Sometimes I am asked how to prepare for a worst case scenario if we experience a financial or political meltdown in the U.S. or the global banking system. One way to help yourself imagine what such a scenario would be like is to read descriptions by people who have lived through such meltdowns as a result of economic warfare (Cuba, Russia, Latin America) during the last two decades or as a result of a particularly lethal combination of natural disasters and economic warfare (New Orleans, Indonesia). Here is a selection of readings and videos we have found particularly useful.

Economic Warfare

Closing the “Collapse Gap”: the USSR Was Better Prepared for Collapse than the U.S.
By Dmitry Orlov – Energy Bulletin (4 Dec 2006)

Reinventing Collapse
By Dmitry Orlov 

Life and Debt in Jamaica
A film by Stephanie Black

Participatory Budgeting ~ From Wikipedia

Post-Soviet Lessons for a Post-American Century
By Dmitry Orlov – SurvivingPeakOil.com (Archives)

Survival in Times of Uncertainty: Growing Up in Russia in the 1990s
By Legal Alien – Sott.net (24 Jan 2008)

The Experience of the Participatory Budget in Porto Alegre, Brazil
At Unesco.org

The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil
At PowerOfCommunity.org

The Rape of Russia ~ By Anne Williamson

“The Take” ~ A Documentary

The Globalization of Poverty and the New World Order
By Michel Choussudovsky

Transcript of Interview of Greg Palast, Journalist for BBC & Observer, London
Alex Jones Radio Show (4 Mar 2002)

Natural Disasters

The Year the Levees Broke
Greg Palast in New Orleans

The Rise of Disaster Capitalism
By Naomi Klein – The Nation (14 Apr 2005)

The Shock Doctrine ~ Short Film