"I wouldn't say they were satisfied," was the answer, "but they know no other way of life, and don't have much choice in the matter."
Kramvit was finding it difficult to picture the situation. "Well, as I've told you," he said, "we have T.V. on Six, but we've been stressing variety and drama shows. Don't you have any big V.C. stars, like comedians or singers here?"
"No, we don't. I've never seen any variety or drama shows on V.C."
"I'm surprised. You see, we have been using all the air time, or most of it, for entertainment purposes. Commercially, T.V. is just a baby with us. We've been using it much longer than you have, technically, but not commercially. I'd say that we've had sponsored shows for about fourteen years."
"Oh, then it is a comparatively new thing with you," said Carrowick. "We've had commercial Vidcope for over five hundred years."
Kramvit shook his head. "I still can't see why your Poors have to live in such poverty. Don't they get paid on their jobs?"
"Why, sure they do," answered Carrowick, "but their rate of pay is not particularly high. You see, only the Poors do all the menial and service work; aside from high service positions like government work, of course. There are so many Poors and so few jobs for them, that those that work are little better off than those that don't."
"I see," said Kramvit, "and is there no protection for these unemployed? I mean Social Security or unemployment insurance, which I know you did have a long time ago."
"No, there isn't. We had to stop that because if we kept it up we'd have no workers at all," replied Carrowick. "Believe me, Marryl, I don't particularly like the situation. We've tried integration in one or two sections, but only riots resulted. I think that eventually we'll eliminate some of the prejudices, but it can't be pushed or hurried. It'll take many years to do it. I'm sure I won't live to see it gone completely."
"And," asked Kramvit, "have you been a winner on a Qua show?"