it is prety much impossible to defend against TPTB

I agree with that, I live in the UK, we have a saying "as safe as the Bank of England" which is meant to imply 'as safe as you can get'.

The Bank of England issues our currency, the 'Pound Sterling' - the pound it refers to is one pound in weight of Sterling Silver (an alloy of 92.5% Silver and other metals).

Our paper currency is a receipt for this silver, so a twenty pound note is a receipt for twenty pounds of silver that was once deposited with the bank (in those days it maybe represented twenty years wages). Today, twenty pounds of silver is worth somewhere in the region of £3000 (about two months wages, such inflation!), but a twenty pound note will only get you around two OUNCES of silver, not twenty pounds.

Somebody has stolen 318 ounces ( >99%) of the original silver that was deposited, as it was deposited in the Bank of England it must be somebody in there! Does the Bank of England sound safe to you? Have faith in our Banking system!

"Our JIT economic system will function until it won't and when it fails it is likely that no hard assets will be of any help, farming land included."

This would seem to go against the thinking of many Peak Oilers who believe that a piece of farmland, the Doomstead, is going to save them. Why dont you think farming land will be of help?

Buying a farm now could easily turn into a disaster, especially for those of use who have little idea what would be needed to actually produce food in adequate quantity to feed a family and store if for winter months. The more I think about the problems, the more I admire our ancestors and their ability to get along without fossil fuels.

You are right, oldfarmer, and your comments appreciated. But we don't have any other options that are more appealing. A little food is better than no food. I'd rather be puttering around on dirt than rioting on the streets because the stores were empty.

Cold Camel

Well said oldfarmermac.
I do not live in USA but exhausted soils was fairly typical for US up to middle of 20thC until farming found the industrial alternatives. Jackman and Long, 1964, in The Oregon Desert, give a sympathetic and entertaining account of the brief 'homesteading' boom in that part of the country during the first years of the last century. Teachers, clerks, fit young folk, found, alongside some personal tragedies, some good romance and socializing and played some good baseball apparently, and I guess the kids had memorable childhoods, but there is hardly a trace left in the ground.
I guess the Chinese and Korean peasants will still be around. Even they are not self-sufficient and need these days some industrial N fertilizer and sufficient regional/system 'insurance' against inevitable local failures. March larger regional system adjustment is required to deal with issues of water or other long term declines.
Having said that, maximising suburban or urban gardening can ensure some healthy nutrition and an attractive environment.

No water! I am not capable of surviving without modern medicine, if the water goes then I am long dead because other things are gone.

I'm gone in very short order without not only modern medicine, but relatively intensive healthcare as can be had (in the US) only with sufficient health insurance. Society need not break down for me to go; I need only lose my job.

What price do you think the battered world economy can entertain before it sets off another downward spiral?

I saw a chart here on TOD a while back showing the world economy topping out and plateauing at $60/bbl, but not starting to drop until about $90/bbl. We're at $65/bbl this morning.

No medicine, I die.

Are you 100% sure. My mother in law had diabetes and was dependant on meducation. I treated her homoeopathically for it, she had a heart attack and when she got out of hospital - no need for diabetes medication, that was 4 years ago. A lot of stuff that doctor's tell you is spin, just like the "fast money" morons.

Well Speedy I'm a chemist dunno what medicine your taking but if patent enforcement weakens a lot of medicines will be readily available.

Of course if you think we are going to have total collapse its a no go.

But depending on the details many can be synthesized in any well equipped lab.
Obviously its something else I've thought about post peak.

Does not mean that medical research will advance but there is no intrinsic reason to lose most of our drugs as long as things stay reasonably stable somewhere in the world.

Obviously one of the big exports from these stable regions will be drugs.

I'm so thankful I got a chemistry degree even though I've not really used it all that much its always been something thats been really nice to have.

In a normal economy it gives me the option of becoming a lab tech of some sort with reasonable pay and basically 9-5 type working condition to focus on other aspects of life. If things get interesting a chemist becomes a fairly valuable guy to have around.

Give me some sulfur and I can rule the world :)