How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Line)
Quote #4
"Yes. And Armscor is one of the smallest of the transnationals, that is why we picked it. But it still has a bigger economy than any but the largest twenty countries. As the old multinationals coalesce into transnationals, you see, they really gather quite a bit of power, and they have influence in the General Assembly." (5.4.23)
All the transnats, even the smallest, wield two powerful social forces: power and greed. And they wield them to a tune that can make entire countries dance.
Quote #5
"The entire transnational executive class does nothing a computer couldn't do, and there are whole categories of parasitical jobs that add nothing to the system by an ecologic accounting. Advertising, stock brokerage, the whole apparatus for making money only from the manipulation of money—that is not only wasteful but corrupting, as all meaningful money values get distorted in such manipulation." (5.7.21)
So, what can we really add to this quote? "Parasitical jobs" kind of sums it up, doesn't it? Way to not pull any punches, Red Mars.
Quote #6
Earth was seriously depleted in many of the metals they were finding on Mars. There were fortunes to be made, enormous fortunes. And someone who owned a piece of the bridge over which every ounce of metal had to pass would make an enormous fortune as well, probably the greatest fortune of all. No wonder Phyllis and the rest of them looked like they were in church. (5.7.64)
The worship of money by the transnats is subtly thrown in with the words "like they were in church." Well… subtle compared to that last quote we cited at any rate.