When the Trucks Stop

We talk about the economic collapse as the trigger for the apocalypse, but it is only one small part of what will unfold. Yes, the major corporations who leverage their business model and run on credit that won’t be there will be a big part of what will go wrong. But in truth the whole system is precarious.

Part of the reason is that the present system has adapted to r-selected conditions. There are several r-variables it has adapted to, which will change when ITZ begins, leaving the system maladapted to its environment. One is free availability of credit, due to a population which is less worried about losing its money than it is about not seeing some sort of return on it. Another is the free spending of a populace which believes it can redeem its gold certificates anytime, real estate has no end of buyers so its property could easily be liquidated for millions, and saving is unnecessary because money is everywhere. It also presupposes a populace which won’t horde, because resources are perceived as ever-present. It presupposes crime will be minimal, and shipments rarely hijacked, due to a pacifistic populace which doesn’t really need those resources because resources are ever-present around them all the time anyway. It even presupposes electricity will always be present, and thus all data on orders, supply, routes, and payments can be computerized. Needless to say, a currency which people have confidence in, and which can efficiently facilitate the exchange of goods and services is an assumption which undergirds it all.

That is all part of a complex system that has evolved, to take mass-produced food, and distribute it from food production areas to food consumption areas, in an environment of apathetic, well-fed, non-panicked individuals. But the system has evolved for r, not K. It will take some time for that system to readapt to the rigors of a society in which K-selection has begun.

In the interim, you will see what this graphic, from this article on basic prepping, describes.

Obviously that is the worst case scenario for all trucking stopping. But it doesn’t factor in the unrest, criminal activity, and other factors, such as currency failure and electrical outages, which may accompany the collapse. It is even possible some change in the earth may render our arable areas less arable through water shortages or climate change, and that will contribute to the K-selection as well.

All in all, apocalypse cometh isn’t that impossible. All it will require is a tipping point, of enough bank deposit withdrawals somewhere to panic everyone else. Be prepared.