Because they buy into the belief that a full-blow societal collapse will happen over a span of hours. :rolleyes:
I think you hit on something. Perhaps it’s the idea of a Nuke or Carrington event they fear. Hurricanes, Tornadoes, Tsunami’s and Earthquakes are another. Those are all natural disasters as compared to societal meltdown. I guess be prepared for whatever may happen rather than a single scenario.
Preparing as best you can is quite a bit different than paranoid obsession. :agree:
Hours…NO way. It is going to be instant. :jester:
Remember the reports of the run on our banks after the Europeans guaranteed all the deposits in their banks and we were still at like $100k or $250k? The transfers would have (had the Federal Reserve not suspended them) pulled all of the liquidity out of our financial system overnight.
That would have set off a domino effect throughout the global economy that have started with us, then spread as the rest of the world woke up. Nothing but cash would have worked then, and not for long.
That would have happened overnight, and probably everything would have ground to a halt pretty quickly. Hours would have been the proper measure then.
I’m not saying I believe in any doomsday scenario, but such scenarios are possible. Inflation doesn’t have to do it, EMP doesn’t have to do it, zombies (when will this fad be over with already?) don’t have to do it, just a quick arbitrage opportunity (can you say oil shock?) or a large enough incentive to attract the right amount of liquid investment in a short period of time can do it. Spain, Greece, and Portugal toppling at once, with Ireland and France right behind could possibly do it. Germans are fiscal superhumans, but even they couldn’t handle all that.
Anyone know the real state of China’s financial system? I didn’t think so. I certainly don’t. If they have a freeze like we did (they have a real estate boom too), and deposits flow out of there overnight, the whole country seizes, that’s the first domino. Anyone know how many of our banks are relying on Chinese subsidiaries? How many of your dollars are in a Chinese U.S. bank subsidiary? After that, you may have just hours to get home before gas stations can’t pay to be refueled, ports start closing the warehouses and turning away ships, etc. And it doesn’t have to be the actual effect, it can just be the follow-on panic that causes all that.
I’m not sure that such an event couldn’t be managed properly. But then again, I’m not so confident in the people who would have to do it.
Some disasters do.
Granted, they’re usually the least likely to occur, but the potential is there.
Never forget that, in the history of man, we have never been this dependent on electricity, computers/microprocessors, cheap fossil fuels, on-time deliveries, and probably the biggest dependency of all, luck.
Even more food for thought…
Re: railroad tracks: Not long ago, I was without a car for a period of time. Not content to sit at home or bother others for transport, I hoofed it a few miles when a fast food craving hit. The shortest distance between two points was a straight line, which happened to be a railroad track. While ground formations and track construction vary, this particular section of track was elevated berm, rocked on either side, and fenced on either side of the easement. Read: it wasn’t real pleasant ground to walk on, either on the railroad tracks and ties themselves, or the ground immediately on either side. It wasn’t a quaint stroll or Stand by Me moment with Gordy LaChance in Stand By Me. It sucked after a bit. And like my previous example, I could’ve walked MUCH more distance on other ground.
Re: Distance in general: Bust out your local maps and consider a radius of influence that certain events will have. How far do you have to walk to be out of a danger zone? Depending on your area, walking a couple of miles could offer significant relief, or you may be required to walk a great deal farther. If you’re in MSP and the rampaging hordes of scandanavians attack, the metro is about ~50mi across. DFW? ~70mi (?) or so. Would you have to walk that entire distance, however, and in what interval of time? History shows that problems are generally confined to a span of blocks, not double digit miles.
Be realistic.
And again, go walk it.
Not to be a dick, but you didn’t really read what I wrote. I used the term “societal collapse”.
You are correct, some disasters happen in a span of hours and minuets. However, if everything west of the San Andreas Fault Line slides into the ocean, my wife will still be be able to drive home from work in Michigan that same day.
I’m talking about American society degrading into lawlessness, where you are referring to disasters. Two different things my friend.
I would use the RR tracks first. RR tracks also has the great advantage of not having any real steep grade that would make traveling with any weight such as a bob much easier. But another thing you may want to look into is gas line and cable lines and even power lines.