Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Prepare: Wyoming Apocalypse Bill

Wyoming Apocalypse Bill

A lawmaker in Wyoming introduced a bill this week which would have allocated $16,000.00 in state funds to study and plan for the collapse of the U.S. federal government and the dollar.

The plan would have funded studies for a state-run alternative currency, emergency food production and military preparations.

The bill was ridiculed (another lawmaker appended a requirement that the state get its own aircraft carrier) and failed when it came up for vote.

Unfortunately, the problem was not the messenger, but the message. The lawmaker was correct; Wyoming, and other states, need to make emergency plans in the event the federal government can no longer finance its activities and thus, can no longer continue operations. The fact of the matter is, the U.S. federal government borrows over forty cents for each dollar it spends - that's unsustanainable.

Critics of the bill argued that emergency planning was already funded by the state through existing agencies. Fair enough. But most state planning consists of dealing with weather emergenicies like snowstorms or natural disasters such as wild fires.

Once upon a time ago, progressive cities and towns used to make plans for a nuclear strike during the Cold War. It was not the Fed's role to ensure continuity of government, it was theirs or so the conventional wisdom of the day went.

Today however, If they were faced with multiple widespread terrorist attacks, a nuclear or biological weapon, or worse, an EMP event, most local planning involves calling FEMA for instructions. That's not a plan, that's a wish.

All states, and cities and counties for that matter, should consider the question, "What would we do if we were cut off from the outside world and had to go it alone for an extended period of time?". Afterall, this happened in New Orleans after Katrina when it took over a week for help to arrive in large enough force to actually make a difference.

Which would then lead to:

How long would the food in the grocery stores last?
Where could we get more food locally?
What about fuel supplies? How long would they last?
Do we have the authority to commandeer supplies owned by local businesses and individuals?
Should we be stockpiling supplies normally used by local government so we can continue to function?
Will our law enforcement resources be enough? What about other emergency services such as medical facilities?


Governments of all sizes are doing a disservice to their citizens when they don't make plans for things so terrible, the average person does not want to think about them. While it may not be prudent to spend $16,000.00 to study scenarios, it does make sense to figure out how your people will be fed and stay warm in an extended emergency.

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