> Fixing all of that would probably take years, and in the mean time we would see looting, famine (and huge starvation), violence, etc.
Things get fixed much faster than you think. The tramway in Hiroshima was running again within a week after the bomb destroyed the whole center, for example. Scientists said that trees would not grow there in 100 years, yet the city ended up looking like a normal city within 30 years after the bomb.
It doesn't take that long for people to become frustrated at a lack of services they depend day to day on thoughtlessly. Also energy delivery systems that traverse state lines are not a city tramway.
Indeed. If the city loses its power, others will help. Trucks will come shipping food. If the whole power grid goes out, there won't be neither food nor enough fuel for truck to ship it.
Example 1: your town catches on fire and every building burns. Everybody leaves your town, or people from other towns bring you supplies.
Example 2: Every town catches on fire and every building burns. There is no where to go. People from other towns are in the same situation.
You run into the bootstrap problem. Everybody needs the resources to get going again, but there will not be enough resources to get everybody going at once. If you don't get the resources to get going quickly you might die of starvation or exposure, so you're willing to fight for them. Who gets the resources?
Things get fixed much faster than you think. The tramway in Hiroshima was running again within a week after the bomb destroyed the whole center, for example. Scientists said that trees would not grow there in 100 years, yet the city ended up looking like a normal city within 30 years after the bomb.
So, "society collapse", meh.