I think we’re maybe speaking past each other. I don’t disagree that things have become more expensive — and hence that the poor can own relatively less than the

I think we’re maybe speaking past each other. I don’t disagree that things have become more expensive — and hence that the poor can own relatively less than they could before. But, no. I haven’t heard stories of people being stranded in mass. I meant that word literally — because of the context of transportation — if that wasn’t clear? Even in the days of mass lockdown: I saw huge lines at food banks in suburban and even rural areas, but even those who are in a position to wait four hours for a few days of essential goods seem to have still found ways to get there. That observation is subject to some obvious biases, and yes I’m sure some people did fall through the cracks, fatally. But no: I truly haven’t witnessed what I would consider mass crises caused by people losing access to transportation. Despite massive shocks to a system of JIT manufacturing, there wasn’t a collapse of the supply side in the sense that you would have expected had you looked at inventory, divided by the rate of consumption, and thought “that’s how many weeks it’ll be until anyone who doesn’t own some form of transportation will be physically stranded”. Whatever services and goods existed two years ago, equivalents can by and large still be found today, albeit at a possibly-increased price or a possibly-decreased utility. They may have dimmed, but “the lights stayed on”. Is the world free of problems? No.