[wbill]

New York City, L.A., Philly, etc., with no power, no cell phones

NYC has had a number of blackouts, including a major one within the past decade. It's still standing.

There's a lot of hysteria out there, and at least a few FReepers wishing for Armageddon.

[PLMerite]

“NYC has had a number of blackouts, including a major one within the past decade. It’s still standing.”

That’s because they got the power back on rather quickly. In a legitimate EMP scenario, where generated power and high-tech vehicles (cars, trains, buses) don’t work, water pumps failed, food didn’t move, etc., they’d be eating each other within a week.

[aegiscg47]

"NYC has had a number of blackouts, including a major one within the past decade. It's still standing. There's a lot of hysteria out there, and at least a few FReepers wishing for Armageddon."

Right. However, they haven't had one where there's no trucks with food coming into the city possibly ever again. Could the city withstand a power outage of several weeks and no food coming in? My guess is probably not. It would take quite some time to get the country's transportation system even back to 10% of what it was before an EMP attack.