New York 2140

“We live in a world where people pretend money can buy you anything, so money becomes the point, so we all work for money.” 

While money is a solution for many problems and challenges, The Citizen says that too many people view money as the solution to all of life’s problems. Once someone has decided that money can buy anything, he will do anything to have more money, even when money is not making him happy or solving his problems. 

“We’ve been paying a fraction of what things really cost to make, but meanwhile the planet, and the workers who made the stuff, take the unpaid costs right in the teeth.” 

The potentially exploitative aspects of capitalism disgust Mutt and Jeff. The world could not run without the efforts of the poor and working class who make the products and provide the services that the rich enjoy. Jeff demands justice, which he sees as interchangeable with revenge, on behalf of useful, working people who do not benefit as much from their own labor as their employers, bankers, and traders do. 

“Depressed people did not usually engage in criminal conspiracies.” 

Gen notices that Vlade seems depressed. One of the themes of the book is that the working class is so busy surviving that they do not have time to protest the government or the finance industry. Vlade’s depression stems from the loss of his marriage and child, but his work schedule is also so oppressive that he has no time to devote to conspiracies or crimes. The wealthy and powerful are those with enough time to be proactive with their schemes and plotting.