How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
But so successful was this venture that Magrathea itself soon became the richest planet of all time and the rest of the Galaxy was reduced to abject poverty. And so the system broke down, the Empire collapsed, and a long sullen silence settled over a billion worlds, disturbed only by the pen scratchings of scholars as they labored into the night over smug little treaties on the value of a planned political economy. (15.6)
"Political economy" is either another way to say "economics" or it's a way to refer to the interaction of the political world and the economic world. It's not like people are voting for what form of economy they want. Politics in Hitchhiker's Guide is all about how people organize themselves and live together, so economy certainly falls under that category. As we see here, there are some easy ways for the system to break down. Just as the political president can run away from his job, so can the economic leader bring the economic system to collapse. But here, Magrathea causes a collapse by being so good at their job. That seems absurd: how can a victory for Magrathea cause a defeat for the rest of the galaxy?
Quote #8
"The computers were index linked to the Galactic stock market prices you see, so that we'd all be revived when everybody else had rebuilt the economy enough to afford our rather expensive services."
Arthur, a regular Guardian reader, was deeply shocked at this.
"That's a pretty unpleasant way to behave isn't it?" (22.35-7)
As we note in the Shout-Outs, the Guardian is a left-leaning paper, so what Arthur means is that it's not cool for the Magratheans to sleep through a recession that they partly caused. Rather than working to fix the recession, the Magratheans are waiting for a time "when everybody else had rebuilt the economy." That is, the Magratheans have removed themselves from the economy and the politics of the galaxy. Not only is this bad for the galaxy, but it doesn't seem to be good for the Magratheans, who have passed into legend. And frankly, people don't usually line up to buy stuff from a company that they don't believe exists anymore.
Quote #9
"Yes," said the old man, pausing to gaze hopelessly round the room. "Ten million years of planning and work gone just like that. Ten million years, Earthman ... can you conceive of that kind of time span? A galactic civilization could grow from a single worm five times over in that time. Gone." He paused. "Well that's bureaucracy for you," he added. (30.3)
Slartibartfast could rant and rave about the huge waste and loss of destroying Earth right before Earth was ready to give an answer. (We should point out, though, that the loss of Earth means that the Magratheans will get more business from the mice. So the destruction of Earth is at least profitable for Magrathea.) Instead, Slarty first emphasizes the loss of "Ten million years of planning and work" and then gives the verbal equivalent of a shrug: "that's bureaucracy for you." That's not a passionate statement—Slarty isn't going to rush out to reform the government after this. Nothing is going to change.