[GOP_Party_Animal]

I’ll buy the inevitable nuclear/biological attack. But the panic and financial crash? Violence of neighbor-on-neighbor outside the affected area? No government services for months? Baloney.

[ladyjane]

No government services for months? Baloney

In the aftermath of a disaster some inner cities deteriorate into anarchy and government services are scarce or unavailable. Remember New Orleans and the Superdome. Multiply that by the number of cities hit.

[Mr. Jeeves]

I’ll buy the inevitable nuclear/biological attack. But the panic and financial crash? Violence of neighbor-on-neighbor outside the affected area? No government services for months? Baloney.

The reason all of that will happen is not because of the initial attack, but because the success of the initial attack will make future attacks a certainty. Americans, deep in their "government will protect me from monsters" mindset, will simply abandon their urban civil service jobs when they realize that every city is vulnerable. This isn't the WWII generation. In modern American cities, it's every man for himself.

"Lucifer's Hammer" by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle is a good blueprint for what might happen. It's about a comet hitting the Earth, but the human behavior described in the aftermath is exactly what we will see after a nuclear attack.

[uncbob]

I’ll buy the inevitable nuclear/biological attack. But the panic and financial crash? Violence of neighbor-on-neighbor outside the affected area? No government services for months? Baloney.

That is exactly what will happen in case you are figuring you are not in a targeted area so you will be OK

Everything is so intertwined in an advanced society that removing one block has tremendous ripple effects especially financially

[Just another Joe]

If they hit the right spots they could, almost literally, shut this country down.
Think about it. Take enough gasoline refineries out and who's going to supply the gasoline and diesel for motor vehicles? What's the price of gasoline and diesel going to rise to?

Hit the right rail/highway nexus's and you could hamper extremely the ability to ship cross country without extreme measures.

It doesn't mean that the panic would be sudden or immediate. But, IMO, there would be an ensuing panic at some point if they hit the right spots.

[darth]

Right on! We may see looting and lawlessness in the inner cities, but most Americans will pull together and help each other.

[live+let_live]

“No government services for months? Baloney.”

I’m with you. And another false alarm, Social Security.

I trust my government. That’s why I’m not saving any money for my retirement. I’ve been promised that I’ll be taken care of.

[jwparkerjr]

There are many neighborhoods around this country where the day to day life is only slightly above this level. Some neighborhoods would never fall to this level, but others are only a half-step away, while the rest could well react this way.

As for government, I’m convinced it is just above the breaking point at every level.

[romanesq]

“I’ll buy the inevitable nuclear/biological attack. But the panic and financial crash? Violence of neighbor-on-neighbor outside the affected area? No government services for months? Baloney.”

If you don’t think it will get ugly in an urban environment, you are kidding yourself.

As for a financial crash, on that end, I can’t say. But I certainly couldn’t rule it out. In fact it would be more likely than not.

US cities being hit with nuclear weapons? A nightmare.