Hey look,
finally we get to talk about an upside to this whole shutting-down-the-government business. It's great news for businesses that
cater to crazy people.
"If you think of it in the worst terms, a whole collapse of the government and the normal things in life that we take for granted, what are you prepared to do?" said Snyder. "People who are used to foraging, or hunting, or trapping, or purifying water are going to move higher up the food chain." […]
"Guys that are running these survival schools are seeing an influx in regular people who want to gain these skills," Snyder said. "It's really a form of insurance."
Yep, all across America good, decent people are preparing for the collapse of civilization by hoarding pre-packaged meals, taking classes on how to properly clean and gut their less-prepared neighbors, and don't forget to keep a ready supply of bright silver dimes:
"If history has any lessons, gold is the one thing that has always performed well," said Rickards. "Gold is excellent for preserving wealth, but you'd want silver coins to buy gasoline and groceries."
I suppose as hobbies go, mind you, this is a pretty good one. Always good to keep food on hand for a natural disaster, and while I don't think your neighbors in the apocalypse will be particularly impressed by your collection of silver coins—as opposed to, say, your collection of any of the hundreds of things that might prove more immediately useful—and learning which suburban hedges can and can't be used for suburban hedge soup is really something we should be teaching in school.
But there is always a certain contingent of people that seem to truly relish the thought of society collapsing, thinking that it will finally be their chance to move higher up the food chain, as the nice man says. These are the ones who build bunkers and stockpile ammunition with the supposition that if they have ammunition, all the rest of the needed supplies will work themselves out. It's the same glee you see in certain House Republican eyes when they muse about whether sending the nation into default wouldn't maybe be a good thing after all, because no matter how many people got hurt or how much money it cost to hurt them, at least people would finally be paying attention.
Or look at Sen. Ted Cruz, who was one of the most influential voices in shutting the government down, but held a rally this weekend condemning that self-same shutdown and promising to fight even harder against the cruel people who caused it. In causing crisis, he gains personal attention for his supposed wisdom during that crisis: a political manifestation of Munchausen by proxy.