My view on the current economic and political situation is that the party can go on for quite a while. First the Democrats will cement their power. They will inexorably expand the welfare state while their shrinking job base chips away at the middle class. We still print the world's reserve currency and the printing has yet to go full throttle. But that is inevitable due to the fact that the federal government will be able to fund perhaps 1/2 of the interest on debt at realistic (i.e. what most of the rest of the world pays) rates. When the emperor finally exposes himself, the fall will be dramatic, mainly because the party can and will be allowed to continue for so long. Bottom line, we have time, IMO.
So back to the technology. The internet and non-internet comms like broadcast radio can be made to be survivable and independently powered. The only hitch I can see is that rechargeable batteries eventually wear out. Personally I prefer a very heavy oversized battery bank because my hundreds of pounds of lead should hold some value (except the extreme situation of course). I rarely need to do a deep discharge now although that would quickly change if TSHTF.
The drawback is that it isn't portable so it must be defended. On the lighter side I have an Anker power pack and Mercury 10 solar charger that will last a long time provided I don't do deep discharging. That provides more than enough power for the Raspberry pi, but I'm not sure about the SDR because I have to try that out. After reading your excellent short story, that is high on my list. I have a bit of survival skill but as long as I do survive I will make sure I have some gear to play around with.
I’m a huge fan of high quality rechargeable batteries and multiple charging sources. Even in the worst case, being the last guy left in your AO with an electro-optical rifle scope and even just a working flashlight will give you a huge edge.