C15 Greed had no bottom

On the plane to Prague, Yeo reflected on his own disillusionment with capitalism.

His business ventures in Eastern Europe swept all the way to Russia.

He had been one of the early plunderers.

Yeo could spot a trend with an eagle’s eye.

He bought entire industries with suitcases full of cash.

He did business the way the locals did.

Their banking system was crude and bankrupt.

These people were like children in business.

They had no idea of what the value of anything was.

What they had to sell was a gift from the State.

He had bought up massive amounts of the best agricultural land in the world.

He took ownership of property that had kept its charm for five hundred years.

Ten years later, he sold it all back to Western businessmen for euros, instead of worthless crowns and rubles, at ten times the price he paid for it.

They thought they were getting a bargain.

But on later visits to Eastern Europe, he began to see how the influx of the West had corrupted the government in the same way it had become corrupted under communism.

Everyone at the top was skimming.

Nothing was accomplished without bribes.

The social deterioration caused him alarm.

The society as a whole had benefited very little.

The creation of a middle class turned those minds to ownership.

No one owned anything under Communism.

Now there was widespread desire for all the things they never owned.

The West deluged them with products meant to fill the same needs in the West.

New needs were marketed to keep consumers buying and keep people thinking that their lives were missing something.

These needs were never filled.

People were always left longing for more.

He loved these people.

He saw deep souls in their eyes.

They had suffered the oppressions his people had suffered.

But he thought it was the biggest corruption the West had brought them when he began reading about the number of young women who were being lured from the smaller, poorer countries.

They were told they’d be nannies in a respectable home in the wealthier countries.

When they reached their destination, they were quickly abducted into brothels for prostitution.

They would spend years winning their freedom, if they were that lucky.

Until then they were traded like cattle from cartel to cartel until their bodies were used up.

When Yeo first revealed his concerns about these larger things to Chuck, he discovered that Chuck had been reconsidering his own purpose in the world.

Chuck’s disenchantment came with the depth of his understanding that all the games were rigged.

All the games were rigged to favor the dirtiest players.

Those who played fair were swallowed up like popcorn.

The good people paid for it.

The perpetrators walked off untouched.

And all the media was rigged to help the general population believe that any financial crisis that came up, had come up as a result of their own selfish actions.

They deserved the consequences.

They were prepared to pay.

It was a ploy the banks had been selling for decades.

Avarice had no conscience.

Greed had no bottom.

The monster was insatiable.