The Australian government can't make up its mind. When WHO raised its alert level to 5 of 6, the government advised citizens to stockpile food and water. Yet in the same breath they also advised them not to panic and start a run on stores. The Sydney Herald reported: "Residents are advised to stock their pantries with drinks, including three litres of water for each person each day, dried and long-life food such as canned meals, toilet paper, batteries, candles, matches, manual can openers and water sterilizing tablets"Just where do they expect people to get these things if they are not to make a run on stores?
The Aporkalypse Now virus appears to be adding much stress to already strained social support systems world wide. Farmers are rioting in opposition to pig slaughtering, and Alternet reports that there are now 3 million hungry mouths to feed in New York City alone. More and more people, largely unemployed blue collar workers, are lining up daily at food banks. Hunger in America is growing, and may be coming to a neighborhood near you, if it is not there already.
I said these times would usher in a new lexicon for Americans. In place of getting, watching, and doing what we want, we may soon find ourselves out of work, out of food and doing just what the government says. I am already seeing the first signs of waning abundance, even in the relatively well off area of California where I live. The shelves of a large national drug store outlet looked strangely depleted when I visited yesterday. The old JIT ("Just In Time") inventory replenishment model seems to have become JNT, ("Just Not There!") I have noticed many product items slowly depleting in the last several months, and not being replaced. I bought shampoo, hand sanitizer gel, and some hair product, and in every case these three commonly stocked brands were the last item of that particular product on the shelf. It was a strange feeling, as most Americans are accustomed to the constant availabliity of all these heavily advertized products, and we shop 24/7 here. But things are changing.
Get ready for words like shortage, shortfall, depletion, scarcity and just plain "sold out" to become more and more common. It hasn't hit the food stores in my area yet, but I'll bet that many stores in Australia will be pillaged after that foolish announcement by the Auzie government. What in the world were they thinking?
In all this, one thing the Doomers constantly talked about the last few years was the need to prepare for a crisis before it happens. Once it does happen, advisories to secure essential food or supplies will just create panic binge buying, rapidly deplete the store shelves, and stress a long, thinning supply chain that has been squeezed by companies tightening their belts in this difficult economy.
Hungry? I sure hope not.
The Aporkalypse Now virus appears to be adding much stress to already strained social support systems world wide. Farmers are rioting in opposition to pig slaughtering, and Alternet reports that there are now 3 million hungry mouths to feed in New York City alone. More and more people, largely unemployed blue collar workers, are lining up daily at food banks. Hunger in America is growing, and may be coming to a neighborhood near you, if it is not there already.
I said these times would usher in a new lexicon for Americans. In place of getting, watching, and doing what we want, we may soon find ourselves out of work, out of food and doing just what the government says. I am already seeing the first signs of waning abundance, even in the relatively well off area of California where I live. The shelves of a large national drug store outlet looked strangely depleted when I visited yesterday. The old JIT ("Just In Time") inventory replenishment model seems to have become JNT, ("Just Not There!") I have noticed many product items slowly depleting in the last several months, and not being replaced. I bought shampoo, hand sanitizer gel, and some hair product, and in every case these three commonly stocked brands were the last item of that particular product on the shelf. It was a strange feeling, as most Americans are accustomed to the constant availabliity of all these heavily advertized products, and we shop 24/7 here. But things are changing.
Get ready for words like shortage, shortfall, depletion, scarcity and just plain "sold out" to become more and more common. It hasn't hit the food stores in my area yet, but I'll bet that many stores in Australia will be pillaged after that foolish announcement by the Auzie government. What in the world were they thinking?
In all this, one thing the Doomers constantly talked about the last few years was the need to prepare for a crisis before it happens. Once it does happen, advisories to secure essential food or supplies will just create panic binge buying, rapidly deplete the store shelves, and stress a long, thinning supply chain that has been squeezed by companies tightening their belts in this difficult economy.
Hungry? I sure hope not.
