Quotations from the book 'The Decline of Civilisation' by Janus Apinus. He writes of the development and then the decline of the consumer market economy in the Martan Empire and Gallanol, of the competition and efficiency which grew, stifling consumption and making the actual lives of the people miserable in the process. He mentions the development of new technologies, including Vidnet and the foodshute delivery systems to the blocks of apartments. A warning for our own world perhaps as our own economies 'develop'?