It's 2023 and every city and town has an epidemic of Hobo Camps like it is the 1933 Great Depression. Neoliberal Politics Failed Us.

Today is the first of October. It is noon, and the temperature outside is 29 Celsius.

Fans in my apartment sputter sluggish, warm air as if it's July while the weather network informs me this blaze of summer sun will persist for days to come.

This is no more normal than the Biblical downpour that recently flooded New York City or the collapse of Europe's olive harvest from extreme heat events during the summer that set the northern hemisphere aflame.

There is so much in 2023 that can't be considered normal and should be deemed dangerous, even life-threatening.

The news media and governments keep pretending COVID-19's lethal force can be contained by wishful thinking because if we aren't shopping, we aren't living.

Rates for the new variant of COVID-19 are increasing along with hospitalisations and deaths. But virtually no one wears masks anymore. The news talks of vaccine fatigue as if citizens were charged with creating vaccines rather than rolling up their sleeves once every six months for a booster. I wonder if these people even bother to change the oil in their cars, considering how fatiguing it must be to have their vehicles serviced twice a year.

A friend of my late brother died from COVID only last week. He was 65 and his only comorbidity, I am aware of- was a belief in right-wing politics.

He was not alone in his lazy scepticism. This COVID tragedy has been exacerbated and extended because people distrust science rather than the wealthy.

People actually believe the rich are more concerned about their physical health than a doctor who tells them a well-fitted mask can help stop the spread of Covid.

People will live longer if they stop trusting rich people who believe sick days are just legalised time theft from the companies they own.

As for the rich people who have the ordinary person’s back? Well they are like the mythical good Nazi. They don't touch politics because they fear it will affect their bottom line. They avert their eyes to the evil around them through innocuous good deeds. I am not making this up. But many wealthy people in the USA devote their free time to finding homes for the exploding stray cat population rather than fighting fascism.

October will be a harsh month if the end of September is an indication of how we've come to accept the sound of approaching goose steps as okay.

A few days ago, Elon Musk claimed- it was unethical to save refugees floundering in the Mediterranean because they were authors of their own misfortune. Disgust over Musk's Malthusianism 2.0 has been muted, outside of the obligatory defenestrated social media condemnation or the German government's censure that seemed brewed with decaffeinated outrage.

Musk isn't a lone deranged voice among the 1%; he is the one who says the quiet parts they are all thinking out loud.

Fixing the refugee crisis requires: first a wealth tax against the 1% to alleviate the crisis, and then curtailing their ability to abuse vulnerable nations through strong corporate governance laws. That is no more going to happen than the 15-minute city, especially with Musk, he and the US Industrial Military Complex are conjoined by mutual business interests.

 The best capitalism can do for society is a promise to deliver a pizza in 30 minutes or it's free- everything else to save civilisation is on us- the average citizen.

I have a good knowledge of history, a distrust for oligarchs and a pessimism born from living through an era when capitalism was taken off its soft social-democratic leash by bought politicians. So, take my word when I say billionaires dehumanising refugees portends a coming genocide.

I am wary of what will unfold across October. The cost of living crisis won't abate because the entitled are making a killing from it.

There is an endless crush of customers shopping at bargain stores. Fewer and fewer people can afford to eat out, and if they are- they aren't doing it as often.

At grocery stores, the demand is for processed white bread, tins of vegetables despite it being harvest season, and cheap cuts of meat reduced in price because their best-before date is about to expire.

The ones bleeding out from the cost of living crisis are the easiest to spot. They are begging for change to eat in front of food stores and living in tents in the wooded areas around town.

It's the 21st century, and Hobo camps are everywhere because the one per cent stole our society- but we demanded restitution for their theft from the vulnerable.

 I will be sixty this month. I am not excited or saddened by it. I only think one day I will wake up dead. Capitalism is a tyrannical system as harsh as Stalinism because it makes you feel like a spider fighting the pull of water, slowly circling down a clogged drain. But until that happens. I will resist, fight back, laugh, resist again and snatch some pleasure from each day of dystopia.

It's a big ask, I know, but I need your help. I got sick with a mild infection last week, which slowed my scramble to find the cash for rent. I am shorter than normal this month.

So, if you can subscribe to a paid membership, thank you. I appreciate the loyalty of each subscriber. You have allowed me to build a community.

Next month, my early pension begins. It is not much,. I couldn't live off it but it adds to the base that keeps me housed.

Right now, at around 1100 subscribers, with 10% as paid, I need to increase my subscription base to 3k or double my paid subscriber base for an income of $14k (Canadian).

So, if you can please subscribe. It is appreciated by me and it ensures the work of Harry's Last Stand has a working beachhead.

Take care,

Photo by Akshay Gujar on Unsplash