I vaguely remember reading Made by Hand.
It was, ok, at best.
I think there are certain assumptions people make.
The rich, elite, bankers, TPTB will take their private planes to some safe unknown destination, wait out the disaster, come back when it is over and reassert their dominance at pennies on the dollar!
Was there a mass exodus of those just prior too, or during the Housing Crisis/Great Recession? What about the day before or eve of the 2016 election day?
Could be argued they will “manufacture” the crisis but that is a bit too tinny for me.
If there were a massive grid down for a year or so, 90% of the population gone, so are some of those very elite. Their wealth and power just might be gone too.
The rest of the world, imagine if the USofA was no more due to a EMP/cyber attack, what would the world stage look like in that sudden power vacuum? The ME? SK and NK? China and Taiwan? NATO? Petro-dollar gone. All those T-bills. Stock markets around the world.
And if someone shows up and says you owe them, say prove it. Or better yet, have your local govenment null and void any and all previous contracts under economic duress. Or paid in full with a bag of turnips.