GC's needed to purchase new Countries

So recently I looked into "purchasing" a new country (not occupied) to my Empire- which "USED TO" cost 30 GC's. Now, the price seems to have gone up to over 250 GC's per country- something I had to process after I stopped laughing, of course. Uhm- as a mostly "Non-warring" member of the game who has no problems purchasing GC's to cover standard tokens for Game use, I find this increase to be discouraging, insulting and bothersome.

I'm hoping the Game Master will reconsider this ridiculous increase in price for purchasing countries. Seriously. This can't be "inflation"- it's ridiculous.

Ok- gonna get off my Soap Box now.

Robert
Prez
Maricopa