Hyperemployment

>>I notice that there's no mention whatsoever of the possibility that this state of affairs has arisen because some of those in power (whether governmental or unofficial) have found it useful to have a population that's too overwhelmed and busy to really pay attention and take meaningful action.<<

Oh, that's just part of the whole bread-and-circuses routine that is a collapsing civilization. I didn't point out this time because I say it all the time. It's pretty obvious that if the people running a society are deliberately destroying its population, then that society is in decline.

>> I hate sounding like a conspiracy theorist, but the more of this century I see, the harder it gets to avoid :P <<

It's not a conspiracy in the traditional sense of several people meeting in secret to concoct an explicit plan.

It's what I call a "discontiguous conspiracy," in which advance meetings and plans are unnecessary because a bunch of people share common goals and processes. For example, if 12 white jurors in the South wish to oppress a black man by convicting him of a crime regardless of the evidence, it is not necessary for them to speak of this aloud. They just need to be all on the Racism page, which tells them what to do in that situation.

The process of destroying a civilization is commonly organized by powerful, short-sighted people who do whatever it takes to get what they want, regardless of the damage done. That leads to certain historically predictable outcomes, such as a poor unhealthy populace. The problems with a shabby populace include that they do a wretched job of producing needful things, are easily overrun by enemies, and eventually tend to get fed up and light the countryside on fire whilst tearing their rulers limb from limb.