2009, the Year of Panic

Bruce Sterling: 2009 Will Be a Year of Panic, a summary of seven factors that we should be concerned about in 2009 and beyond.

Most people in this world have no insurance and ignore building codes. They live in “informal architecture,” i.e., slum structures. Barrios. Favelas. Squats. Overcrowded districts of this world that look like a post-Katrina situation all the time. When people are thrown out of their too-expensive, too-coded homes, this is where they will go. Unless they’re American, in which case they’ll live in their cars. But how can dispossessed Americans pay for their car insurance when they have no fixed address?

(thx, bruce)

• 2008 recession
• brucesterling