Actually an account of his rip-off laden efforts to get to a conference in Berlin to assist Julian Assange. The ridiculous set of obstacles and blatant rip-offs that he encountered just trying to get there in time underlines how unfit for purpose hitech-industrial arrangements for a civilised life have become. Subtle indicators, I suggest, of these early, still-accelerating days of the Long Descent: “slowly, a bit at a time at first, then suddenly all at once.”
How could anyone without at least a thousand quid instantly ready to hand even make such a journey? The poorer end of society is already excluded by stealth from such facilities; and so it will grow:
…which means the barriers are in fact fit for purpose: that being to throttle off demand from we untermenschen and leave the field clear for our superiors.
Another example are the regular news stories about how all of Earth’s lithium would only power X% of the current fleet of private cars… what shall we do? Can there ever be enough wind farms? Well: no. The point is that a percentage of cars less than X is all that will be permitted.
I’m part-way through a novel called The Mandibles by Lionel Shriver. It was published in 2017 which makes its prescience rather chilling. The narrative begins in 2027 and depicts the rather sudden descent of the US bourgeoise when, finally, the USA cannot service its debt. No more than $100 may be taken out of the country, all gold is confiscated, the cheapest vegetable is cabbage and costs $35. Using any other currency is forbidden and using the ‘bancor’ (backed by China, Russia, etc) is considered treason.