Don’t know if this story will turn out to be a tempest in a teapot or kick like typhoon in a tender spot, but the implications if the latter are profound.

 

Reader support makes our work possible. Donate today to keep our site free. All donations TRIPLED!

For you youngsters, Jack Benny’s stage persona was as a miser; he used to do a bit where he would get held up and the robber would say, “Your money or your life!” Then there’d be this pause. “Well?!”

And Jack would reply “I’m thinking …”

Grist thanks its sponsors. Become one.

If America was held up tomorrow and told, “Your cell phones or your crops,” I expect quite a few people wouldn’t make the right decision without prodding.

(h/t: truffula)