Dystopian Times: Modern Examples That Reflect Today’s World

The posts shared here emphasize how greed and a lack of empathy affect the daily lives of people worldwide. With the cost of living seemingly out of reach for the everyday person, we have to ask ourselves: how did things get so bad?

I asked John A. Lancaster what we should expect from the economy in the near future. Being a political commentator who gives straightforward and concise takes on the most controversial issues, John told Bored Panda, "Assuming there won't be any more lockdowns, a significant issue to worry about is the return of 'Industry Policy', which is basically the government subsidizing certain industries in hopes of spurring development and innovation in those industries."

He explained further about the issues that 'Industry Policy' can produce: "This means that vast amounts of funds can be (and practically always are) squandered on economically unpromising projects with little to no consequences to the government officials. These officials are going to get reimbursed with tax revenue regardless of how their subsides pan out financially."

John considers that 'Industrial Policy' is: "an extremely inefficient way to boost innovation that wastes immense amount of money and resources that would have been best left up to private firms."

He also drives home the point about where the control of money lies. John notes that: "It's important to note that government funds come from the tax paying public. Whenever there is a push to 'stimulate' new jobs, money is being taken from the public and directed as bureaucrats and elected officials see fit. When this happens wealth is not being created, but redistributed."

So businesses under the 'Industry Policy' profited massively, whilst the people that needed help the most, struggled to survive and make ends meet.

Regarding the government's control of the finances, John also raised an important question: "If the general public would've preferred to spend their money in different ways than the government, then how beneficial are the government ventures and what was potentially sacrificed for those ventures?"

You can see from the ‘boring dystopia’ subreddit exactly how people across the globe have been affected. There’s the illogical ideas put forward by these businesses that are meant to help people, but do anything but that. And astounding hypocrisy of the rich and powerful.

It makes you think twice about who’s running the world and if they should really have this much power. These are some of our top selections from the subreddit. These examples are a cautionary reminder to reflect on society, and question what we should consider the norm. We hold the power to make a change to our society, so we should make it a positive one.

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