There may be more than greed and waste involved. Both individuals and nations exhibit the same perverted competitive urge that advertisers exploit when they tell us there are only minutes left to buy or only a few items remaining. This is what triggered America's killing frenzy when the news came that the once-vast flocks of passenger pigeons were reduced to only a few remaining birds: every red-blooded American with a stick or shotgun raced out to get one before they were gone. Today the same behavior seems to be occurring with dwindling fish populations as well as dwindling oil supplies. A massive reverse-engineering of advertising and lobbying might change these behaviors but is unlikely ever to happen.