So far, since the global financial crisis in 2008, middle class families have been found to have become just as precarious as poor working families.The author hints at a possible mass uprising. A similar uprising is the 1381 Peasants' Revolt where over 10,000 peasants rallied against the regime, led by a 14-year old king, because of the heavy flat-rate taxes imposed on everyone above the age of 15, following the Black Death. While the revolt was eventually quashed after less than a month, there was "no further levying of the poll tax for more than 250 years."

In Robinson's TMftF, revolts, just like terrorism take on a new meaning. Perhaps they have become one and the same. Are the Children of Kali rebels or terrorists? Whichever the classification, the fear they instill largely contributes to the reduction of Carbon levels.

I find it reckless to dismiss the Chinese style of pursuing prosperity because of the socio-political rivalry. Clearly, China's deep implication in the global economy must have something to do with its characteristically Chinese brand of Socialism. Perhaps this group may learn from that, tailor an ideology for themselves just like the Chinese, and prosper.

Socialism with Chinese characteristics is the official ideology of the Chinese Communist Party(CCP) conceived by Deng Xiaoping. It maintains the foundational Socialist and Marxist principles but combines it with Capitalistic characteristics like free markets. It simply means adapting socialist/Marxist principles, which were sufficient for their time, and molding them into an ideology that is perfect for present-day China while considering its history and economic infrastructure.

This is in realization that bringing about this change, particularly legislature-wise, will be tedious, perhaps more than expected. Hilariously Robinson uses the pulling down of pants metaphorically as a commitment to the struggle to come, which is like an episode of constipation.

Chapter 39's hostage of world leaders at the World Economic Forum who come out of the experience with an unchanged mind is evidence of this. It will take time for key stakeholders' minds to change.

Eventually, terrorism seems to be what changes minds for Robinson's utopia.

In today's world, the divide between the rich and poor is not a far cry from what Stanley describes in the novel. The amount of wealth owned by the poorest half of the world is less than the amount owned by just the 12 richest billionaires.

A future chapter of TMftF mentions John Keynes. The central banks are indeed central to all of this because of Keynesian economics. John Keynes' emphasized the importance of government's intervention in the economy to deal with unemployment and to prevent inflation. The central banks' tools of trade for this are monetary policy and fiscal policy which are arguably the building blocks of the economy as we know it. They are used by the central banks and the federal reserve to influence demand and thus maintain stability.

A paper investigating whose opinions matter when it comes to policy change found that policy makers are better at responding to advantaged groups than to disadvantaged ones.

Perhaps this is why one of the characters expresses a disillusionment with the thought a few government legislators, prone to "corruption[and] stupidity," get to have such consequential influence over the economy.

The other emphasizes the rule of law and insists to "make it stick", that is, to make it work, rather than dismissing it, or abandoning it altogether.

In Stanley's novel, this disillusionment with the system may embellish anarchy but that wouldn't be sustainable, at least not as far as The Ministry's goals of climate reform are concerned. What instead needs to happen is for the legislators to be less corrupt, less stupid. Given that the law mirrors the character of the legislators, perhaps the resultant policies will mirror a decline in "corruption" and "stupidity" in government legislators, and consequentially, climate reform will be a salient agendum.

For there to be actual change when it comes to climate reform, the most important people who need to be on board are people, individuals who have the means and powers to effect this change. Mary understands this, and it is evident in future chapters post-chapter 17. We frequently see Mary out and about trying to convince key stakeholders to adopt the Carbon Coin and Carbon Quantitative easing. It eventually works, albeit because of eco-terrorism to some extent.

This statement explains the importance of human actors in a system as complex and seemingly abstract as the economy. It is in my opinion, what informs lobbying. Lobbyists aim to influence policy on behalf of individuals, corporations, and various interest groups by appealing to the individuals who are in charge of policy-making.

When it comes to TMftF, this is what Mary Murphy is up to. She is out and about trying to lobby for the Ministry to get important stakeholders to adopt the Carbon Coin and CarbonQuantitative Easing.(CQE)

On this website of the National Conference of State Legislature, lobbying is generally defined as "seeking to influence government action through written or oral communication." Different states have different criteria for lobbying.

In Chaper 17, some human actors, about 8 million, were identified as those who run the economy. If the economic order is to change such that it would be pro-biosphere, they would need to be on board with the proposed economic reforms for any change to take place. Here, it is determined that the rentier class cannot be relied on to this end, hence "euthanasia may be just the thing" for Robinson's utopia to be realized.

This may in itself be a form of euphemism by Robinson. A happy life as guilt-free humans on [a seemingly other] planet of equally guilt free humans may sound like somebody's imagination of an afterlife. This 'class' has died, and is out of its misery.

This statement is reminiscent of Jean Jacques Rousseau's quote "When the people shall have nothing more to eat, they will eat the rich." This is where the popular anti-inequality slogan 'Eat the Rich' originated.

The euthanasia of the rentier class is a concept in John Keynes' book The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money. In the concluding chapter, Keynes' argues that since rentiers' financial success is positively correlated to high interest rates, a lowering of interest rates, with the goal of achieving full employment, would eventually eliminate the rentier class.

In The Ministry for the Future, the speculative financial logic of the global economic order that dictates interest rates is near obsolete ever since the Carbon Coin became implemented globally. The Carbon Coin, which can only be earned by ecologically sound practice, has displaced the dollar as the measure of economic value, thus placing a higher premium on sustainability than on accumulated capital.

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