Jewish Farmer,

I at least realize that you can't write the whole book and post it here,although some may not.:-)

As I see it,if we are lucky,the winding down of the energy glutton consumer economy just might happen slowly enough to allow us to adapt without so many destitute people that riots and near civil war are the order of the day.

Draconian rationing of gasoline,maybe diesel,a steep graduated consumption tax on electricity,probably rationing or subsidized consumption basic foods,puntive taxes on products not essential from bottled water to cola to potato chips to imported flowers,etc,will be the norm.

And this is only if we wind down slowly,and some alternate employment can be found for the car salesmen,the high dollar divorce/ambulance chaser lawyers,the truck drivers who used to deliver potato chips..............

A war need not touch the US directly with bombs and bullets to send us over the edge.We are already in a situation analogous to that of a bicycle rider who has started down a very steep hill on a gravel path a little beyond his abilities.He may make it to the bottom within crashing but only if he doesn't hit a pot hole or loose stone.Stopping in such a situation is not a possibility,you can only ride out the down slope and hope you make it to the bottom.

A hot fight anywhere in sand country could take out a couple of major pipeline terminals or close a couple of shipping lane bottle necks, sending us over the edge from our current recession/depression into a full blown panic combined with a real right here right now industrial crash.

If such a scenario comes to pass the BEST we can hope for is a long period of martial law and giant refugee camps.

If anybody wants to know why guns and ammo are selling so well these days,one reason is that people who have never owned guns are beginning to understand just how precarious our situation really is.