I certainly hope your version of the SHTF is the right one. If so, we’ll come out of this just fine.
The key to your scenario it that government will eventually ride to the rescue. How? Like with Katrina, only nationwide?
I hope you are right, but I think you’ve underestimated a key variable: What happens if the power goes off, nationwide, for any extended period of time?
With no power, how long will it take for the cities to run out of water? What happens when millions of people have no water?
With no power, how long will it take for the distribution of gasoline and food to cease?
With no gasoline or food, and chaos in the cities and surrounding areas, who will restore the power?
With no gasoline, food, or power, what happens to that year’s crops?
The longer the power is off the more difficult it will be to turn back on.
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SIDE NOTE: If power is off for an extended period we will see many civilized people turn into animals. We even have a poster on this thread who says that is what he plans to become. The animals will eventually be weeded out, and society will be better off without them. But how much damage will they do before they are gone?
“The longer the power is off the more difficult it will be to turn back on”
Worth repeating. Comparing simple storm outages to outages that might last for several months has not ever been tried and they are a completely different animal.