We’re not just witnessing an energy transition. We’re witnessing a civilisational extraction model running on fumes — where wealth begets wealth, control replaces value creation, and the middle class is slowly bled dry to sustain the illusion of progress.
The Modern Game of Wealth
Today’s dominant system rewards:
- Owning access, not producing value
- Regulatory capture, not market competition
- Speculation and asset inflation, not innovation or work
It’s a system where global capital doesn’t need to build anything real. It just needs to own the tollbooth — and charge you to pass through it.
Infrastructure, land, policy, and digital compliance systems are the new goldmines. And you, the citizen, are the resource.
Taxed From All Sides
This isn’t just about income tax anymore. It’s about the indirect taxation that’s everywhere:
- Rising utility costs due to green infrastructure you don’t own
- Time-of-use pricing that punishes ordinary schedules
- Compliance costs for small businesses and homeowners
- Monetised data extracted without payment or consent
Meanwhile, asset holders enjoy tax-advantaged vehicles, global mobility, and policy insulation. The wealth ladder is pulled up behind them — and the rest of us are asked to pay for the scaffolding.
This Isn’t Capitalism — It’s Neo-Feudalism
What we’re seeing isn’t free markets. It’s a return to a feudal model:
- Land and infrastructure are rent-seeking assets
- The public pays for the castle, but lives outside the walls
- Access to services becomes a subscription, not a right
- Control flows through compliance, not ownership
Under this model, there is no “middle class.” There are asset holders and renters — rulers and ruled — with digital systems managing the relationship.
Why It’s Not Sustainable
This model looks stable, but it’s not. Here’s why it will collapse:
1. Energetic Limits
You can’t run a complex society on intermittent energy plus spreadsheets. Overbuilt renewables, fragile grids, and energy rationing aren’t a foundation — they’re a failure mode.
2. Economic Strain
Interest rates are up. Productivity is flat. Real wages are down. The financial engineering of green dreams is breaking down — and the middle class is footing the bill.
3. Social Fracture
People are waking up. They sense the system isn’t fair — even if they can’t articulate why. Trust is cracking. Dissent is rising. Legitimacy is fading.
So Why Does It Continue?
Because the system isn’t built to be fair or resilient. It’s built to extract as much as possible for as long as possible — until it breaks.
That’s why you get:
- Performative climate policies
- Green financialisation with no real impact
- More bureaucracy, less ownership
- More compliance, fewer rights
All dressed up in moral language so you won’t question it.
What Comes Next?
One of three things:
- Crisis: An economic or geopolitical shock collapses the confidence game
- Control: More coercive systems — digital ID, programmable money, carbon scoring
- Exit: Parallel systems emerge — crypto, localism, peer-to-peer infrastructure
Probably all three, in stages.
Final Word
The new feudalism isn’t coming — it’s here.
But it doesn’t need to be permanent. The more people who see it, name it, and refuse to comply on its terms — the sooner we can build something better.
You’re not paranoid. You’re paying attention.
