Collapse Gap analysis for USA and China

Here is a very interesting article from 'post-peak oil' writer Richard Heinberg which is posted over at the Post-Carbon Institute blog - titled 'China or the U.S.: Which Will Be the Last Nation Standing?' The article addresses the 'Collapse Gap' between USA and China. In this article Heinberg argues that the USA is less prepared for collapse than China. Some of his points are summarised below (from the ClubOrlov blog - also highly recommended):

• The governments of both USA and China are not trying to avert collapse but simply to delay it. Averting collapse would involve
  overcoming problems caused by fossil fuel depletion, ecosystem limits
  such as soil and fresh water, climate disruption due to global warming,
  and an economic system predicated on exponential growth. Neither
  government is up to the task of solving any of these, and so the
  obvious choice for them is to stall for time, hoping that the other one
  collapses first.
• Although whichever country collapses first will immediately find itself at an obvious disadvantage vis à vis the other, that advantage
  is likely to be short-lived. Unlike the collapse of the USSR, the
  collapse of either USA or China will devastate the other, with major
  repercussions for the other major economies. There will be no country
  left standing that will be capable of effecting an economic rescue. The
  collapse of either USA or China will trigger the collapse of the other,
  marking a permanent, global transition to a new state.
• Since collapse is unavoidable, the obvious fall-back strategy would be to invest in local resiliency and self-sufficiency. Since neither
  government appears the least bit interested in such matters, it is time
  for us to recognize them for what they are to us: utterly irrelevant.
  Paying attention to national politics can only distract us from doing
  whatever we can as individuals and local communities.