Still, complete breakdown, such as the doomsayers envision, is just not in the cards, unless there is a nuclear attack with EMP and/or blast damage in major cities. I rate the probability of this as very low.
A collapse of society could occur in a financial/economic collapse. If supermarkets are looted then there won’t be much food left for everyone else. EMP/Nuclear attacks are not the only threat.
You forgot their allies flying the Republican flag.
I beg to differ it doesn’t take much nor long for SHTF.
For a somber, yet realistic look at what real SHFT is like read some of Selcos post:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2798007/posts
China and other nations announce they will no longer use the dollar as default currency....or perhaps the US defaults on its debt.
The value of the dollar falls badly...it is becoming an hourly watch to see what the dollar is worth.
Meanwhile, truck drivers that need to buy diesel fuel to run cannot afford it because the price is over $100 per gallon and rising. The same fuel that trains use to transport coal to power plants is near unaffordable. Large portions of the country go dark for extended periods. People flood to their food and grocery stores to stock up. It won't take long for the shelves to be empty. After a few weeks of this, it is only getting worse as gangs of inner city animals start moving outward to the suburbs looking for food and fun as they rape and pillage anyone who can't defend themselves. The spiral downward will continue unabated as the rule of law at the local level breaks down because the local constabulary has no officers...they're home defending their turf against the horde. (I know a great many LEOs...this will happen.)
No EMP necessary at all.
OK.
I listened to a brodcast the other night that featured a researcher named Matt Stein. He wrote a couple books, one of which is “When Technology Fails...”
He was very well informed and knew what he was talking about.
His main fear is not atomic attack or EMP.
It’s SOLAR!!
The reason is the way things are set up. US uses or has online some 2,000 of these huge like 350KV transformers.
In 1929 there was a solar storm that, if it happened today, would blow a good many of these to kingdom come.
We make ZERO of them in the United States.
Current wait time for new ones IS ABOUT TWO YEARS!
OK.... so that happened in 1929... big deal...
except there were two solar storms in 1890 that were even bigger.
And it looks like the solar max we are heading into now is gonna be a doozie!!!
Will society have a complete and total breakdown/collapse? I honestly don’t know, and I don’t know what the official criteria for a breakdown would be. But never underestimate two things: (1) the amazingly thin veneer that allows us to maintain the appearance of normalcy. How civilized will we appear when we have gone two days without a meal..a week without a meal? (2) The power of mass psychology or group-think. If as few as 20% of Americans think that we have reached that nebulous state of breakdown, then it won’t take long until 40% believe it, then 50%, then 75%, etc. The danger is not whether we truly break (again, whatever that means), it’s the social psychological effect of ever increasing numbers who believe it will happen or is already happening. A self-fulfilling prophecy on steroids.
“Still, complete breakdown, such as the doomsayers envision, is just not in the cards, unless there is a nuclear attack with EMP and/or blast damage in major cities. I rate the probability of this as very low.”
Widespread rioting and looting is not so far-fetched.
I have two concerns that are not on most people’s radar:
1. Instantaneous, worldwide cyberwar. Viruses, trojans, backdoors in those Chinese made chips, etc. could cripple our infrastructure in an attack that would dwarf Pearl Harbor. What if they take down the electrical grid and fry the transformers? It could be more effective than EMP without crossing the nuclear threshold.
2. Loose bioweapons from the labs in Libya, Egypt, or Yemen. Somewhere there is a jihadi scientist who has modified the genes in smallpox to make it invulnerable to vaccines and pneumonic (spread through the air like the flu). The jihadi has poor lab technique and worse personal hygiene. An accidental release could spread such a plague through air travel in days.
Stay prepared for anything!
People in the former Yugoslavia thought the same.