Inflation

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it really depends. Where some communities pull together in times of crises, others fall apart. Look at some nations t hat have been at civil war for years. When a stable government fail, it allowed radicals to move in and people have been killing and enslaving each other since.

I hope our communities will be able to hold together should something happen, but there is no guarantee. History is full of communities holding together, and full of people taking advantage, torturing and enslaving one another.

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And people say WWII helped the economy... Sorry, couldn't resist.

Gotta admit, in a rationing situation, I'd happily protect members of the black market - provided, of course, that they weren't stealing or violating others' rights in some way. Government rationing, IMHO, is utterly ridiculous and a violation of all common sense and reason.

Black market?
One of my favorite views on that:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agorism
The counter economics concept is probably our only hope.

Oh crap! Gas is a few cents away from four dollars a gallon, where in the heck it jumped twenty five cents a gallon from this morning!!!!!! GRRRRRRRRR!

OK, who is responsible for this mess?!

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And people say WWII helped the economy... Sorry, couldn't resist.

Gotta admit, in a rationing situation, I'd happily protect members of the black market - provided, of course, that they weren't stealing or violating others' rights in some way. Government rationing, IMHO, is utterly ridiculous and a violation of all common sense and reason.

Black market?
One of my favorite views on that:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agorism
The counter economics concept is probably our only hope.


YES!!! Another Tom Woods fan! I need to get Rollback - think they have it at Barnes & Noble?

The government is compared a lot to the biblical Leviathan, thanks to Hobbes. I'll make another comparison - Leviathan cannot be killed through force of arms, but nothing says it can't be starved!

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And people say WWII helped the economy... Sorry, couldn't resist.

Gotta admit, in a rationing situation, I'd happily protect members of the black market - provided, of course, that they weren't stealing or violating others' rights in some way.

this is the way it happens most of the time

my uncles were born from 1894-1935 they were operating like they did from about 1909 through the 50's early 60's we have dealt with quiet a few LEO's over the years LOL Even they did not approve of the rationing LOL Not sure about the ones that came after LOL


Government rationing, IMHO, is utterly ridiculous and a violation of all common sense and reason.

Not so much that Japan s' looting was avoided by the presence ofthe law which I believe it contributed but my point was more what happened here in the U.S. without the law. I agree Japan runs a tighter ship. I should add also that statistically looting and rioting is usally limited to certain social and economically depressed areas.
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Anyone who knows how little I live on, knows I qualify for food stamps and all that, but the "co-dependency dance" one has to do to get them, is amazingly time-consuming. Plus they want to know EVERYTHING about your life, and if you buy a car, get a job, etc they'll punish you for that. I stay far, far, away.

I just live within my means, grow, gather, raise, etc., and for instance, today I got up and had coffee brewed here, and a fried egg sandwich on toast. That toast is very important: It was to test a cool old 1950s toaster in GREAT shape, which I took around to the local antique stores, to sell. I also have a french-fry cutter with both blades and clean. So ... I go around and ask EVERYONE and NO ONE is buying. Because they're not making any sales. I took 3 dozen eggs too, sold 2 dozen, and traded the money from that and the last dozen eggs and that paid for a haircut. The toaster, I GAVE to a nice lady with two kids, having her son's hair cut. The french fry cutter, I'm keeping. It doesn't use electricity and it may be useful. I spent HOURS around town today and that's what I got, $6. Rode 20+ miles on the bike, too. This is the new reality.

And yet, in the middle of this, I'm saving real money and it turns out not to be hard. I'd bought some pewter police uniform buttons at a garage sale for $5, one antique store lady wanted 'em all right but didn't have $50 cash (who does, these days?) so I got two "Silver eagles" for the buttons. sure I came home with no haircut money and went shaggy another day, I got almost a dollar a button, I figure. I hope she can sell them and make a good markup. Tell people you'll trade stuff for silver and there ya go.

I like your attitude GarlicEater! Self reliance has it's own rewards.

Regarding rationing and the black market, I shouldn't think that anyone likes rationing, but sometimes it's a necessary expediant. Imagine a seige situation where there is only a finite amount of food. I'm sure we would all expect that it would be shared out fairly amongst the community. Anyone who keeps and controls any of the food, and sells it at a price that only allows selected people to buy it, is stealing from the others. Very often, in these situations, it is the least able to help themselves who suffer the worst.

I don't believe that civil unrest only thrives in poorer countries necessarily. What we see happening in the middle east at the moment isn't because the people find themselves desperately poor. They are enraged by the inequalities in their society, by the lack of opportunity, and by their government's refusal to accept free and fair elections. They are fighting for a future that we have happily enjoyed for many generations. What we need to do, to ensure the survival of our own societies is to pull togehter through the tough times.

The cost of living has gone up $22,000.00 since I retired. I don't know how much longer I will be able to afford to live. My pension is a fixed amount with no cost of living increases. It is exactly the same as when I retired when gas was $1 per gallon.

On the subject of rationing.

My parents were getting on in years when I came onto the scene and that allowed me a chance to hear about their experience through the years. They both lived through the great depression. My dad's father was a fireman so he had a steady income and life wasn't terribly difficult for them. My mom's family had a small farm and were very poor. She told of a time when they had mustard on pancakes because they didn't have anything else. My mom's family especially were honest hard working people. Three of her brothers fought in WWII (Pearl Harbor survivor, Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima, etc...) Tom Brokaw called them the greatest generation and I thoroughly believe that is true. My aunts and uncles were really the salt of the Earth.

For the most part people of today aren't like the WWII generation. I can't imagine the average family being satisfied with the rationing level that people endured during WWII. We have become a soft society. I saw it every time that I returned home from Ecuador. While there I saw people struggling through hardship every day and being happy with every single day compared to being back here and seeing unhappy people living the easy life.

Folks like Garlic Eater will have no problem surviving and I think that most people here could make it with a minimal amount of discomfort. We raise chickens for meat and eggs and most of us strive for self sufficiency at some level.