There is no doubt, in my opinion, that the West is experiencing a degenerative collapse induced by a dearth of hardship coupled with a rampant and narcissistic form of escapist hedonism. I often ponder if the fiat expansion wasn't designed to do promote the former while the entertainment industry advanced the latter to create maximum suffering when the total economic collapse is initiated.
Your observations on the flagging effectiveness of the propaganda industry is thought provoking. I would suspect the talking heads in the propaganda corporate news media are well aware they are oligarch lackeys shilling for their share of the 30 pieces of silver. The actors and entertainers however, for the most part, are very likely empty vessels devoid of any genuine intellectual utility who have based their lives and self-worth upon the approval of others; in this case accepting the corporate media cultists and "drinking the Kool-Aid".
It is likely that enforcement and redistribution will increase throughout the West, with the emphasis on enforcement. I suspect however that significant resources are being dedicated to rejuvenating the propaganda machine via social media and the tech tyrants. This rejuvenation may well focus on direct manipulation by creating collaborative mind-to-mind interface, the potential of which is horrific to say the least.
I recall a Black Mirror episode, "Men against fire," in which the near-future soldiers are implanted with a mind-machine interface that allows them to be highly efficient in coordinated military maneuvers. The MMI also allows the controllers to enhance certain information stimulus, as well as dramatically altering their perceptual matrix. I wonder if MMI will become as ubiquitous and normalized as individuals communicating primarily via texting. MMI will allow our masters to control public perception with a flick of a switch, but then again, they already have such power via social media platforms. Information polarization and targeted dissemination already allows for unprecedented control of the masses, who willingly partake in propaganda, even in so far as paying for the privilege of being programmed by their masters.