"The future Mr. Gittes. The future."

There's a moment near the end of the classic film noir Chinatown when the detective, Jake Gittes (Jack Nicholson) confronts Noah Cross (John Huston). Cross is a very rich, very corrupt, and very powerful man (just before the film's climax his daughter remarks, "He owns the police."), and Gittes wants to know why he's done what he's done. How much better can he eat? What can he buy that he can't already afford? Cross replies, "The future, Mr. Gittes. The future."

I find myself thinking about the Noah Crosses of our world more and more these days. The Kochs and Waltons and Murdochs and all the other rapacious billionaires. They aren't content with all that they have, though their wealth is several magnitudes beyond Cross's wildest dreams. They want the future, too.

For the Kochs that means buying elections, and then using their bought and paid for politicians to destroy unions and strip away any environmental regulation that lessens their profits. Clean air, clean water, and a living wage just don't figure into their calculations.

For the Waltons it means forcing their suppliers to take their manufacturing overseas to the cheapest labor markets and undercutting any and all competition, so we ultimately have no choice but Wal Mart. It is a perfect business plan--if you don't care much about America.

For Murdoch it means gobbling up all the media outlets he can, so that his propaganda machine can spread its lies without fear of contradiction. Orwellian is the word that comes to mind.

Noah Cross was an old man. He didn't have much time left. But he still wanted control, if only from beyond the grave. And if that meant destroying another person's future, so be it.

The time has come for the rest of us to ask "how much is enough?" And then we have to have the common sense and courage to say "No" to Noah Cross's many spiritual heirs. The future cannot be exclusively theirs. The future belongs to all of us. Because if it doesn't, it won't be worth having.

How much better can they eat, and what can they buy that they can't already afford?