Lightning strikes near Cody, Wyoming
Lawmakers in Wyoming are thinking ahead. On Friday, House representatives advanced a bill calling for a task force to prepare the state in case the U.S. economy and political system implode, according to the Casper Star-Tribune.
Given the condition of the world economy, global warming and that whole Mayan calendar scare, NewsFeed thinks the Equality State may be onto something. Better safe than sorry, right?
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Republican Lorrain Quarberg told the Star-Tribune it’s in the state’s best interest to prepare for the worst:
“I don’t think there’s anyone in this room today who would come up here and say that this country is in good shape, that the world is stable and in good shape — because that is clearly not the case. To put your head in the sand and think that nothing bad’s going to happen, and that we have no obligation to the citizens of the state of Wyoming to at least have the discussion, is not healthy.”
House Bill 85 would allocate about $16,000 and needs two more House votes before heading to the state Senate. It would create a panel composed of state lawmakers, the director of the Wyoming Department of Homeland Security, the Wyoming attorney general and the Wyoming National Guard’s adjutant general to investigate issues such as raising a state army, dealing with disruptions in food supplies and establishing a state-issued currency.
Wyoming isn’t the only state trying to mint its own coins. According to Yahoo! News, South Carolina lawmakers are also pushing to create a gold and silver-based currency. With worries about the Federal Reserve’s stability and hyper-inflation, similar bills have also surfaced in Georgia and Virgina, Slate reports.
Originally, Wyoming’s “doomsday” bill also called for plans to acquire an aircraft carrier, but that scheme has since been scrapped thanks to financial restrictions and Wyoming’s landlocked geography, Mother Jones reports. Unless lawmakers were planning on harboring the carrier in Yellowstone Lake or invoking an apocalyptic flood, it’s probably for the best.
The bill’s sponsor, Republican state Rep. David Miller, told the Star-Tribune he’s most worried about the national debt exceeding $15 trillion and the protest movements gaining momentum throughout the country. Though Wyoming already has a statewide crisis management plan in place, it doesn’t touch on potential political or economic crises. Miller told the Star-Tribune:
“Things happen quickly sometimes — look at Libya, look at Egypt, look at those situations. We wouldn’t have time to meet as a Legislature or even in special session to do anything to respond.”
Don’t live in Wyoming, but need to prepare for the end of the world? Don’t worry, the Center For Disease Control has got you covered — at least for the Zombie Apocalypse.