Autarky: Terrible at Political Scale, But Great as Individual Self-Defense

Photo by Shari Sirotnak

Since everyone seems to have a sticker shock story lately:  I rolled one of my motorcycles up to a gas pump yesterday and, for the first time ever, spent more than $5 to fill the tank (small bike, small tank — I paid $5.67 for 1.1 gallons of premium).

The obvious reason is, well, obvious.

Since the US war on Iran began, oil and gas prices have skyrocketed. It’s the flip side of the Otto T. Mallery paraphrase: “When goods don’t cross borders, armies will.”  In this case...