The Ferengi started out as a caricature of 20th century America, but as DS9 developed them there are some humorous contradictions.
It's such a laissez faire economy that the idea of tax was unheard of until Zek's reforms, and yet there's an organization called the Ferengi Commerce Authority more empowered than the IRS to seize peoples assets and ban them from doing business without recourse.
On the surface all they care about is profit, but the principles at the core of their philosophical outlook contradict it if you drill down at all. The first rule of acquisition states "Once you have their money, never give it back to them". Yet refunding someone's money when you made a mistake or sold a malfunctioning item could make the difference between getting their money once and getting theirs and all their friend's money several times after they leave satisfied.
The Ferengi don't care about profit nearly as much as they care about the hustle. The hunt is what they live for, not the spoils. Which is why this economy seemingly build on the principle of free enterprise needs such laughably strict regulations. Why a union at some remote bar threatens them so much, and why Quark can get blacklisted for violating a contract entered into under false pretenses. Because, the seemingly abrupt change toward liberal capitalism at the end of the series was only out of nowhere from the Federation perspective. Just like the more normalized cultural changes become in the US, the more harshly people who don't like the changes try to crack down on them. People who don't want to give up the hustle and their position in power and with absolute control over women had been terrified of a growing cultural change for decades. And Ishka knowing this just hacked the system to convert the handful of powerful Ferengi they needed on their side to get those changes over the hump.
It only seemed abrupt to us, the viewers, because we only watched from a Federation perspective and the Federation only ever met the hustlers and yankee traders.
It's such a laissez faire economy that the idea of tax was unheard of until Zek's reforms, and yet there's an organization called the Ferengi Commerce Authority more empowered than the IRS to seize peoples assets and ban them from doing business without recourse.
On the surface all they care about is profit, but the principles at the core of their philosophical outlook contradict it if you drill down at all. The first rule of acquisition states "Once you have their money, never give it back to them". Yet refunding someone's money when you made a mistake or sold a malfunctioning item could make the difference between getting their money once and getting theirs and all their friend's money several times after they leave satisfied.
The Ferengi don't care about profit nearly as much as they care about the hustle. The hunt is what they live for, not the spoils. Which is why this economy seemingly build on the principle of free enterprise needs such laughably strict regulations. Why a union at some remote bar threatens them so much, and why Quark can get blacklisted for violating a contract entered into under false pretenses. Because, the seemingly abrupt change toward liberal capitalism at the end of the series was only out of nowhere from the Federation perspective. Just like the more normalized cultural changes become in the US, the more harshly people who don't like the changes try to crack down on them. People who don't want to give up the hustle and their position in power and with absolute control over women had been terrified of a growing cultural change for decades. And Ishka knowing this just hacked the system to convert the handful of powerful Ferengi they needed on their side to get those changes over the hump.
It only seemed abrupt to us, the viewers, because we only watched from a Federation perspective and the Federation only ever met the hustlers and yankee traders.
