You're a municipal pension fund director. You sit across the mahogany table from Elias, a private equity CEO who is tapping a gold pen against a contract. Your city's pension fund is severely underwater; next month, 40,000 retired teachers and sanitation workers will face a 30% cut to their monthly checks. Elias's proposed investment guarantees a return that will make the fund completely whole. But you've read the unredacted prospectus. The returns rely on hostile buyouts of mobile home parks. The firm aggressively evicts low-income residents, bulldozes their communities, and builds luxury condos. Signing the contract saves your 40,000 retirees from poverty, but directly finances the displacement of thousands of vulnerable families. The city treasurer is pacing behind you. "We need your signature before the market closes in ten minutes," she says. "It's our only lifeline."