PowerSwitch

If Peak Oil or lon term major energy shortages hits, I'm sure that the government (both local & central) will start issuing edicts "for the common good".

For example, huge fuel taxes, "no fuel hoarding", driving bans/restrictions, power curfews from 9PM to 6AM, generator confiscation etc.

Worst case they could seize control of your land, whilst you to grow food "for the common good". You might be able to keep say 30%.

Would you play ball ... or would you do the minimum possible so that you can look after yourself & family better?

As you may have gathered from my other posts, I am very reluctant to help out the local government or police in any way ... I strongly suspect that we would be simply making life easier for The Powers That Be.

More importantly, once you start believing the government line and obeying them, you will be easy prey to progressively greedier demands over the months/years ... and the authorities will have all their intelligence gathering & social control methods well in place by the time the majority get fed up.

Are there any other cycnics out there?

Concentrate on the powers government already has i.e through the enforcement of current laws,civil order, tax legislation, capital gains, vat, european directives - that will keep you going for a while and may well be more profitable from an avoidance of extra worry point of view than adding possibles into the mix. Remember large ships are alot less manuovrable than small ones (so to speak).

It may just be that rules may be your best friend (if you learn them well that is)

I think you're right Pippa. Keep low profile & legal!

Strength is in numbers. The more people band together the more they would be able defy any draconian regulations from the government. On the other hand, the more people band together and sort themselves out with local solutions the less likely draconian measures would be used.

I quite enjoyed John Seymour's book "Retrieved from the Future" which spent a lot of time on the subject.

There will certainly be restrictions on using energy, which seems reasonable, a rationing system is more fair then using the price mechanism.
Not sure if there will be a land grab by gov. but there could be price controls, which would lead to a blackmarket.

To be honest it will be a long drawn out affair, so being peak oil aware now would inform you of how you should react to events. I still believe that 5 years after the event peak oil will still be only a theory with plenty of experts talking about future discoveries blah blah, recessions will occur which will give the appearance of cheap oil as demand may fall faster then supply. It will be a confusing time

POWER TO THE PEOPLE!!!!

(i.e. microgeneration is the future - for all sorts of reasons!)