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I'm not quite sure where to ask this, so I'll start here.
I've noticed an increased sense of precariousness among both my blue and white collar family members and friends. I've never seen it so strong or so pervasive. Everyone is convinced that they will be out of a job soon, and a significant percentage think their entire industry will be functionally dead before they can retire.
It's really wild. It's people ranging from bartenders to retail to professors to writers to software developers to painters (art) to painters (houses). Really the only people who seem optimistic are servicemen. I don't quite think I've seen anything like it.
Either something really bad actually is coming or we, as a society, have really done a number on our ability to accurately predict the future.
What do you all think is going on here?
The question above got me moving down another line of thought shortly after.
Let's assume that the technocrat dream future is half true and some fraction of the population can live off capital gains in luxury forever.
What do you do with everybody else?
In the last few economic wipeouts, the answer seemed to be "let people fend for themselves until things correct themselves. The worst off can eat a shotgun or overdose in the meantime".
Imagine that the US had some sort of "survival guarantee", where you could, no questions asked, be granted housing and food that would keep you from starving or dying of any notable nutrient deficiencies unto perpetuity.
The catch is that a single person would get a spartan efficiency apartment in a giant, Soviet-style mega construct. A couple could get a similarly spare one bedroom. A family with with kids could get an apartment with one bedroom per two kids.
Food would be simple - rice, beans, rehydrated eggs, and other cheap staples. This might be served from a central kitchen like an army ness, or handed over in boxes.
You wouldn't get anything else. You'd just be guaranteed to not starve or freeze.
The constructs would be built in out of the way, inconvenient locations. If you had a car, it might be a 20 mile drive to the nearest grocery. A van would go into town and back once a day for those who didn't have a car.
The apartments would share qualities with prison cells and cheap corporate real estate to minimize costs and reduce maintenance overhead. Think concrete or sheet vinyl floors, one overhead light per room, bathrooms that are all plastic walls where the toilet is also the sink with a metal mirror, and other measures. The apartments come with basic furnishings (eg: a Murphy bed per room, maybe a kitchen table with chairs and a couch), but nothing else.
Internet and cable hookups would exist, but would not be covered unless the resident set up their own account. Electricity, heat and cooling (centrally set), water, and trash removal (accessible via central chutes) would all be covered.
How many people do you think would take up that offer? How do you think it would end up?
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