"The Midas Plague"

1954 Pohl, [Jr.], Frederik [George] (1919-2013). “The Midas Plague.” Galaxy Science Fiction (New York) 8.1 (April 1954): 6-58. Rpt. in All About the Future. Ed. Martin Greenburg (New York: Gnome Press, 1955), 27-80; in Spectrum: A Science Fiction Anthology. Ed. Kingsley Amis and Robert Conquest (London: Victor Gollancz, 1961), 13-67; in American Utopias: Selected Short Fiction. Ed. Arthur O. Lewis, Jr. New York: Arno Press and The New York Times, 1971. All items separately paged. In this case the text has been reset, there are no page numbers, and the illustrations in the original are not included; and in his Midas World (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1983), 5-74. PSt

Dystopia. The development of effective fusion power means that anything can be produced cheaply, and the human race goes on a production and consumption binge. Over time consumption does not keep up with production, and laws are passed to require consumption. This results in a status system in which the poor must consume at a higher rate than the rich. The story is about a poor man who solves the problem by creating robots that can both produce and consume.