This was the day work stoppages would begin.
FAMINE PREDICTED.... PRESIDENT IN APPEAL TO.... GUARD MOBILIZED....
Riots. Celebrations. (A church burned the mortgage gratefully.) Clean shelves. Looming scarcity.
By the time the sun dipped into the Pacific, the whole economic structure of the world would be in shambles.
Governments doubtless would blame each other (half-heartedly), propose new currency, taxes, and the gold standard again.
Industrial gears would come unmeshed as workers took vacations. Electric power, in consequence would begin to fail.
(Looting already occupied the attention of the better part of the underworld, and not a few respectable citizens decided to get it now and store it for use when it would be unavailable because others had done likewise.)
Stagnation tomorrow. But as yet, the fear and hysteria had not really begun. Parr shuddered, sickened. "What have I done?"
It would take months to unmuddle the chaos.
Earth was ripe for invasion....