tainter says

tainter says civilizations collapse becuse their problems solving solutions eventually fail to solve problems

but what he doesn't say is why

my hypothesis is that elites fail to solve to the problem.

sumerian elites were aware of the problems
mayan elites were aware of the problems
roman elites were aware of the problems
spanish elites were aware of the problems
british elites were aware of the problems
french elites on hispaniola were aware of the problems
cuban elites were aware of the problems
russian royal elites were aware of the problems
USSR elites were aware of the problems
US bank elites were aware of the problems
Enron elites were aware of the problems

you can't imagine they were stupid or blind or unaware

so why did the elites not solve the problems?

personal benefit

behaviors that that had established their wealth and position as elites were the problem
a tipping point had been passed

private profit public peril

elite exist to exploit the commons as parasites

it is tolerated as long as it is not to obnoxious

but eventually they get bigger than the host and kill the host - sumer, rome, easter island

OR

the host rebels and kills the parasites - france, usa, china

behaviors that had been profitable before were destructive now