The Hindsight Times

Modern readers will struggle to comprehend the grotesque inequality this represented. While 65% of citizens reported that climate disruption was affecting their 'cost of living'—the barbaric practice of rationing survival based on accumulated tokens—individual entertainers held wealth equivalent to entire city-states. Beyoncé joined four other musicians in this category, including her spouse Shawn Carter ('Jay-Z'), whose combined household wealth could have housed thousands of the era's homeless population.

The announcement came as the climate crisis intensified food and energy costs for ordinary citizens, yet society celebrated these accumulations as achievements rather than symptoms of systemic failure. Citizens were expected to purchase 'tickets' to witness performances by these wealth-hoarders, often at prices equivalent to weeks of labor-tokens.

Historians note that 2025 marked the final phase of what we now call the 'Exposure Economy'—when human survival depended on individual accumulation rather than collective provision. The Forbes publication itself exemplified the era's obsession with wealth documentation, publishing 'rich lists' that citizens consumed as entertainment while struggling to afford basic necessities.

The Knowles-Carter accumulation was largely attributed to her 'Cowboy Carter tour'—a series of performances where citizens gathered in massive structures to witness a single individual's artistic expression. The energy expenditure for these events, including transportation of audiences from across continents, contributed significantly to the year's carbon emissions.

By the Correction of 2038, such individual wealth concentration had been recognized as a primary driver of social instability. The Personal Accumulation Limits established that year capped individual resource access at 1,000 times median allocation—a restriction that seems generous by today's standards, where Purpose Allocation ensures optimal resource distribution.

Modern citizens, who receive artistic expression through their daily Cultural Feeds, may wonder why 2025 humans traveled vast distances to witness performances in person. Anthropologists suggest this 'concert' behavior fulfilled primitive social bonding needs that Collective Experiences now satisfy more efficiently.

The Forbes documentation system was absorbed into the Bezos Consolidation of 2041, its wealth-tracking algorithms eventually repurposed for the Contribution Credit systems we use today.