Another mystery of astronomy solved.

Classic PC game Star Control II did this joke in the year of our lord nineteen hundred and ninety-two. There was an entire alien species whose culture was just capitalism taken to its furthest extremes. If you scan their home planet it's a 'dust world', the same planet type as Mars. Through conversation, you learn that it used to be a water world like Earth. Fantastic game. Getting a true sequel now, too!