Specifically, we are in the portion of the economic cycle where all of the "wealth" is being squeezed out of the middle class, AND out of the governments. And, it is being concentrated in the hands of the ultra wealthy.
The whole video is good, but you can skip right to 19:30 to get the part that lays out the foundation for where our characters are, here, 85 years into the future.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUKaB4P5Qns
tl;dr the post WW2 concept of a middle class was a brief, historical anomaly. Throughout all of human history, wealth always has been, and always will be, controlled by a very small handful of ultra-wealthy individuals.
Given that, and given that Sindome is ~3 generations removed from the current day, I'm starting to wonder if any of the "rise of the Mix" , unity of the working class , masses rising up against the corporations , is even themely.
I mean, it can be themely if we want it to. But, I think if we were to really consider the entire history of humans, it shows that the masses are by and large content to labor away from birth until death.
And they'd be happy to live in the squalor that is the Mix, eating nutripaste, slaving away in a PRI factory, dodging gangers, drinking and drugging away the pain of existence. All because doing that is easier than having to hunt to survive. Easier than trying to scratch a living out of the middle of the Mojave desert. Easier than picking up a pitchfork and prying a corporate employee out of their comparatively posh apartment on Green.
