Recall the fable of the grasshopper and the ant: https://read.gov/aesop/052.html https://read.gov/aesop/052.html Everyone should have a reserve of everything t

Recall the fable of the grasshopper and the ant: https://read.gov/aesop/052.html https://read.gov/aesop/052.html Everyone should have a reserve of everything they need to the extent it is practical. A reserve of meds should be a high priority. Reserves act as an accumulator or a capacitor. When we ants stock up in good times, it primes the supply chains to be ready to provide a little extra later. If half the customers buy 10% extra over time, the supply chains expect to provide an extra 5%. When shortages hit, we ants are taken care of, and do not stand in line competing with the grasshoppers for the last few bottles of pills. Because we ants primed the supply chains when stocked up in good times, there might even be an extra bottle of pills in addition to fewer customers fighting over it. We ants perform a public service by stocking up. The vast majority of meds in the US say they are "made in the USA," but the precursor chemicals are usually made in China. Trans-oceanic trade was cut off (for a while and severely reduced for longer times) in World War 1 and again in World War 2. It can happen again. It is a common scam to buy something from China, claim to make it in the USA, and resell it at a large markup. This means that a lot of things we think are made in the USA will not be available if international trade is restricted or stopped. I expect massive shortages of meds when/if the balloon goes up in the South China Sea. Natural selection often eliminates certain populations in short, sharp corrections. I hope I am wrong and the grasshoppers do just fine this winter.