NationStates Jolt Archive

Questers, 1960 (present day to everyone else's calendars)

Hailed as a great power by more or less her equivalents in the international stage, the Empire upon which the sun has not yet set is also considered the poorest and economically weakest of said powers. Her 9.8 billion citizens spread across the globe, from Singaporean market entrepreneurs to Questralian calvinist colonists to Questarian bankers support an economy worth only 317 trillion, 362 billion 500 million USD. This is somewhat larger due to Empire taxation, but still pales in comparison, for example, to Praetonia's 500 trillion. There was a time when Quester's economy pushed aside competition, in areas of industry and technology, but this time is no more. Questaria left the Four Day War totally bankrupt, economically destroyed and politically unstable. Within a year it had turned from one of the free-est and richest market liberal democracys in the world to an absolute monarchy bent on wiping out leftist agitators and insurgents and a protectionist industrial zone that secured the power of the steel and coal industries.

The doctrine of free trade and laissez faire that had ruled the country for the better part of three hundred years had been abandoned. At the start of things, it was impossible to purchase a Questarian company, imports on coal and steel were tarrifed to the extent that they dissapeared, and companies that had survived the war were crushed underneath the burden of higher taxes to pay interest and ever increasing workers rights and regulations. Furthermore, once the champion of freedom of speech and assembly, it was now commonplace to see Special Branch detachments arresting known leftists and transporting them to huge state prisons or simply deporting them. Any opposition to the protectionist, keynesian-esque rule of King Alexander-II was quickly crushed. While the economy slowly but painstakingly recovered under the growing spectre of stagflation, riots often crippled key cities, enraged students taking to the streets to protest the high rates of military expenditure and military interventionism. With the Questarian Empire in decay, both exports, imports, wages, production and consumption falling to record levels, it seemed that Questers would fade from view as one of the great powers of the world.

Three years later, the economy was improving, but civil and political freedoms were being clamped down on, and the monarchy-junta had shored up its rule over the country and indeed the economy, absolutely refusing to sell off state assets and pushing up government spending to an immense 45%, most of which went into military expenditure, education, and interest repayment, although this had been cut lower by Praetonian banks paying off high interest loans. Even subsidies were now on the table, and the only non-failing industry was steel, which still kept up its massive exports, especially to regional partners like Willink. On Christmas 1959, a group of recently graduated economic students who had studied abroad at Kingston Royal College of Economics in Praetonia, decided that they had a unique opportunity to change their country, as the King himself was due to speak to business magnates, economics students and bank managers and such at the new year. Persuading the King to talk to them privately at the end of his speech, they made a proposal to him, backed up with as much evidence as they could physically find: liberalise the economy, sell off state assets, cut spending, and return to free trade. Much to their surprise, the King appeared interested, and invited them to speak with him privately again the following week.

This group of thirty graduates, some who came from an impoverished background and some the sons of aristocrats and generals, spent the entire week formulating their argument and their evidence, as well as contacting their old professors in Praetonia for advice. By the end of the week they were ready to talk to the most powerful person in the Questarian Empire about economics. Travelling to Jesselton Palace, they showed him and his cabinet their presentation. Almost heckled by the Economic Minister, their confidence was crushed, until one of the group gave a rousing speech. Telling the King himself to his face that their country was a "laughing stock", their policies would "rebuild the foundations of liberty, wealth, and power that formed the greatness of our country." Furthermore, they promised that within a year the Questarian economy would be worth a whole ten percent more than it was last time and investment would be flooding in. They told the King that by cutting taxes to their proposed levels, each factory worker in Questers could afford a family car by the end of the year. All appeared lost when the Minister for State Economics gave a hearty laugh and told them to leave. Finally, His Majesty spoke, and his words sent shock throughout the room. He told the Minister for State Economics, the keynesian economist that had pioneered Questarian interventionism, that he was a "buffoon, a fraud, and a liar" and replaced him, and all other cabinet economists, with this group of top scoring economics graduates from a foreign college.

The next month, His Majesty the King announced a series of changes that would transform the Questarian economy from a statist mess to a capitalist power once again, to be carried out over a four month period:
- The reintroduction of the flat tax, which was 24 pence in the pound (10%) and "not a farthing more" for anyone who earns above £1795 ($8,975)
- The reduction of the value added tax to 12 pence in the pound (5%) from 48 pence in the pound (20%)
- The abolishment of capital gains and corporate taxes
- The abolishment of tarrifs for any and all industries
- The abolishment of the minimum wage
- The abolishment of the 12 hour working day
- The abolishment of all excise taxes, with the exception of the Contraception Tax
- The simplification of council tax; to £125 pounds for any property below 4,000 square feet and £215 to any property above 4,000 square feet
All these were intended to open up Questers for investment and to relieve the tension on corporations and firms that were struggling under the previous tax burden. Many corporations that were paying a 25% corporate tax found themselves in fantastic tax relief.

The economy still had some major issues, however. Inflation was spiralling at 12.5%, a 2.25% growth since last year, a result of a huge increase in the money supply. Unemployment too was high, with 8% of the population not employed and living off meagre state welfare and some charities. Economic growth was stuck at 2% and not raising. These issues had to be brought to attention, and that they were, with monetarist economic policy designed to control inflation at any cost. Furthermore, for the first time in years, the Questarian currency was pegged to their gold reserve at 5 USD to 1 Pound Sterling. By March, the King was growing impatient at the slow progress, but was persuaded to calm down and wait. What he saw by January next year was almost a miracle - inflation cut to 1.5% from the large reserves of gold, economic growth predicted to be up at 7.5% by the next year, and massive increases in wages and living standards. Foreign car imports and domestic car production skyrocketed, and the predictions of his advisors were correct. Massive privatised roads were being constructed and huge profits being taken from their use as the Questarian road network expanded to the huge amount of cars being brought in, feeding the tourism, automobile, oil, and construction industries.

In the shipbuilding zone, at first the huge lines of incompleted carriers sitting rusting had given ammunition to the statists in the political arena. Workers were being laid off left and right as the orders were cancelled with slashing of the military budget. Sometime in October, the statists were proved wrong as shipping companies demanded hundreds more new liners for tourism, cargo ships for imports and exports and tankers for the new oil being bought up. Many workers in the shipbuilding industry had left for new jobs, not expecting the industry to return after its seeming death in April of that year, and suddenly the old shipbuilding companies, used to huge employment bases and low wages were met with the fact that now they were the ones competing to fill their jobs with employees, not the other way round. A similar boost was happening to the coal and heavy metals industries, with massive boosts in profits to power the new factories popping up across the country. By January 1961, the amount of families owning cars tripled. The average wage doubled as economic competition shot straight back up to pre-war levels and beyond with new factories and industries from foreigners, as well as domestic industries slashing prices along tax lines to compete with the interfering foreign businesses.

As New Years Eve 1960 was being celebrated, record profits, consumption and growth were being recorded. As 1960 was a year for the history books, 1961 would show whether it would be a negative or positive legacy.

Who knew what the next year would bring?

Hotel Grand Rose
A massive hotel, the Gran Rose was also beautiful in design. Just ten years old, she was the flagship of modern building, complete with awesome ornaments. Indeed, the hotel was a spire which curved and was more than sixty stories tall. Crystal clear glass dominated her outside, while her steel support beams were pained with 24 caret gold paint. She had cost more than twenty billion universal standard dollars to build and complete, all funded by the Green Investment Group. Every year she brought in around three billion dollars from domestic and foreign tourists, her penthouses alone cost forty thousand to stay in for one night.

In one of these penthouses sat several men around a gold-painted table, also of 24 carats, and drank some fine Vodka that cost nearly five thousand USD per bottle. Indeed at least one of these men were the definition of a rich bastard his name was George Wallace. George was one of the Board members the Green Investment Group, which was the most powerful investment group in TPF and arguably one of the strongest in the world, with over four trillion in total assets invested throughout the world. They were Venture Capitalists, making their claim to fame in the Stock Market, especially with Mutual Funds. However, they also invested in companies that usually went on to make ten of millions or billions a year. Many of these were in other countries and indeed Green Investment Group, or GIG, had jump started many economies by an intelligent injection of money.

Also sitting at the table was a board member of Bank Six, one of the three largest banks in TPF. They also had branched located in dozens of other countries, but except for TPF they had not been able to establish a significant presence elsewhere. Thus, they were here to take advantage from another opportunity where they hoped to establish a signficant presence.

Finally there was the President from Liberty Steel Works, the fourth most profitable company in TPF and arguably the largest steel company worldwide, employing over five hundred million people and mining hundreds of millions of tons of coal and iron per year, then refining it into steel or processed coal before using it in their own factories or selling it elsewhere. Liberty Steel Works was interested in establishing factories in Questaria where there would be cheap labor. They were also interested in buying or establishing shipyards. Liberty Steel Works has bought two commercial builders last year as an expierment ans were surprised at the profits.

Thus all these men had for the last three days been talking and planning on how to best enter the Questaria market which was expected to grow from now on by trillions annually, a perfect investment opportunity. Green Investment Group would be the first investors, injecting around 10 billion USD into the Stock Market. They would focus on investing in three areas. First was, surprisingly, the information technology department which GIG expected to grow dramatically because corporations would need new technology to expand more rapidly. Secondly, GIG invested in shipbuilding, which was seeing a huge boom and would likely pay off handsomely. Thirdly, they invested in pormosing companies in the coal and steel trade. They also established several Mutual Funds of both low and high risk to invest in. Bank Six also flew to Questers where they soon established at least ten banks in major financial centers. They offered loans for very low-interest rates, sometimes as low as 1.5% but more often at 3 or 4%. These loans were for everybody, corporations, small business, and the individual. They also offered subprime lending for those who had bad credit. If everything went well, they expected to add ten branches per month, but for now they would add none. Finally Liberty Steel Works bought out seven mines that employed 8,000 people. They then bought several struggling factories and quickly turned them around using the cheap iron and coal from their mines. Soon Liberty Steel Works had began on a factory complex that would employ 20,000 people and they were looking into shipyard facilities.

These were just the first steps, however. GIG in particular had even more money to invest, but first they needed to see how the market reacted.

In parts of Vantepolis, it was raining, but in most of the city, snow came down in gentle flurries. Children threw snowballs happily, as the Vantepolis School District had just had its first snow day in fourteen years. The economy got a nice little treat as families and teenagers bought tickets to movies, and things at the malls, for more than they were worth, desperate to fill their wednesday off with activities. Through this scene of festivity, Tucker Boot bitterly walked to the Senate, a pillar of black against the white cityscape. Clutching his coat close to himself, he entered the Senate building, instantly being enveloped in a blanket of warmth. Grimacing, he entered the Chamber of Commerce.

Banging the gavelle a few times to gain the Chamber's attention, he gave the proposal of his career. "My fellow Senators, I would like to bring your attention to Questers. As you know, we have done everything possible we could to support them before, during, and after the Questo-Gholgothic War, including donations, military rallies, and more. Now, Questers has opened the gateway to a flood of investments, and I want Vantanian investments to be the top on the list. In the budget for this year, one hundred billion Universal Standard Dollars have been set aside for foreign investments, and I want all of them to go to Questers, in their weakened industries*."

"And that's not all, either. As Chief Executive Officer of Buy & Sell Incorporated, I would put in place the greatest coporate colonization since Siriusa. Factories in cities across the Empire, making goods that will reinvigorate them. The unemployed, the disabled, the whole lot of them will all be given work to up the GDP. My last report from Questers had eight out of every hundred working age Questarians unemployed, and with the Buy & Sell Corporation, I intend to turn that into mere two percent, at the highest, by the end of the year. With this, I hope to not only give the economy a bump, but to send it skyrocketing to pre-war levels. Thank you, fellow Senators.*"

With that, the Chamber voted on the proposal. Though money had been sent to Questers for some years now steadily, this was certainly a jump in funds. Still, at the end of the day, support for the proposal was gained, sixty-five percent of the Chamber in favor. Soon, money was no longer trickling into the Questarian economy, it was flooding into it.

*So, basically, expect a lot of money going into your weaker industries to revitalize them.
*This one would have Buy & Sell factories, which make just about everything, being set up everywhere they can possibly to give work to the unemployed, and provide better jobs to others (Administration, for example).

OOC: Sorry, I'm short on time, will expand this post later.
Is it OK if I jump in with the ALC company?

The next after news of the Questarian recovery reached The World Soviet Party, the following letter was sent to the Questarian embassador:

Official Diplomatic Communique

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x204/Sgt-Alex/OfficialSealTWSP.gif

To: Hideki Tojorouki, Ambassador for The Crown Imperium of Questers
From: Alexander Nevskij, Minister of Foreign Affairs, The World Soviet Party

Having recently heard about the economic recovery of The Crown Imperium, the goverment of The World Soviet Part has seen it fit to heavily invest in the region, therefore, the President would like to arrange a meeting as soon as possible to discuss several plans and ideas.

If you are interested, please respond to this message and a date will be set at the most convinient time for both of us.

Signed,
Alexander Nevskij, Minister of Foreign Affairs, The World Soviet Party.

OOC: Sorry, I'm short on time, will expand this post later.
Is it OK if I jump in with the ALC company?

[OOC: understood, and yep.

IC post coming tommorow.]

Business in Questers reacted in the most typical manner possible. Watching as dozens of countries began constructing factories on what was considered their turf, they made complaints to the Government, and simultaenously, requests for subsidies. They were, of course, denied, and so for the first time in many years Questarian industry had to adapt to compete with foreigners setting up shop in their country. The massive profits reaped in from steel and coal, the most profitable industries in Questers, now had to be put in good use. In areas where Questarian Steel and Coal Groups saw TPFian buyouts, they acted quickly and decisively to try and kick out the foreigners. With a hint of irony, they took out loans from the growing TPFian banks and used them to augment their already formidable supplies of money, and expanding their current mines in the areas where mines were being bought, they offered education plans, higher wages, and cheap and good housing. Very slowly, workers began to drift to these new mines and although the investments in them were proving a loss, it was just an experiment. Generally, all over the country, in coal and steel, the industry leaders began to find small coal and steel businesses that were running a profit, and quickly began to gobble them up. The Questarian Coal and Steel industry is dominated by perhaps four or five giants, and the rest by smaller businesses run by wealthy landowners. The race was on to capture as much of the market as possible.

Shipbuilding was another matter. Competition here was stiff and anyone trying to edge their way in would be met with severe resistance by the Questarian market. In one of the world's greatest shipbuilding nations, this particular industry is more than profitable, and was growing at an incredible speed with advances in technology and demand. Anyone trying to muscle in here would have to deal with incredibly profitable, politically powerful, and extremely experienced businesses that weren't going to give up an inch of their ground, and wouldn't resort from turning to ... nastier methods. That wasn't to say the market was closed, there were hundreds of coastal towns that were either farming or commuting that could be easily developed into shipbuilding. In other areas such as chemicals, automobiles and electronics, competition was much weaker, and foreigners would find it easy to come in and create factories and meet the booming demand for items such as radios, computers, televisions, automobiles and such. The fact that many other nations had these in abundance meant that by early August of 1961, growth in electronics consumption was rated at over 3,000%. Questers, usually considered a 2nd world nation by most in terms of economics was powering ahead.

The Vantanian-Questarian Cultural Society was one of at least a dozen cultural societies that in existed in Questers, alongside others such as the Praetonian-Questarian and Willinkian-Questarian. Usually it met to discuss news about literature, music, sports, and such for Vantanians living in Questers, Vantanian-Questarian citizens and Questarians with a special interest in the country. In Jesselton, however, the subject of the Cultural Society's monthly meeting today was actually economics. The president of the Cultural Society conducted a half-hour speech on the worth of Vantanian investments in Questers and what they had accomplished. Then, when he was finished, he talked about a special case...

"...The town of Aldborough is home to 65,000 people. In recent years, economic depression has hit this small textiles town which produces cotton and sells it overseas. However, in early 1957, the three independent mills in Aldborough began scaling back, being taxed into the ground and having no real export opportunities. By 1958, one was shut down after running at a loss for almost two years. For three long years, unemployment in Aldborough was running at almost 75% as jobs became scarce and people lived from welfare and the scant charity that came into the town."

"Two months ago, the working men of Aldborough awoke to find a letter through their door. That letter read that the Cotton Mills were open once again, for a smart banker had taken an offered investment from a foreign country and bought out all three mills in the town and merged them under one company, and was now offering employment, and what's more, with a wage higher than those three different companies had been able to afford. And this foreign nation, whos name is Vontanas, is responsible for the employment, growth, and prosperity of this young town, and many other thousands like it. This is the legacy of Vantanian investment in Questers, and it is the reason why, in Aldborough, the Vantanian flag hangs alongside the Imperial Lion outside the town hall and outside many of the houses of Questarian patriots in their gardens. Many of these men or their families may never meet a Vantanian in their life, but until their dying day they will know of the country whose charity and goodwill gave them their livelihoods back after they were so unjustly seized by the iron claw of socialism."

Thousands of claps drowned out the "No, thank you!"s of the Society's President.

Factory Complex 1
Today was the opening day for Factory Complex 1, constructed by Liberty Steel Works to produce high-quality steel-based goods for sale in Questers and elsewhere. It had been rough in the last few months, Questerian markets were not as open to investment as the government made it seem. That wasn't due to the market, but rather it was due to the domestic companies resistance. Factory Complex 1 hired more than twenty thousand workers and provided housing for them. The housing wasn't all that great, but it wasn't bad. An elementary school and high school were established for the worker's families, and each worker was paid seven dollars and hour and every worker was covered under a basic health care plan and disabled worker's compensation.

Liberty Steel Works was also finding some some troubles in the mines it purchased, workers were going away to work for rival corporations. It was clear that something needed to be done, and something was. They soon bought even more mines and factories is massive buyout bids. This would show the Questerians that they were here to stay and would be a forced to be reckoned with. More importantly, however, they offered alliances to the wealthy landowners and smaller business. With Liberty's huge sums of money, these factories could afford to expand more rapidly and also be protected for the larger corporations. Altogether this would strengthen their businesses as well as Liberty Steel Works. Soon they would be seeing increased profits, as they had spent much more than they were making.

At the same time they found that the shipyards were almost completely closed to any sort of buyout or even buyin. They did manage to secure some contracts with a number of subcontractors. They found a small city on the coastline named Bein, which was struggling economically. Liberty Steel Works moved in and began to build two shipyards, one military and one commercial. It would likely take several years to finish.

Bank Six, found that their branches were doing very well in Questers, and soon thirty new branches opened up around the nation, even outside of the major cities. The Questerians seemed to do well paying their loans and Bank Six had several large corporate partners as well as thousands of small business. Soon, if everything continued to go well, Bank Six would open for Franchise.

Green Investment Group was perhaps doing the best out of all of the investors, they had heavily invested in thousands of companies. In fact in TPF, Questers was being named as one of the top 10 nations to invest in. Several investment groups had been set up in TPF and run by GIG to invest in Questers, giving GIG even more money to spend. The investment in shipyards turned out to be healthy, with shipyards like Beaufort reporting record income with large ship orders. Millions of Questerian businessmen also had funds in GIG investment funds. Soon, GIG established a company called Jones Production, this company was funded by GIG and they were given a blank cheque for the construction of new retail stores and factories for the production of electronics and chemicals, the factories were also built in poorer areas and depressed areas so workers would be easy to find and greatful for jobs. Jones Computers was soon a household name in Questers, with several large corporations buying servers and PC's, as well as millions of Questerians buying personal computers. The game console, Tanget was a hit with the youth, with cheap games being sold over the internet and a a large online multplayer network.

All in all, it seemed that the Prussian investment in Questers was starting to pay off, albiet slowly.

Cloaca's grand opening attacked, CEO blames Dyspepi
Mats Melander, Finance

In yet another chapter of what is rapidly becoming known as the "Cola Wars", the grand opening of over thirty Cloaca Consumables factories in the United Kingdom of Questers came to a screeching halt when shots were fired at Jeff Holst, the company's CEO, who was in the middle of a speech to a number of assorted figures from the Questerian and McPsychovillian press. Against the advice of the security on hand, Holst took to the podium again to complete his speech, making sure to place the blame on "those cowardly rat-bastards at Dyspepi." The Dyspepi Corporation, Cloaca's biggest and oldest rival, were quick to issue a statement denying all involvement with the attack, saying that although Cloaca had won the Questerian contract, they were not about to drop to "such disgraceful moral depths. Just because Cloaca seems to have no moral boundaries does not mean the rest of us are so afflicted."

This is not the first setback to Cloaca's investment. Two construction workers died in the city of Aldborough when a crane carrying too much weight toppled over, and fourteen more were killed in London as the result of an explosion from an unidentified piece of machinery; both events were similarly blamed on Dyspepi, although no evidence connecting them was ever found. However, the minor worker's revolution in Aldborough was believed to also be their work, something later corraborated by Dyspepi Junior Vice President Boris Kulik being spotted at a Questerian airport later that day.

[If this is closed, say so and I'll remove this post.]