to buy up building land at low prices and resell it for a high profit; to speculate in real estate

(metaphor) to bleed the people dry; to thrive on extortion, especially by corrupt officials

(idiom) to work in a shallow or superficial way; to only do enough to get by on the surface without any depth or real impact

to squeeze every penny out of the people; to carry out extensive looting or extortion, especially by corrupt officials; to plunder the land or extort money from people, specifically through corrupt local governance; used to describe greedy or predatory officials