Anonymous
James, I think you comparing a natural disaster to an economical collapse can be a little misleading. In a natural disaster the infrastructure supporting our everyday lifestyle is gone in a minute. In a collapse, everything would still be there for a while and deteriorating gradually. The government could inject food supplies in the existing distribution chain, use oil from the strategic reserve, move grain using the existing rail.
I think the real problem would start when the country start running out of imported stuff. When the trucks can’t run because the tires (from China) can’t be replaced. Or a power line cannot be fixed because the aluminum wire is not available. When the oil for heating will be rationed to use it for transportation. That’s what will grind everything to a halt and thing will get ugly.