Bread and circus will quickly turn to riots and bloodshed once the supply of one or the other dries up.

That being said "preppers" need to start banding together sooner rather than later if they hope for any real chance of longterm survival. An individual or dual family in the sticks may outlast the good-natured suburbanite armed with a case of Costco bottled water. But once mobs start roaming like locusts, small farm "compounds" will bear a similar futile resemblance to the yuppie with a SUV who thinks he will just "head for the hills" once the ball drops.

The accumulation of value goods is one thing, but the social side of prepping should not be overlooked either.