Posted on 04/08/2014 1:24:58 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
I pray that this happens. We could use a good urban-culling.
The status quo is unsustainable.
It would probably be a good thing for the country in some ways. Some of the dead weight would be removed from the gene pool, elections would be quite different without the celebrity candidates’ ability to manipulate the media and the Internet, people wouldn’t waste all their time with computers and TV and instead might have to learn to farm or something useful.
Perhaps it's a matter of semantics but the mom and pop stores I referred to offered a relatively full range of veggies, limited cuts of meat,eggs, milk, butter and bread as well as packaged goods. Called them mom and pop as they are family owned and not chain stores. Pretty much the grocery store type I grew up with before the advent of the Supermarket.
Green grocers, bakeries, butcher shops, and super deli's such as Zabar's or Dean and DeLuca augment the small grocery stores. But the key thing is very, very few urbanites have more than 2 days of food in their apartments, just not enough room for large fridges or pantries.
And, once again, I agree.
I met a man who worked for the Department of Defense for many years and one of his areas of expertise was knowing how a solar flare or EMP attack could/would destroy our electronic systems in our major weapons and protecting them from those. The man said regarding the country’s electrical system the huge transformers going out could not be replaced for a very long time, many months. Yes, the country would be down for a very long time.
Is it true that we no longer manufacture large transformers in the USA, and import ALL large generators such as go into dam power output?
Yes.
Here is the government report on Large Power Transformers (LPT). It gives the cost which will astound you, plus tell how long it takes to get one and tell you we are trying to start making them ourselves. Read page 6 and 7 for sure.
http://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/Large%20Power%20Transformer%20Study%20-%20June%202012_0.pdf
BTTT
Thanks. That was a rather sobering read! Makes eighteen months sound like the extreme low end for re-up time.
Well, I have seen estimates of a 90% mortality within the first year. The survivors probably wouldn't be capable of putting the full system back together nor could they properly control or protect the vast reaches of a depopulated America sans transportation, communication, and technology. Darkest Africa would be an improvement by comparison.
No doubt the Chinese and Russians would be happy to move in, carve the empty territories and vast natural resources up to their own liking, fix some of the infrastructure, and establish their own colonies without the original inhabitants - or their few pesky and poorly armed survivors.
But... let's talk about something more important - like a "fair wage" for women, "free" medical care, Gay "rights," and amnesty for tens of millions of uneducated and parasitic immigrants most of whom don't speak English or give a tinker's damn about the Constitution except how they can milk the system for a free pay check.
In other words, don't worry about the elephant in the room. Instead, concentrate on those little glittery things way over there in the other direction...
I would like to see the farmers weigh in.
After 18 months of them just trying to stay alive, what would be the situation for them to start shipping out grains and vegetables and meat and eggs again.
Would that take an additional year or three years, 5 years, what would it look like with abandoned farms, abandoned supply and distribution systems, and trucking companies, deferred maintenance and little or no fuel or parts for trucks and farm equipment, no seed or fertilizers, no retailers in the cities, only farmer’s markets.
I wonder if the government has a plan to help defend large farms and ranches and such to keep the ability to restart, and replant, and to replace animals, from being totally used up?
Thanks for the info.
“But...but...Obama old us about all those “infrastructure” and “shovel ready” jobs he had $Billions for.....”
Billions? I thought it was damn near a full Trillion! However, your point remains....
Taking out substations doesn't directly take out any generators. The big problem is that when the grid goes down, there can be no place to put the power. A nuclear plant has about 20 seconds to fire up diesel generators to run cooling pumps and to shut the plant down once it looses the grid. If not, it will overheat. That said, local plants can generate locally, grid or no grid. The grid balances power, it doesn't generate it. There certainly could be major disruptions. There are still enough ingenious people in this country that most wouldn't sit around and die, just because someone shot insulators off nine electrical substations.
How many substations will it take for people to start dying?
/johnny
Reality check time. Note that the INTERCONNECTS go down. What do they do? they are points where those different regional grids transfer power between themselves as required. What would go down is the ability to transfer power. That doesn't mean the entire country LOSES power.
The regional grids will remain functional - however net consumer grids may experience power shortfalls because they cannot import additional power, while grids that are predominantly producers will see fewer problems.
BLUF - the national grid will be damaged - but that doesn't mean everyone will be without power - only the abilty to transfer power between grids. Sheesh.
It’s a guarantee anyone outside the cities would be without power for much longer than 18 months.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.