Chicago is a popular, busy, and expensive neighborhood as of 2036. Due to the Ebola outbreak of 2015 along with subsequent outbreaks of swine flu and SARS, unprecendented innovations in labor-saving technology were introduced. The capitalist system would bring its inevitable end due to an "economic plague which started sometime in the year 2037." Many nearby hamlets were abandoned as people chose to live more urban lives to required less fuel usage. Wages shot up and laborers could move to new localities in response to wage offers.