There are so many people who live hand to mouth who cannot prepare as you are recommending. Not making excuses for anyone but not everybody is in the top 20% income earners in the US. How will you think utilities will continue without payment if the currency is rendered worthless? Will only the people with cash on hand have electricity? I don't see that. How will people function without 'pay'? City sanitation, water purification, refrigeration issues? How goes the delivery of food (stores) and fuel? healthcare? phone service? Country Boys Can Survive a lot better than urban and suburban folks but I just don't see this as an Armageddon scenario. There are, most certainly, plans developed by the govt for just such an event -(Look at the Law of War manual, for example. I didn't even know that existed until last couple of years) and these plans will probably tell all utilities (maybe by government emergency fiat) to keep producing to avoid massive loss of food stores, starvation, exposure, mass looting, etc. Probably everyone will be told to continue using US currency for 'x number of months' until an organized conversion to new currency could commence. Farmers will still need to get their products out, etc. Short of a nuclear bomb taking us back to caveman days in specific areas, our resources are so decentralized I think this will be an uncomfortable, but manageable conversion with low loss of life to emergency or looting issues. Lastly, dont forget about FEMA and the power they have in a SHTF scenario. They will mobilize their assets to make a changeover as soft a landing as possible.