	The middle class, the glue that holds this country together, has been absolutely hollowed out.
0:21.6	Housing is now at its least affordable point in 30 years, locking young Americans out of the only asset they intuitively understand.
0:29.6	And when people are shut out, resentment festers, which is why 62% of Americans under 30 now say they have a positive view of one of history's most murderous economic systems, socialism.
0:43.3	Worse than that, these aren't random cracks in civilization.
0:47.3	They're the same fault lines that show up again and again throughout history right before society's collapse. Philosophers, historians, economists,
0:57.0	the best minds across multiple eras all point to the same sequence. Debt accumulates,
1:04.0	the middle class disappears, trust breaks down, populism rises, elites get overproduced, wealthy people hedge against collapse, and debt
1:13.6	spirals wildly out of control until violence erupts.
1:17.6	If you want to know where America is at on that timeline, we just crossed $37 trillion in government debt.
1:24.6	That's more than $100,000 of debt for every man, woman, and child in the
1:31.6	country. Only 18% of adults even earn that much in a year. The debt to GDP ratio is at a staggering
1:39.5	122% and climbing, and 130% is considered a red line over which virtually every country that has ever spent any meaningful amount of time above that line has collapsed. History is screaming at us. The dashboard is flashing red. If we do not take evasive action immediately, if you
2:03.6	can't afford a bunker in New Zealand, your future is going to be bleak. Today, we're going
2:09.9	to speed run how countries collapse so we can see exactly what we need to do to avoid it.
2:15.7	And if we can avoid it as a society, what you personally need to do to make it to the other side better than before the collapse, because collapses always hurt most people, but they also always help a select few. We're going to cover this in five easy parts. Part five is the playbook, but you are not going to
2:35.0	want to skip part four because if you do, you're going to be in trouble. It won't make any
2:38.1	sense because that's where I explain why the answer you're currently being sold isn't going
2:43.7	to work, at least not alone. So welcome to part one, the anatomy of a collapse. In the last years of the USSR grocery store shelves were so bare that by 1990, the average
2:57.0	Soviet family spent a third of their income on food when it was available and still
3:03.2	faced chronic shortages.
	...

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