Why does the Grand Nagus travel by shuttle?

[MatthiasRussell]

I just had the thought that the Ferenginar is more like Saudi Arabia or United Arab Emirates than Switzerland. It's full of insanely wealthy individuals who act like friends to everyone, but only so long as it keeps them rich. The princes and businessmen their aren't afraid to spend lavishly on transportation, just check out the Emerites Airlines 1st class cabins or the 747 business jets they buy.

 

[Sci]

I just had the thought that the Ferenginar is more like Saudi Arabia or United Arab Emirates than Switzerland. It's full of insanely wealthy individuals who act like friends to everyone, but only so long as it keeps them rich. The princes and businessmen their aren't afraid to spend lavishly on transportation, just check out the Emerites Airlines 1st class cabins or the 747 business jets they buy.

I don't think Saudi Arabia or the U.A.E. are good comparisons. Those countries that have wealth and strategic value because they have a natural resource--oil--that everyone else needs and wants.

By contrast, what resource do the Ferengi have everyone else needs and wants? So far as we know, nothing in particular; there's no indication that Ferenginar is particularly rich in dilithium, for instance.

Further, Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E. aren't truly neutral. They are very definitely allied with the United States; they're its client states. Ferenginar, so far as we know, is genuinely neutral.

So I think Switzerland is a better comparison. It's a country that's famous for its neutrality, and for its business ties with many different countries, irrelevant of their political alignment. Swiss bank accounts are, of course, somewhat infamous--I wouldn't be surprised if Ferengi bank accounts have a similar perception.

 

[MatthiasRussell]

The Ferengi have Slug-O-Cola for one thing.

Though we have no evidence of a major export for Ferenginar, it stands to reason that they must have something, or at least HAD something for them to become so affluent.

Unfortunately, we know nothing about Ferenginar other than it rains ALL the time.

 

[Sci]

The Ferengi have Slug-O-Cola for one thing.

A soft drink popular amongst Ferengi is not exactly the Star Trekkian equivalent of Saudi oil.

Though we have no evidence of a major export for Ferenginar, it stands to reason that they must have something, or at least HAD something for them to become so affluent.

Not really. They could just have your standard set of resources and simply have become renowned for their neutrality, thereby making business deals easier -- like Switzerland.

 

[Timo]

Though we have no evidence of a major export for Ferenginar, it stands to reason that they must have something, or at least HAD something for them to become so affluent.

Both TNG and the episode "The Nagus" itself give the impression that the Ferengi go out of their way to hide their identity and nature from their "customers", and only engage in more open trade when they have run out of other options. One would assume much of their wealth is based on business that has nothing to do with their homeworld or their native resources. Indeed, piracy might be their leading source of income, its profits then being redistributed within the Ferengi society through internal trade that makes or breaks a successful Ferengi. Trading with outsiders is just something for the ones who already made it big and can afford this lifestyle of additional income strategies.

Whether the Ferengi are neutral or not is anybody's guess. Perhaps they are basically a Cardassian client state, due to the apparent proximity of the homeworlds, and Quark's very special status aboard Terok Nor is part of the deal, and an example of how Cardassia gained access to its apparently high quality replicator and holographic technology.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Sindatur]

Quarks main strategy for profit seems to be "Hidden Costs passed along to customers" IE: Fees and Markups. And we see on Ferengenar how important fees/bribes are

 

[MatthiasRussell]

I don't get the impression that the Ferengi are known for their neutrality. Good brokers and mercenaries maybe but the Enterprise crew didn't seem to think of the Ferengi as a neutral party in the quadrant. In fact, many of the first dealings between Starfleet and the Ferengi were violent.

 

[Sci]

I don't get the impression that the Ferengi are known for their neutrality. Good brokers and mercenaries maybe but the Enterprise crew didn't seem to think of the Ferengi as a neutral party in the quadrant.

The Enterprise crew barely had any understanding of the Ferengi or their culture in early TNG.

DS9 made it explicitly clear that the Ferengi keep neutral -- Quark talked about keeping neutral in prior wars himself, and the Ferengi Alliance itself was neutral in the Dominion War.

 

[MatthiasRussell]

Just because Quark says they are neutral doesn't mean they really are. Consider the episode The Magnificent Ferengi.

The Dominion kidnap a member of a neutral world, the girlfriend of the Grand Negas. She is ransomed using a captured Vorta. Why is the Dominion holding captive and ransoming a member of a neutral world?

The Ferengi kill their hostage and all the Jem Hadar on Empok Nor, then capture another Vorta to turn over to Starfleet.

So the Ferengi may have been claiming neutrality but Zek and the Ferengi were clearing on the Federation's side. If they weren't before the exchange, the Dominion no doubt viewed them as a federation ally afterwards as they commited an act of war on Empok Nor as they were acting under the direction of the Grand Negas.

 

[MacLeod]

If the Ferengi were leaning mortwards the Federation it's only because it was thought that a Dominion victory would be bad for buisness.

 

[MatthiasRussell]

I would think the Dominion could be better for business. The Federation has a lot of rules that Quark finds repressive. The worlds in the Gamma quardrant that Quark traded with had some contracts that benefitted the Ferengi greatly. It seems that if worlds pay their Dominion taxes and don't engage in insurrection they are left alone.

Besides, the Ferengi know how to make any situation work for them economicly.

 

[DonIago]

Starfleet soldiers eat, drink and sleep. Jem'hadar do none of the above. Just look at the Occupation Arc - Quark didn't seem especially thrilled that DS9 had been taken by the Dominion.

 

[MatthiasRussell]

But Cardassians drink, eat, and party far in excess of Starfleeters. The Vorta seem to enjoy the pleasures of life as well (though they have a limited sense of taste), Plus, if the Dominion were to conquer the UFP, then the Ferengi could do business with all the worlds governed by the Dominion, not just the Jem Hadar.

 

[DonIago]

Provided the Dominion would allow them to do so, which given their oppressive nature is a pretty big If.

 

[MatthiasRussell]

The Dominion didn't seem to have trouble with the Ferengi doing business in the DQ, it is Starfleet they didn't want there. As I said, so long as the Dominion gets their taxes and there are no insurrections, they stay hands off.

The Cardassians had a history of doing busines with the Ferengi. They probably would have no issues with their business transactions either as long as they are not supporting their enemy.

However, the Ferengi were acting like the US before joining the Allies. They say they are neutral while supplying one side of the conflict.

 

[Timo]

Then again, we only saw our heroes' side of the story. Who knows what services the Ferengi did to the Dominion?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[MatthiasRussell]

Even if the Nagus didn't sanction it, I'm sure some Ferengi DID profit from the Dominion side.

 

[MacLeod]

Sooner or later the Dominion would have absorbed the Ferengi, had they won the war.

 

[Timo]

Would the Ferengi have minded? The Karemma seemed to be able to do business well enough despite being "members"...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[MacLeod]

But to the Karemma do business on their terms or on the Dominion's terms?