Sidestepping your original premise - how do the Ferengi even make sense in Star Trek? Its supposed to be a post-scarcity society, at least on an individual level - and an imperialist one on a civilization-scale, the latter being a step back even from how the modern world works.

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rsstack 9 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Not everything is post-scarcity, mostly food and clothes. Land, fuel, weapons, art, fame, and labor are still limited resources in the Star Trek world. Also, not everywhere is post-scarcity, as we see many "poor" or restricted societies. The post-scarcity bit is mostly about a social safety net for individuals in the Federation.

	▲	krapp 9 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Even within the Federation, colonies can collapse and fail, experience famine, plague, etc. Tasha Yar came from one such colony that had regressed into violent anarchy. The Federation is a post-scarcity utopia until the writers want something interesting to write about. Then the Federation gives some colonies to the Cardassians and you get the Maquis.

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Thraway198 9 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

The Ferengi don't exist as part of the Federation. Their culture isn't built on egalitarianism, so not everyone gets access.

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beAbU 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Ferengi is not part of the Federation AFAIK