NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC: The main part of this is coming up. The next two posts are simply setting things up. So watch this as it will eventually deal with international affairs.

The fame and infamy of Economics Minister John Carter was an extreme dichotomy. He was considered a hero of the people by the overwhelmingly dominant left of the Aztec political establishment and he was a hated enemy of the Conservatives and militant political right. To most people, he was simply a man of power. What he said usually became policy - his decisions in the Board of Governors, the ANL’s economic planning agency, got through with only the rarest of exceptions. If anything happened, he would stand up and take the blame. If there was a shortage or other economic problem, he would take the brunt of the resulting impact. However, most of the times, he had no problems. The economy was usually always resilient, as it is now...

However, John Carter was a bit nervous. On his desk were folders and folders of reports, thousands of pages long…All of which he read faithfully. There was a bit of a problem that could hit the Aztecs hard…this problem was like the formal obsidian bladed daggers that each ground force troop got in the Aztec military – it could be easily shattered, but it could also be extremely painful as well.

=~=~=

The day was humid and warm, typical for any state in the Aztec National League during this time of year. Despite the coming of the summer weather, the Jaguar Warrior Infantrymen (JWIs) training base eased up none on the requirements it demanded from its trainees. The JWIs were considered to be one of the most physically and mentally demanding training programs possible. While not as hard as that of the Island of Rose or some other nations, this was still more difficult than most. The Premier of the Aztec National League, Quetzalcoatl Nochtli walked through the barracks of the troops. The heat and humidity was still as oppressive as he remembered it during his time as a revolutionary back when he was fifteen…only eleven years ago. Adjusted to the life of a national leader, it had been a long while since he had to be in an old, pre-1940s era barrack.
“Damn, this takes me right back to when my rebellion group took over this base.” He muttered.

One of his aides grabbed his belt, removing his cellular phone. He answered it, listened to a second and handed it over to the Premier. “My Lord, it’s for you – From the Ministry of Economics.”

The Premier took the phone, “Hello, Quetzal here.”

John Carter’s voice came over the line…“Premier, we’re having a major economic issue. You’re familiar with economics, aren’t you?”

The Premier stood up, “Well, I studied it heavily during my college years. It’s still fresh from only a few years ago.”

“Alright sir, I want to invite you to the next Board of Governors meetings. We need to discuss how to handle a most serious issue that’s creeping up on us. I’m also inviting a Senator and a Congress Member.”

“Ok,” the Premier sighed. “When is it?”

John cleared his voice, “Tomorrow, at 4 PM…”

The Premier sounded annoyed, “Tomorrow, that’s Sunday. Most facilities are closed tomorrow.”

“I’m holding it at my house. Sir, this issue is very important.”

There was no reason why the Premier couldn’t go. His wife and his two year old son were staying in Veracruz to see her family. It would either be go to the meeting or stay home, alone and without much work to do. “I’ll be there, then...What’s the issue?”

John said sarcastically, “Managing resources between making guns and making butter, my friend.”

The line was closed, and Quetzalcoatl went back to his tour of the base. Maybe there was a bright spot by going to the meeting…This was his chance to directly influence policy.

(OOC: Ooh, tag, no time now. I was wondering what ever happened to those Aztecs =) )

The meeting on Sunday had to be canceled because of one of the Board member’s personal familial emergency. However, the meeting was set for that Monday. It was a rather unusual meeting in any case, most government meetings were held off until Tuesday in observance of one of the ANL’s national holidays commemorating one of the revolutionary-era battles. That left Tenochitilán quiet for the most part. Neither the tallest buildings of the city’s skyline or the small, open air markets adjacent to them were filled with multitudes of people. This is not to say the city was abandoned. People still walked amongst the city streets and mostly stayed around the parks. However, the traffic on the streets and the sidewalks were considerably less.

A silver motorcycle rumbled down the main road of the city. The sound of a motorcycle was becoming more and more common in both the urban and rural part of the country. The state-owned automotive company, after long refusing to, had finally had broken down and begun manufacturing motorcycles in mass. Although motorcycles could easily be bought on the private market, this was more difficult. Private businesses were isolated to “free market zones”, and although almost every city had one, they mostly served each other. Private companies in the ANL received absolutely no support from the government, yet were regulated heavily…and the regulations were enforced just as heavily.

The silver motorcycle turned into an unremarkable, gray parking lot. At the “toll booth”, a JWI, wearing battle gear and having an intimidating AZ-140 swung across his back walked up to the motorcycle. He said to the driver, “I need your identification.”

The motorcycle driver pulled out his wallet from his pocket and handed it to the JWI. Quietly, the soldier re-entered the booth and put the wallet down on a sensor pad. A second later, the computer screen revealed the identity of the rider. Although the JWI was sure he was dealing with the right person, he had to keep up protocol. He said to the rider, “Sir, I have to ask you to take off your helmet.

The rider unclipped the black helmet and pulled it off. The JWI couldn’t get over the surprise of seeing the Premier of the nation on a motorcycle. But this was not a stereotypical leader…what national leader actually keeps his hair long and allows people in the military to have long hair as well.

The soldier saluted and said, “It’s good to see you here, my Lord.” Quetzalcoatl Nochtili (http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y50/Spectrechris/randy_castillo.jpg) saluted back and drove into the parking structure.

Several minutes later…

Economics Minister John Carter (http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y50/Spectrechris/CyrusVanceSoS.jpg) sat at the front of his desk, looking over the agenda for this meeting. The paper had its usual header, but underneath it, only one cryptic sentence revealed what they were going to be talking about – “This meeting has been deemed to be top secret and only those members present to this meeting, along with any official with level ten security access can request transcripts. If you want transcripts and have proper authorization, please notify the Documents Clerk…”

Only twenty or so people within the nation of billions could actually read these notes. So far, this security measure no one else knew that such tight security was being taken.

The Premier walked in with the rest of the governors, Chief Minority Tlayacanqui (Senator) John Kirkland (http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y50/Spectrechris/alan-alda.jpg) and Chief Majority Tlayacanqui Jorge Arroyo (http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y50/Spectrechris/zapatero.jpg), and finally Chief Majority Soviet Congressman Christobal Chavez (http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y50/Spectrechris/EmilioEstevez.jpg) walked in. The three branches of the legislature – the Board of Governors (Economics), the Tlatocayotl Tlactli (the High Soviet Senate – Foreign, Diplomatic and Military) and the High Soviet Congress (Domestic affairs) were controlled overwhelmingly by the party of Premier Quetzalcoatl Nochtili, the Socialist Labor Party. With the new alliance between the more hard line party of John Kirkland, the Soviet Republican Party, whatever reforms they decide on would get through with no less 66% approval from the Congress and Board of Governors and full 100% approval from the Senate, which was entirely controlled by the Socialists and Soviet Republicans together. Any resistance from the centrist Federalist Union Party or the right wing Libertarian Confederate Party would be easily defeated. Change was in the air.

“I call this meeting to order at 1:07 PM, Monday, May 29, 2006. I would like to advise you all that what we are about to talk about it top secret and can not be revealed to anyone without the proper clearance.”

The meeting went on for two hours discussing various policy issues – monetary policy issues, local and state fiscal policy issues. It was unusual; this was mostly small potatoes stuff. However, the main reason for the meeting would come in the form of a bombshell.

“Now,” said John Carter, “we’ve reached the point where we need to address. The economy is doing fine right now. However, we’ve reached a point where we are on the verge of over production of consumer goods. In other words, the production of consumer level goods is exceeding the need for them. We will reach this point within six months where we will begin stockpiling things like chairs, clothing, pens, cars and whatnot. We already have a major stockpile of other goods.”

“Such as?” Asked the Premier.

Silence…“Well, what is it?”, the Premier asked again.

After some uneasy looks at each other, finally, one responded, “Toasters,” said one of the Governors of the Board. “We have a growing stockpile of nearly 300,000 toasters.”

The Premier was nearly dumbfounded, “Toasters!? How the hell could that happen?”

“We already looked into that, sir,” said another governor. “It was part of old legislation to help feed the people when our nation was just starting. We also have a stock pile of cold medication, radios, televisions…”

Indignantly, the Premier said “Well, cease production of those items until our surplus is gone, damn it!”

“We already have, almost every consumer good being produced now will be in stockpile quantities in six months. We can cease production, but that leads another problem, sir. What are we going to task our workers with now?”

Quetzalcoatl Nochtili sat back in his chair…“I think I know what you’re going to say.”

John Carter then said quietly, “I think you know in part what we want to do. We’re obviously going to focus on capital goods rather than consumer goods. We are running low on capital goods, after all – namely, our agricultural industries are being particularly hard hit. However, in addition to this focus on capital goods, we have another plan.”

Congressman Chavez said snidely, “Making toasters our number one export.”

“Actually, my dear Congressman,” said Senator Kirkland, “this is an issue more of guns and butter. You see, we can focus on consumer goods, which we have been doing since before we had a centrally planned economy (pre-2003.) However, we can now focus on military goods.”

The sole Libertarian commissioner on the Board of Governors, who never sided with his socialist colleagues said, “We have a strong military right now. However, the Commission believes that it can be much stronger than it is now…”

The meeting went on for hours into the night…However, the changes would come almost the next day. Of course, it would take a while to steer the nation to this new course, but it would start now.

OOC: Can you tell I’m an economics nut?

= B R E A K I N G ~ N E W S =

La Compañía Media Azteca
Aztlán’s Most Independent News Service

TENOCHITLÁN – The entire legislature has passed economic reforms that switch the manufacturing priorities of the government operated businesses in the Aztec National League. This change cuts back heavily on consumer level goods and emphasizes on the manufacturing of capital goods namely for the agricultural sector. Furthermore, the Tlatocayotl Tlactli (High Soviet Senate) passed a bill to increase military spending. The Board of Governors has mandated that many of the factories dedicated to building cars, trucks and civilian airplanes begin manufacturing tanks, military jeeps and jet fighters and bombers. In addition, almost all current military tools and systems will be heavily upgraded. John Kirkland, Senator for México and leader of the Soviet Republican Party, had this to say:

“This is now the time to build up a new military for the people of Aztlán. It is imperative that we build a military for the new era for our future.”

Meanwhile, Senator Jorge Arroyo of México and leader of the overwhelmingly powerful Socialist Labor Party had this to say:

“No man or woman will fear loosing a job in this nation. Through upgrading our military and shifting our priorities to weaponry and military, we will be making sure that we are protected from those that threaten us and make sure the economic integrity of this nation is secure.”

As much as this reform is an act of reconciliation between the former bitter enemies of the Socialist Labor and the Soviet Republican Parties, the conservative Libertarian Confederate Party has also thrown nearly its full support behind the reforms. Only the centrist Federalist Union Party is resisting change:

“This is an outrage,” said and outraged Congressman Sergio Garcia of Panama and 1st Chief Minority Leader of the FUP in the High Soviet Congress, “Our military is sufficient, we don’t need any more larger government. Although we’re facing a very large majority in the congress, we plan to fight it at every step.”

Although the military will receive a boost in funding, education and social welfare will still receive most of the funding and will not be cut. Education may receive a small boost in funding to help educate people for the advanced weapon development programs that the government is now pushing for.

The bill is now being sent to the Congress, where it has 100% certainty of being passed. After that, Premier Nochtili is expected to sign the bill into law. There is no word if the Federalist Union Party will try to render it unconstitutional in the Supreme Court. The Court is their only hope to stop the bill.

This is unexpected, as the ANL has not had a military build-up for a while. Although it's unsure how the international community will respond, this will likely create tension between it's allies and those nations not so friendly with the Aztec National League.

The week long break for Premier Quetzalcoatl Nochtli was indeed, much needed. It had been nearly two years since he took his last vacation…since then, the young leader had worked almost everyday – weekdays, weekends, holidays religious or otherwise, birthdays, anniversaries were all spent in the stoic isolation is his office. Of course, this was more like a working vacation, if there was ever an emergency he was on call 24-7.

The day was very warm, albeit dry for this time of year. In the patio of his adobe home, Quetzalcoatl looked at the cloud dotted blue sky from his hammock which he kept since the revolution. He got up, feeling sore as hell. It had been a long time since he had the time to exercise, and although his military experience left him in very good physical shape, he actually missed exercise for the first time in his life. Regaining his balance, Quetzalcoatl walked into his house.

Angelica was inside with their now two year old son, Xihuitl. In his mind, Quetzalcoatl thought about his own youth, namely his father who he hardly knew. Day in and day out, the man worked non-stop. When he wasn’t working, he was drinking – something that the Premier has always hated. It was an unfortunate circumstance that Quetzalcoatl never got to actually know who his father was before his family went missing during the revolution. Quetzalcoatl looked at his son. Xihuitl always looked rather perplexed when looking eye to eye with his father. Although they looked alike, they hardly knew each other. Quetzalcoatl thought, “Hey old man, look at my life…I’m a lot like you were.”

Angelica put her hand on the bare shoulder of Quetzalcoatl. He was ever grateful to her for not leaving him because of his job. She began to say something “Hey, le…”

A telephone rung loudly within the Premier’s office – it was the emergency line. He looked at Angelica, obviously upset. Without a word indicating his unhappiness, Quetzalcoatl walked to the phone and picked it up; it was the Minister of War.

“Sir, we have a situation, you might want to turn on the television…”

Quetzalcoatl sat down and turned on the small television in his office. Angelica walked into his office with him. On the screen, the situation certainly revealed itself. Three cargo ships, one of which was carrying flammable chemicals were torpedoed. The chemical leak was then set ablaze by those responsible...

General Zanzanilli’s voice came over the phone line, “Although unfortunate, this will allow us to build up and deploy our military as planned…”

=~=~= AN HOUR LATER =~=~=

The press had gathered into the large auditorium where the government leaders usually gave press conferences. After the group had assembled and quieted down, the Premier walked out from behind the curtains, dressed up in a suit and tie. An acute observer would’ve noticed that he was moving a little more stiffly today.

Quetzalcoatl started, “Today, around 4 PM, three tankers, all of which were property of the United Socialist Republic, were attacked and sunk by torpedoes. All hands on board perished, and all cargo was lost. In addition, it was reported that an Okinawa class patrol ship was also attacked and damaged, but not destroyed. There were no casualties on that ship. However, this stresses a new problem for Aztlán. We have long been a very high profile nation. Not only are we one of the larger Republics in the world, we are one of the largest socialist economies. These two things, particularly the later, put us at greater risk from attack both domestically and abroad.

Let me be clear, we have no idea who attacked our ships. However, no matter who it is, we will make sure that these people who have committed an egregious wrong against the people of Aztlán will be brought to our form of justice.

We must now begin a new policy. As of now, we will start making sure that one thing the Aztecs aren’t weak in is military. While you may have been aware that we have been building up our military a little bit, this shows that we must be ready for anything."