What Would the 'Depression of the Future' Look Like?

In the latest issue of Wired magazine, I'm reading an article about the "depression of the future." So I decided to think about this "depression of the era" kick the media spouts, too. Or as Sarah Palin would say: also, too.

What would a depression of say, the year 2024 be?

Assuming social networking apps like Facebook, LinkedIn, Reddit, Squiddo and others are still around, how would the world's Tom Joads survive in an online world? Would they fight for survival, like in Cormac McCarthy's post-apocalyptic novel, The Road? Instead of doing anything and everything for food, we might kill each other for a battery that works with our laptop; we might do worse things if we find a battery compatible with the iPhone 3G?

Or how about trying to begin anew, like the folks did in Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath? (What would you do if you find a flyer with these words printed on it: Come to New California! We've got Internet connections! 12-Hour work-days required for plug-in.)

This is all silly, of course. But stories are churning in my head as we speak. Apply questions about the current state of our culture, economics or what have you, to your story so that it will give you some fresh appeal. In fiction writing, use setting as a character, just like Joad himself.