"...it assumes that everything has collapsed to the point that markets are closed and are going to stay closed for a long time."

Not necessarily. Imagine a two-week trucker's strike in our barely-in-time marketplace, with grocery stores cleared out in an hour or two. How long would it take the military to get basic supplies to the approx. 28 million (mostly unprepared) people in SoCal after a big quake shook the overpasses down? How long would it take them to just get WATER to that many people in summer?

I think the best advice was to stock things you would normally use yourself -- if you need them, other people will need them.

Sue