I figured it could read zero as while the system is just a computer there still must be money someplace to back it up. At some point there cannot be because the participating federal reserve banks would simply no longer participate with EBT once there was nothing left of value to pay them for it.
Either way, the effect of the story remains: The country goes broke and the more than 50% receiving government checks no longer do so they go nuts.
I put prepping into even higher gear this summer. I had the opportunity to take the summer off and do a boatload of final preps, inlcuding refresher medical courses. I see sometime mid next year as the final act. We had best be prepared.
Mainly, without getting technical, I felt that “flashed ERROR” worked better and more plausibly than “flashed zeroes.” But no matter how it happens, the music will stop. The French or Germans then or Zimbabwe today show that a govt printing trillions in “money” won’t prop up a collapsing state or a failed economy.