The docks had been closed for months now, its runners knee deep in one of the last and most powerful labor strikes in the city. No scab dared cross the picket line, the union bosses cold as ice and deeply respected by their allies. But as infrastructure in the city became ever more unwieldy, and liquid cash became easier than ever for the ever-larger shipping companies to dredge up, they simply didn’t need scab workers anymore. They had scab industries. Boatloads of shipping containers slowly moved from idle docks to scores of self-driving double-decker big rigs that clogged the arteries of highway travel. They moved to ever larger airshipping fleets, specializing in short-term contract deals that took up airport gates at random. They moved to new contracts demanding the receiving companies come pick it up themselves. And in special interest story after special interest story, the cable news shows mourned the losses of the average American at the hands of this noble yet thuggish strike. They didn’t need the dock workers anymore. But cutting ties wasn’t enough. They had to make it hurt.

After all,

It’s Only Business.

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Addiction is a powerful thing. Or maybe more relevantly than addiction, the expectation of instant gratification and constant stimulation. The jury is out on just how addictive those cycles can be, and that jury may always be out, for its own concerning reasons. Children move from toy to phone to tablet and back, while adults move from phone to computer to television. These avenues have always been fine in moderation. But moderation limits profit. And always, the companies find a need, create one if necessary, and provide the solution that extracts as much value as the market can bear. And if you can claw your way to the top and buy out your competitors, it’s not the product they need anymore.

It’s you.

After all,

It’s Only Business.

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It was the same as it had always been. “Open enough boxes of Cracker Jack” became “use your decoder goggles,” which became “get a full set of hidden stickers,” which became “scan the right QR code.” And always for a prize that could be, but was statistically unlikely to be, a higher cost than the variable number of items purchased to earn it. A model that manipulated dopamine, cultivated a sense of wonder, and perhaps most importantly, held statistically lower volatility and risk for larger-scale operations. Yet another model that slowly, insidiously, by law of averages, moved wealth up the chain to the toy megacorporations and conglomerates that set the market’s path. But it wasn’t a bad deal for the buyer. It let parents use the money they got from working at those corporations to provide moments of happiness for their children, while paying back into the system that put food on their table. And when it comes down to it, what market need could be more important than putting a smile on a child’s face?

After all,

It’s only business.

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