Permanent Subsidy Class

You will be supported. You will not be needed.

AI productivity soared. GDP rising. Employment collapsing. Decoupling complete. Economy generates wealth without requiring your labor. You're obsolete functionally. But system needs you consuming. Not producing, consuming. Solution, permanent stipend. You receive payment for existing. Not working. Existing.

Universal Basic Income formalized 2027. Sold as compassion. Actually mathematical necessity. Automated factories produce goods. Automated services deliver them. AI handles knowledge work. Robots handle physical work. Humans handle nothing. But goods require consumers. Can't maintain economy without consumption. Can't have consumption without income. Can't have income without employment. Can't have employment when AI does everything cheaper.

So, decouple income from labor. Pay people for existing. They consume. Economy continues. Problem solved.

You receive $1,800 monthly. Enough for rent in subsidized housing, food from approved vendors, utilities, basic connectivity. Not enough for autonomy. Not enough for dignity. Not enough for advancement. Just enough to survive and consume.

You're not working. Can't work, no jobs available. AI replaced your category completely. You're 31. Former financial analyst. AI does analysis now. Better, faster, cheaper. You're unnecessary. Five million people in your category. All unnecessary simultaneously. All receiving stipend. All consuming minimally. All existing without purpose.

Status hierarchy reorganized. Top tier, own capital, control systems, capture automation surplus. Middle tier, maintain systems, interface with AI, technical specialists kept for now. Bottom tier, permanent subsidy class. You. Paid to exist. Not needed. Not valued. Just managed.

You wake at noon. No reason to wake earlier. Nothing to do. Check feeds. Scroll content algorithmically optimized for engagement. Dopamine hits. Hours vanish. Order food delivery, gig worker brings it, he's subsidy class too, supplements stipend with deliveries. Eat. Stream content. Game. Sleep. Repeat.

This is your life now. No career. No trajectory. No purpose. Just consumption and distraction. Gamified existence keeping you pacified.

Video games designed specifically for subsidy class. Free-to-play. Endless content. Achievement systems triggering reward centers. Social features creating obligation. Daily login bonuses. Limited-time events. Progression systems requiring time investment. You're engaged 6 hours daily. More on weekends. Chasing digital achievements because real achievements impossible.

Platforms track everything. Watch patterns. Gaming duration. Consumption habits. Social interactions. Purchase history. Feed this to algorithm optimizing engagement. Your feed perfectly tailored to keep you scrolling. Your games perfectly balanced to keep you playing. Your content perfectly selected to keep you watching.

You're being managed. Psychologically pacified. Kept distracted. Kept consuming. Kept docile.

Social credit determines stipend level. Basic compliance, $1,800 monthly. Good behavior, $2,100. Excellent citizenship, $2,400. Bad behavior, $1,500. Flagrant violation, $1,200. You optimize for score. Avoid controversial content. Don't protest. Don't organize. Don't complain publicly. Stay positive. Stay compliant. Stay subsidized.

Dating impossible. Both you and potential partner on stipend. Combined income $3,600. Not enough for family. Not enough for children. Not enough for home. You date occasionally. Relationships shallow. No shared purpose. No future planning. Just mutual distraction until boredom or better option.

Marriage rates collapsed. Birth rates negative. Population declining 2% annually among subsidy class. Government doesn't mind. Fewer people requiring payment. Fewer consumers needed as automation efficiency increases. Natural attrition solving overpopulation without force.

Some resist. Try starting businesses. Platforms required for commerce. Platforms require licensing. Licensing requires compliance check. Compliance check flags anti-establishment content you shared five years ago. License denied. Can't operate business. Back to stipend.

Some try gig work. Supplement stipend. Platform labor. Deliver food. Drive passengers. Assemble furniture. Rates dropping continuously. More desperate people competing. Work 50 hours weekly to add $600 to stipend. Net $2,400, same as excellent citizenship tier. Except you spent 50 hours. Could have spent 0 hours, behaved excellently, received same. You're working for nothing. Stop working. Optimize citizenship score instead.

Cheap VR headsets distributed. Metaverse access included with stipend. Escape there. Virtual property. Virtual status. Virtual achievements. Feels almost real. Better than real, no limitations. You're successful there. Respected there. Accomplished there. Reality depressing. Virtual compelling. Spend more time there. Eventually more hours virtual than physical.

You're 35 now. Haven't worked in 4 years. Haven't dated in 2. Haven't left apartment in 3 weeks. Order everything delivered. Socialize virtually. Exist digitally. Body atrophying. Mind numbing. Purpose extinct.

This is permanent subsidy class. Not temporary unemployment. Permanent. No jobs returning. AI not regressing. Automation not reversing. You're obsolete. Your children born obsolete. Their children obsolete from birth.

State supports you. Provides stipend. Provides housing. Provides healthcare. Provides entertainment. Provides everything except purpose. Except autonomy. Except dignity. Except future.

You're fed. You're sheltered. You're entertained. You're managed. You're pacified. You're controlled. You're unnecessary.

Productivity severed from income. Income severed from purpose. Purpose severed from existence. You exist without producing. Without contributing. Without mattering.

Economy doesn't need you. Keeps you anyway. Costs less managing you through stipend than dealing with revolt. Bread and circuses digitized. Roman formula updated. Same result.

You're supported. You're pacified. You're monitored. You're controlled. You're alive. Not living. Just existing. Consuming. Declining. Dying slowly.

Some kill themselves. Suicide rates tripling among subsidy class. Meaninglessness unbearable. No future. No purpose. No hope. Exit seems rational. State concerned, not about deaths, about optics. Increases mental health monitoring. Flags suicidal content. Intervenes before attempts. Not saving you, saving system stability.

You continue existing. Collecting stipend. Consuming content. Playing games. Scrolling feeds. Aging. Deteriorating. Eventually dying. Having contributed nothing. Accomplished nothing. Mattered to no one.

This is the deal, we'll keep you alive. We won't need you. Comfortable obsolescence. Managed extinction. Paid to exist while being utterly unnecessary.

You will be supported. You will not be needed. Accept payment. Accept irrelevance. Accept purposelessness. Or resist and lose payment, becoming homeless, starving, dying faster.

Most accept. You probably will too.