[missourimary]

Or if our power grid failed in one area or another... remember the after affects of Hurricane Katrina on gas prices, food prices, and so forth? If electricity, natural gas, water, or even sewer or satellite (cell phones? internet?) failed for more than a week or two over a large area of the US, the affects would be staggering. We've had small warnings of what might happen... 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, economic crises... if the damage isn't widespread, Americans do tend to pull together and pull out of whatever disaster they find themselves in. But most of us aren't trained to handle disasters. We don't expect them, and we tend not to think about them. If the disaster were widespread and disasterous enough, it would have a huge and longlasting impact on the entire American economy and culture, and perhaps even government structure.