Wyoming Republican state legislator David Miller has introduced a bill to prepare his state for a doomsday scenario in which the nation's economy and social structure completely collapse.
"Things happen quickly sometimes — look at Libya, look at Egypt, look at those situations," Miller told the Star-Tribune. "We wouldn't have time to meet as a legislature or even in a special session to do anything to respond."
Miller's bill seeks to create a state-run continuity force that would study and prepare Wyoming for potential national or worldwide catastrophes. One specific component of the bill calls for the state to look into the possibility of issuing its own currency in the event the U.S. dollar collapses.
"If we continue down this course, this is the way any society ends up — with a valueless currency," Miller told the Star-Tribune. Yahoo News, 2/28/12
Mr. Miller failed to mention changing the state motto to "The Canned Goods and Ammunition State," but has otherwise made the excellent point that in the event of worldwide catastrophe, people would turn at first to their state legislatures. For example, in the movie The Day After Tomorrow, when Manhattan turns into a glacier overnight, no one even mentions the state government, but that's because it's Hollywood. In real life, if New York was engulfed by a tidal wave of frozen brine, people would immediately react by saying, Hey, let's go up to Albany, defrost the State Assembly and see what those guys think.
Likewise, Mad Max, while he's battling tattooed post-apocalyptic scumbags in the Australian outback, never pauses to make a point of order or attend a committee meeting, which would have made the movie more realistic. In the movie "2012," which depicts the fulfillment of the Mayan prophecy of doom for this year, a group of Buddhist monks are filmed watching the mother of all tsunamis top Mt. Everest and head downhill to power-wash their monastery. They don't say anything in the movie, thanks to Tinseltown's failure to write any gripping dialogue for the scene, but if that actually happened, one of the monks would surely say to another "Let's fire off a mass email to the Tibetan Congress. Somebody needs to do something about this."
Mr. Miller is also aware of the need for a stable currency if all of our greenbacks are burned up in an asteroid strike that Bruce Willis is unable to prevent. He proposes Wyoming be set up to issue its own money. The name of the Wyoming end times dollar has not been established as of this writing, but I suggest the state avoid trite and easy names like the Doomsday Buck or the Apocalypso Peso. A simpler name for the simoleons we'll all be using when the dollar goes down forever would be one that pays tribute to two of the West's primary industries, ranching and gaming—the Wyoming Cowchip. Or merely combine a subtle salute to the soon-to-be dominant Chinese yuan with a nod to our Latino friends and call it the "juan."
That way, when it's the only hard currency left in on our demolished planet, people can whistle the Three Dog Night classic "Juan is the Loneliest Number," as they rebuild the world economy.
If we're clear-sighted enough to follow Mr. Miller's advice, after Judgment Day we'll still have money in our pockets and politicians to buy with it. It's not going to be so bad.
"Things happen quickly sometimes — look at Libya, look at Egypt, look at those situations," Miller told the Star-Tribune. "We wouldn't have time to meet as a legislature or even in a special session to do anything to respond."
Miller's bill seeks to create a state-run continuity force that would study and prepare Wyoming for potential national or worldwide catastrophes. One specific component of the bill calls for the state to look into the possibility of issuing its own currency in the event the U.S. dollar collapses.
"If we continue down this course, this is the way any society ends up — with a valueless currency," Miller told the Star-Tribune. Yahoo News, 2/28/12
Mr. Miller failed to mention changing the state motto to "The Canned Goods and Ammunition State," but has otherwise made the excellent point that in the event of worldwide catastrophe, people would turn at first to their state legislatures. For example, in the movie The Day After Tomorrow, when Manhattan turns into a glacier overnight, no one even mentions the state government, but that's because it's Hollywood. In real life, if New York was engulfed by a tidal wave of frozen brine, people would immediately react by saying, Hey, let's go up to Albany, defrost the State Assembly and see what those guys think.
Likewise, Mad Max, while he's battling tattooed post-apocalyptic scumbags in the Australian outback, never pauses to make a point of order or attend a committee meeting, which would have made the movie more realistic. In the movie "2012," which depicts the fulfillment of the Mayan prophecy of doom for this year, a group of Buddhist monks are filmed watching the mother of all tsunamis top Mt. Everest and head downhill to power-wash their monastery. They don't say anything in the movie, thanks to Tinseltown's failure to write any gripping dialogue for the scene, but if that actually happened, one of the monks would surely say to another "Let's fire off a mass email to the Tibetan Congress. Somebody needs to do something about this."
Mr. Miller is also aware of the need for a stable currency if all of our greenbacks are burned up in an asteroid strike that Bruce Willis is unable to prevent. He proposes Wyoming be set up to issue its own money. The name of the Wyoming end times dollar has not been established as of this writing, but I suggest the state avoid trite and easy names like the Doomsday Buck or the Apocalypso Peso. A simpler name for the simoleons we'll all be using when the dollar goes down forever would be one that pays tribute to two of the West's primary industries, ranching and gaming—the Wyoming Cowchip. Or merely combine a subtle salute to the soon-to-be dominant Chinese yuan with a nod to our Latino friends and call it the "juan."
That way, when it's the only hard currency left in on our demolished planet, people can whistle the Three Dog Night classic "Juan is the Loneliest Number," as they rebuild the world economy.
If we're clear-sighted enough to follow Mr. Miller's advice, after Judgment Day we'll still have money in our pockets and politicians to buy with it. It's not going to be so bad.
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