U.S. Ship of State Like the "Titanic"

I have been reading the book Unsinkable, about the sinking of the Titanic.  There are certain analogies between this sinking and the current state of the U.S. economy.  Thus, there are lessons to be learned.  Actually, the analogies are almost eery:  The relative lack of panic, even though the ship was doomed;  the low-key orders of a "cool" captain;  The over-riding tendency to continue conducting business as usual;  the indequate provisions for ensuring safety and rescue;  the frantic, but secret distress calls;  the tight circle of superiors "in the know."  The third-rate treatment of the poor steerage passengers;  And more. 

What is not yet known is whether the final outcome of the Titanic situation will have any bearing on our current predicament.  But what interests me now are the rather scary comparisons of the states of mind of people then and now.  Do we see in both cases a "normalcy bias?"  How does one tell the difference between true danger, as with Titanic and false danger, as with the self-proclaimed end-of-the-world predictions? 

I plan to write more on this later.  Please stay tuned.