I also heard the NJ State Department of Agriculture, as well as funding of equipment acquisitions for volunteer fire departments (as if they don't get paid little enough as is).

Gail - Thank-you for writing a realistic unsanitzed version of events. We are so conditioned to the happy ending that this may sound downbeat. The post-peak world is a different landscape. The sooner we look at that reality and make adjustments the better.

There's a number of international organizations like The International Committee of the Red Cross, The International Organization for Migration, and UN activities like WFP that receive funding from the various member nations. Lots of these programs are already operating on a fairly tight budget and I'd guess things will get tighter still as nations look for places to cut. I doubt that donations will be especially forthcoming in hard times and there's probably some minimal funding level below which they just can't operate. (The bird with one wing can't fly witticism fits here.)

I often read here where folks assert that it's not possible for there to be a massive die-off in this day and time. Perhaps not here in the US (but I'm now so sure about that-things can happen very fast with a confluence of untoward events). Folks killed directly by warfare or a climatic disaster can't be prevented, but timely aid via these international programs can prevent lots of deaths and privation that sets in once the hurricane, volcano, earth quake, tsunami or whatever subsides.
I know from observing the response to the infamous hurricane Katrina that governments can be pretty callous about such things even when it strikes on the home turf and it's probably even easier to ignore if it's some little country somewhere in Africa.

Inner city riots will be commonplace as welfare stipends disappear.

Could you double check your link?

Actuaries are involved with a field that is basically economic, but don't go through the same indoctrination as everyone else (unless actuaries choose to take additional economic courses). My MS is in mathematics.

The casualty actuarial profession (what I am) basically grew up outside of the university system. We have our list of readings, and there are short courses a person can sign up to take, taught by other actuaries. Everyone must pass the prescribed examinations. There were never enough casualty actuaries to justify our own university program. There is now a program in Canada, at the University of Waterloo.

The life actuarial field is bigger, and is somewhat more tied to universities, but still pretty separate. I don't think we lost anything by not being closely tied to the economists.

Here is the correct link for the article:

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=the-economist-has-no-clothes