Something wicked this way comes

Like the foreboding storm in Ray Bradbury’s 1962 novel Something Wicked This Way Comes, the atmosphere across the United States is electric with anxiety. As with Bradbury’s town, our homes may be safe – for now – but the signs of an impending social and economic tempest are becoming impossible to ignore. From dire economic predictions to ominous political shifts, a clash of forces – technological, ideological, economic – is surely gathering.

Bradbury’s storm was a harbinger, set in a seemingly idyllic American community. The arrival of a sinister carnival becomes a metaphor for the seductive power of evil, offering people what they desire most – youth, beauty, escape – but at a terrible cost. Yet, they had their warnings.

Forward to 2025 and hedge fund billionaire Ray Dalio has been outspoken among many doomsayer analysists about looming peril. Labelling the U.S. fiscal state an “economic heart attack” waiting to happen, he warns that without shrinking the budget deficit to three percent of GDP, a calamity is likely within three years. Dalio warns that Trump’s latest tax cuts, by exploding deficits and favouring the ultra-wealthy, are accelerating America toward a debt-driven economic depression or worse. He describes a systemic free-fall: collapsing debt markets, a weakening dollar, societal division – reminiscent of the 1930s.

Meanwhile, Microsoft’s recent decision to lay off thousands of employees across divisions like sales, customer service, and engineering has been widely seen as a clear signal that AI is already displacing human jobs. While the company framed the move as part of a broader “strategic realignment”, the timing is telling: Microsoft is investing billions into artificial intelligence, particularly through its partnership with OpenAI and embedding AI tools like Copilot into its flagship products. These layoffs mark a turning point, not just for Microsoft, but for the new labour market more broadly.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has repeatedly warned that artificial intelligence will lead to a massive collapse in traditional employment, saying it will eliminate a huge number of current jobs and fundamentally reshape the economy – raising urgent questions about social safety nets, worker identity and how societies adapt to unprecedented technological disruption. He recently claimed that “AI could already diagnose better than doctors” and explained that customer support jobs would be “I think just like totally, totally gone”, though he still would want a human doctor in the loop, which is nice of him. Altman has been making a pivot towards Trump’s throne to replace the yawning gap left by the estranged Elon Musk and get the administration’s approval for his “AI action plan”. But he is not alone.

As Japan and European countries are seemingly capitulating into accepting Trump’s new tariffs and NATO demands, homegrown institutions of honour and principle are grovelling at the President’s feet. In March, the Trump administration said it was cancelling $400 million in grants to Columbia University, accusing it of “inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students.” Despite earlier indications of a backbone and educational autonomy, the University is reportedly paying a $200 million ‘fine’ to the Trump administration to restore $400 million in frozen federal research grants while insisting: "While Columbia does not admit to wrongdoing with this resolution agreement, the institution’s leaders have recognised, repeatedly, that Jewish students and faculty have experienced painful, unacceptable incidents, and that reform was and is needed”. Indeed.

CBS just announced that The Late Show with Stephen Colbert will end in May 2026. Despite being the network’s highest-rated late-night program, it reportedly lost $40 million annually amid falling ad revenue even as the host is a consistent and deliciously humorous thorn in Donald Trump’s side (and ego). Yet, the cancellation suspiciously follows shortly after Paramount (CBS’s owner) settled a $16 million lawsuit with Trump regarding his criticism of a 60 Minutes (CBS) interview with his former political opponent Kamala Harris – which was previously seen as frivolous grandstanding. Just days after both Columbia’s settlement and The Late Show’s termination, the Trump administration approved Paramount’s $8 billion merger with Skydance. Colbert called the settlement simply “a big, fat bribe”.

This all happens as Immigration and Customs Enforcement is set to become the largest police force in the U.S. ICE will be bigger than the military of many countries in its mandate to deport illegal immigrants. Recent protests against ICE round-ups and deportations seem to have faded as the agency continues its targeting of Central and South American communities.

Back home and film and TV productions – once the mainstay of L.A. – have largely left Hollywood, seeing a collapse in location productions by 58% in the three years since the peak of 2021. While the first quarter of this year was down a further 22.4% on the same period last year. How does Los Angeles face this loss – in combination with the ever-present threat of wildfires and rising cost of living in one of the most expensive U.S. cities?

The latter is clearly manifest in my wife’s long-established, boutique cosmetic shop in Glendale, where shoplifting – unheard of in the 30 years previous – is now becoming worryingly commonplace. Where once the price was not a problem, customers frequently max out their credit cards and say: “I can’t afford that anymore”. Cost hikes are everywhere due to Trump’s tariffs and a weakening dollar with Babyliss straighteners (made in Canada) going from $150 to $200 in a single week. Meanwhile, inflation hasn’t gone away you know, with grocery prices creeping up steadily in the 15 months we have been here.

As ‘Make America Great Again’ is being implemented day by day… warning signs flash amber, then red.

What does it all mean? No idea, but life feels off, foreboding. Like Mayo being up by two points with a minute to go and we have just kicked a bad wide and given away a needless free – which is taken quickly, catching our defence unawares… something is surely coming.