What will a complete U.S. economic collapse look like?

People have always had this kind of worry. After WW2, the fear was that the nation's then-unheard-of $296 billion debt would be the end of us. But it wasn't. Instead, we experienced what many now refer to as the "golden age of capitalism". In my view, debt is only bad if it's simply for consumption or poorly thought through investment purposes. But when it's used to invest in something of great value, and therefore, high profitability to society, it can be a force of tremenous growth and prosperity. Now, to answer your question, a total economic collapse would probably be tolerated at first, simply because the average American is used to the idea that we are always the most powerful and prosperous country in the world. But when the time came that we he is forced to accept his real destitution, revolution would likely take place, at least eventually. We came very close in the Great Depression.