It is years from now. Everybody shares almost everything deemed essential: transportation, homes, food, employment, clothes, you name it. The Deemer Commission is responsible for organizing and administering the use of these types of resources, and also deem multiple levels of states of emergencies, which, in turn, determines the use of these types of resources. Share the sacrifice, share the blame, share the shame.
The previous generation's criminals made off with the money, took the whole pie and stuffed it in their pockets. Left us with some crust and crumbs, a little fruit filling smeared around the edges of the tin pan. Took those dollars and converted them to pounds, the revenge of the English was in the banks. Our grandparent's grandparent's parents were greedy idiots, fooled by emotions, laced with cowardice, addicted to mope; the hypnotized generation, as they were called.
The generation after them had it the roughest, they had known prosperity, they became despondent, they shut down. They virtually existed. They asked few questions, they went along, they were for nothing, they were against nothing. Thankfully, this current group of folks seems to have a bit more spark. The Spirit of 2076, the year punk rock returned.