Having spent several hours this past week stacking a cord of firewood which we had delivered in preparing for this coming Winter in which we'll go through at least 3 or 4 cords if we want to keep our outrageous propane costs down, I had winter prepping fresh on my mind Monday morning when I ran across this story at Zero Hedge that perfectly sums up the world's predicament in several different ways.

Reporting as the main focus of their story that homeowners in Poland are quite literally lining up FOR DAYS to get coal, with homeowners fearful of winter shortages that could lead to many deaths from the coming cold weather, that story then dropped the bombshell that shows where America is heading: 

Poland still basking in the late summer heat, hundreds of cars and trucks have already lined up at the Lubelski Wegiel Bogdanka coal mine, as householders fearful of winter shortages wait for days and nights to stock up on heating fuel ahead of the coming cold winter in queues reminiscent of communist times. 

Artur, 57, a pensioner, drove up from Swidnik, some 30 km (18 miles) from the mine in eastern Poland on Tuesday, hoping to buy several tonnes of coal for himself and his family. "Toilets were put up today, but there's no running water," he said, after three nights of sleeping in his small red hatchback in a crawling queue of trucks, tractors towing trailers and private cars. 

"This is beyond imagination, people are sleeping in their cars. I remember the communist times but it didn't cross my mind that we could return to something even worse."