I think the question that these parents asked themselves was do we let our (other) kids starve to death, let them live on the street and sniff glue , or etc... or get money from something that is "controlled" by them. With the collapse of Eastern bloc it was dark times for many..... and certain forces used the situation for personal gain. And it is not different from parents in Arab country or India selling their 9 years old daughter for arranged marriage.

I'm afraid that you're correct, but I think there is also a "darker" side to it. As the OP mentions, parents involving their kids in CP crosses class barriers and happens in both poor and rich families.

A few weeks ago, I took a primal therapy course, aimed at improving participants self-awareness and quality of life by letting them express pain experienced during childhood trauma. Anyway, the reason I am bringing this up is that some people in this course had childhood stories of abuse that would make anyone puke. And these were all high-income people with good jobs.

I believe all parents try their best, nobody wants to be a bad person. But if your perception of good parenting includes fucking your kids, that can make you do horrible things.

"good parenting includes fucking your kids" - eh? I didn't read that in the article, i.e. that sexual molestation by parents was a significant source of revenue (that was done through one-upmanship, apparently); it was rather children who "posed naked" with the consent of parents.

I do think it's important to recognize a spectrum here; and also, rational discussion requires avoiding emotive language.