Griftopia: Bubble Machines, Vampire Squids, and the Long Con That Is Breaking America Highlight

living—in the summer of 2008, the cost of energy almost certainly hit you hard. There was no serious attempt by either the national media or the national political establishment to explain the cause of the problem. Most people assumed it had to do with some combination of shortages and/or increased demand from the Chinese industrial machine, and most TV reports were more than willing to encourage that perception, despite the fact that there were no long lines at the gas stations, no seventies-style rage-fests while waiting for gas, no obvious evidence of scarcity.