NationStates Jolt Archive

Motivr, Kahfhaliqh
The gargantuan CA1000-500 ultra-long-haul intercontinental-aircraft touched down on one of the principle runways of Motivr’s international airports. The aircraft was, perhaps, too big for the amount of passengers carried inside, but at the range of the conference there was no other aircraft that could make it to Kahfhaliqh without having to refuel at each and every country – to give an idea, from Fedala to the closest city in Stevid’s home islands it was over two thousand kilometers! Regardless, the ridiculously sized airliner – belong to Dienstad Airways – touched down and soon thereafter began to taxi to an isolated portion of the airport, where there were a number of vehicles waiting for the aircraft’s occupants. Next to the, presumably armored, limousines, the ‘jumbo jet’ looked like a monster and even the stairs which were brought to unload the passengers made the vehicles under the aircraft’s wings look miniscule in comparison. It was very possible that Motivr’s international airport had never handled aircraft of this size, although soon enough they would be handling quite a bit, if all things went well during this conference. The only passenger really worth mentioning was His Imperial Majesty’s Fedor I Minister of Agriculture, Daví Jern. Despite the ministry’s name, it had to do with almost every facet of the economy, although the work was also portioned with the Ministry of Tourism and Industry. It’s worth mentioning that this was to be the first foreign affairs in which the Ministry of Agriculture would be the direct negotiator since even before the War of Golden Succession.

Since the end of his brutal, violent and long-last war the Empire had had a special interest in pushing its businesses to conduct operations in foreign countries, in an attempt to expand the Macabee market across the world and make it one of the world’s foremost economic powers. These policies had led to new foreign policies with previous enemies such as Stevid and Independent Hitmen, as well as the establishment of brutal relations with nations such as Central Prestonia. In the latter, the attempt could be more accurately denominated as economic imperialism, and it included business-funded terrorism. Of course, it was not always this brutal and for the most part the Empire’s economic assets treated their ‘subjects’ with care, devotion and justice. In the end, allowing the Second Empire to expand in one’s nation was opening the doors to immense investment and a meticulous aid program, in which although much capital would be leaving, there would also be much capital returning through construction programs and such. Whether the Empire would conduct its business malevolently or benevolently depended much on the country’s attitude towards the Second Empire of the Golden Throne, the competition from other nations and the necessity of Fedala to ‘make-friends’, so to speak, with the local government. In many cases, such as in the case of Central Prestonia, everything lent itself towards suggesting a ‘hostile economic takeover’, but for Kahfaliqh the situation was actually quite different. The Empire was always interested in expanding its sphere of influence in such a way that the target nation would accept the aid and the political influence. In the end, a small nation of no more than a dozen million – although quickly growing – was getting a ‘big brother’, whose population was almost a hundred million over ten and a half billion.

With this in mind, Daví Jern briskly walked down the steps to the cars awaiting his arrival, his head held high in usual Imperial haughtiness. He was, of course, surrounded by a fair number of big, strong and ugly bodyguards, each with their side arms thoughtfully tucked under their expensive dress coats, and their faces were well covered by big, black aviator glasses. Next to the minister walked a thinner, younger man who looked as if he didn’t belong in such a big conference. This man, effectively, was the minister’s young traveling secretary – well, he was an intern, but in this world they were synonyms – who would be jotting down most of what would be said as notes for future reference for the minister. The two non-armed men went into the central limousine, with one of the body guards taking up a position in the co-pilot’s seat in the front. The others distributed themselves amongst two armored sports utility vehicles, most likely protected by appliqué tool steel on the inside surface areas, behind and in front of the minister’s limousine. Honestly, nobody was expecting a terrorist attack, but there was never enough security, especially when the attitude of a nation’s population towards the Empire was relatively unknown. Regardless, the trip to the conference’s area – the nation’s building for the Ministry of Foreign Relations or whatever the indigenous name could be – was without incidents. On the other hand, there were the usual issues with upstart citizens taking the liberty to protest talks against the ‘evil capitalist empire’, but that was common when a Macabee official visited a foreign nation with some liberties. In the end, it was hard to be a strong man without also being the ‘bad man’.

The convoy entered the courtyard of the building, passing through an opened gateway, and stopping in front of the main, ornamental entrance. A guard at the door opened the minister’s door and helped the minister out, who then proceeded to wait for his secretary and for his bodyguards. When ready, the entourage entered the building and made their way to the conference room, guided by another of the building’s stocky and well-built guards. The guard led the men to an elevator, which took them to another level of the building, and then through a series of hallways, before entering a fairly large room with a large oak table in the center, surrounded by a lot of high ranking officials from the country. The most prominent were Prime Minister Dylan Jones and Lieutenant General Yusuf Miruts, and the others were of ‘lesser category’ – but the two men Daví Lern would have to persuade would be these two. The Macabee Minister of Agriculture took a seat opposite of these two other men, but before took the time to go along his side of the table and shake the hands of those seated, while also taking the time to shake the hands of those on the opposite side of the table or at least saluting them with some type of formal greeting. Daví Lern’s secretary sat in a chair away from the table, while the minister’s guards waited outside of the room. The minister was brought a glass of water and Daví Lern thanked the man who brought it, and then got down to business.

Looking at the prime minister in the eyes he said, ‘Thank you Prime Minister for allowing me to visit your esteemed nation in the interests of building a more formidable and marked relation between our two nations.’ He then turned to the general and said, ‘General Miruts, a legend amongst men.’ Daví nodded at the general, and then turned back to the prime minister, ‘Please, tell us if you wish to visit our nation one day. You will be awaited with the best hospitality a man of your stature can have, which is hard to come by these days. His Imperial Majesty would be glad to host you in one of his many palaces.’

He looked down at the glass of water and grabbed it with his right arm, then bringing it to his lips where he could take a graceful sip. He would need as much water as he could get, as this would be a long meeting…

The General carefully eyed Mr. Jern and replied "Thank you; I take pride in my work here.", whereas Dylan Jones was quite relaxed and anxious to get the meeting underway; ever since the civil war that lasted nearly a decade almost 65 years ago, Kahfhaliqh had been undergoing a massive economic boom, although descending in recent years.

Jones poured water into his glass and immediately drank more than half; he appeared to be Obsessive-Compulsive. He realized what he had done and quickly relaxed his muscles, letting out a heavy sigh.

"Thank you very much, we are happy to have you. I apologize for the commotion outside the building; our people tend to have 'less than formal' feelings toward a juggernaut of a country such as yours." He laughed. "No offence intended, of course.", He replied with a thick Welsh accent. He looked around and took another sip of water.

"Oh, and regarding the visit to your country; I would be more than happy to travel to His Imperial Majesty's nation. I'm sure it will be a wonderful time. So what specifically did you want to discuss during your time here, in a country that has only about a dozen million in its population?" He smiled.

Daví Jern didn't respond outwardly to the last comment made by Kahfhaliqh's prime minister, as he didn't know if it was an attempt to be snide or an honest question. Honestly, the Minister of Agriculture was not interested in starting the meeting on a bad foot, given that the Empire would gain nothing from a conference without benefits. Therefore, the minister's face remained pleasant-looking and not a muscle moved after his colleague had finished the question. Instead, Daví Jern took another sip of water and put the glass back on the wooden table, making sure to place it gently as to not give away his emotions. The minister replied, 'In effect, if we are to go straight to business, so to speak, I am here to persuade you to establish some sort of barrier-free trade relationship with the Second Empire. Let me explain ourselves and our policies, before you make your initial decision. Understandably, perhaps it doesn't seem like a smart decision given the difference in size and economic power, but I can guarantee that our intentions are not malevolent. In fact, they are quite the opposite.'

Well, as aforementioned it truly depended on the country, but in general what the minister was saying was true. The best examples for 'benevolent economic imperialism' were the Empire's policies with fellow members of the Fedala Alliance, and suggested policies for nations such as Kahanistan, where although the Empire would try to take a predominate role in 'weaker' economies, the effect would actually be to the advantage of the 'client nation'. As suggested, this included massive amounts of Imperial investment in host nations and the construction of infrastructure, which in the end meant that when the nation's economy was stronger some of these businesses could be 'bought back', or new businesses from the host nation could just expand to other nations - perhaps similiar to a 'triangle scheme', in the sense that new nations were always added to the complex. Besides, when it came to things like banking, electricity, petroleum and other necessities the superior management of much larger Macabee businesses was always welcomed, and the aforementioned investment came in handy to expand these industries, thereby increasing their reliability inside the country - ultimately, this meant an increase in consumer trust and willingness to invest capital in their own national products. In the end, malevolent take overs could be largely stopped by simple national laws, despite the existance of 'free trade'. These included minimum wage laws, which would turn away manufacturing industries given that there were cheaper nations to turn to. So, in the end, the effect Imperial economic policy had on the host nation was as much up to the host nation as it was to the Empire's willingness to be kind.

Minister Daví Jern would have to forward this to Prime Minister Jones in much more understandable terms, 'Let me explain how I believe this would be an advantage for Kahfhaliqh.' The minister had spent days trying to correctly pronounce the nation's name, but the work might have paid off in the end. He continued, 'There is no doubt that our companies will be buying and merging with yours, taking advantageous positions in your nation's economy, but on the other hand these companies have much to offer, including trillions of reichmarks over the years to build up Kahfhaliqh's infrastructure and increase her own economic potential. Furthermore, we will introduce more effective and more reliable administration and will ultimately increase productivity. The short-term effects are simply that, and I must admit that your country may not see massive profits, but in the long-term it will allow your national industry to grow and compete with ours and then expand to other nations yourself. Although we do have a reputation for being ambitious and violent, when we don't get our way, we reassure you that this is not truly the case and there is no proof that we have ever sponsored corporate terrorism and the such, if you may have heard of such rumors.'

He wasn't sure if he should have mentioned that, but he did just in case. This was true and it wasn't. The so-called 'corporate terorrists' were the Knights of Pir-Sar, which operated in the Empire's mainland, Central Prestonia and other countries around Greater Dienstad, as well. Sometimes they acted in favor of the government, and even cooperated with the national intelligence service, and other times they acted on their own accord. There were examples of the Knights engaging and terrorizing imperial businesses, especially during the War of Golden Succession, and there were examples of them protecting imperial industry, such as in Central Prestonia. The truth was that they acted for their own interests, and most of the time these were aligned fairly straight with those of Fedala. They would no doubt come to Kahfhaliqh and no doubt try to change things so that the relationship became more advantageous for them, but Fedala had methods of countering such machinations, including helping the partner government's economic to expand to such a point where it would be impossible for the Knights to turn it into a 'third world' dump. Obviously, this would have to be done early on in Kahfhaliqh, even if Kahfhaliqh's economy had become fairly strong over the past years.

To this effect, the minister offered the incentive before waiting for a response, 'Obviously, your nation will want something in return - things that will guarantee our benevolence. We are ready to begin 'economic aid programs' that will allow your country to use direct investment from our government to subsidize certain industries to make them stronger, or to use them in direct purchases, and we are also willing to start 'military aid programs' to help in the defense of the country. We are willing for you to state your terms and I have the power to accept or negotiate. Hopefully, we can work something out and I'm sure that as gentlemen, we can.'

OOC: It was an honest question, lol. Oh, and if you haven't noticed, I AM a semi-colon whore. :D

IC: The General sat quiet; curious of Jern's intentions, although impressed that he pronounced the nation correctly.

Prime Minister Jones had been sincerely interested in making deals with His Imperial Majesty's nation. Now that Jern had released what he wanted to achieve with these 'agreements', he was leaning nearly out of his chair with interest.

"Of course.", he said with an unusually large smile. "As for the so-called rumors, it honestly does not matter that much; We have no army, no air force, but we do have a Navy consisting of about 30,000 Troops, plus a peacekeeping force of 25,000. The reason to bring this up is, I have heard of the Knights of Pir-Sar, if I understand correctly, and we would be glad to lend you some of our troops, even if it is small, but it is the least we can do if this works out."

"In any case, as you said, I am interested in the 'free-trade' agreement, although there are enough corporations investing in this country. Most small businesses close very quickly after opening their doors because of the large companies constantly moving in. I am working on the unemployment issue within Kahfhaliqh, so the economic help would be much appreciated." Jones wondered if he was being too naive, but the feeling quickly passed with the thought of military aid; Communist groups were building up, yet again, and he did not want the disasterous civil war to flatten Kahfhaliqh to repeat itself.

"Although it is indeed very hard to remain an economic power, have a good military and do well in Education and Health Care all at the same time, it is still what I'm aiming for." Jones pressed his lips together hard, holding in the fact that this could very well blow up in his face.

"The minimum wage laws will be seriously considered, I am happy that you brought this up. There are practically no shelters for the homeless, and there are tons of people protesting the fact that we don't have a minimum wage; I am starting to agree with them, because it won't cost much economically. I originally thought introducing minimum wage would result in the decline of the economy." He said, shaking his head in embarrasment.

"Indeed, the money you have mentioned is very interesting; this could help us build up both Defence and our Educational/Health Care standards, which is my priority for my time as Prime Minister. I hate to sound greedy." He added. Jones looked out the plexiglass windows to his left. He saw the massive amount of forest just beyond the highway behind the building. "I just want our people to know that we're safe from invasion. I don't want to sound like a dedicated environmentalist, but I would hate for all this to-" He stopped. "I'm sorry. In any case, you know what I mean."

Minister Daví Jern was happy. Prime Minister Dylan Jones seemed very open to the idea of accepting Macabee investment, and the Empire was happy to offer it. Ultimately, the idea of economic 'subordinates' played into the Empire's ambition of becoming one of the most potent economies in the world, and it allowed the Empire to compete in parts of the world where it would normally be barred. The principle issue remained geographic distance between nations. It came to a point where even with cheap shipping there were diminishing returns with how much it cost to ship the goods to a certain country, and how much the goods themselves cost. It was much more economically sane for another country, far away from the Second Empire, to purchase goods off a closer exporter for the sake of cheaper shipping prices, even if the goods were technically more expensive. For this reason, the Empire needed the ability to manufacture elsewhere, and so it would have sources of goods to sell in that region from a much closer distance, with the same 'base price'. Although the lack of minimum wage helped, the Empire was comfortable starting these types of relationships with more protective nations if only because there were not many nations willing to allow another one to take exclusive control over investment. Besides, Fedala was honestly interested in making long-term friends; small nations turned out to grow into large, more powerful nations over time.

The minister smiled and responded in detail, 'In regards to the need for troops, it would probably make more sense for your force to remain at home, incase there are any domestic issues. I may not be very literate on your national history, and please forgive my utter ignorance, but there are always a chance for domestic issues. If I'm not mistaken, your country has gone through a civil war. The Knights of Pir-Sar are a terrorist group and they cannot be fought with conventional arms.' The minister didn't want to mention that Fedala was not really interested in fighting the group, at all. Instead, he went on, 'I don't think military cooperation in other parts of the world should be a priority, at this point. Perhaps we can discuss the subject in the future, when the Kahfhaliqhi military has had a chance to evolve into a more potent force, relative to domestic threats and regional threats.' Ideally, if the Kahfhaliqhi government was open to it, this would take place only over a matter of years, as the Macabee government was more than willing to flood the country with its weapons.

The minister quickly moved on to the next topic, 'As for investment and increasing the workforce. Given many nation's preference for heavy manufacturing based economies, we feel that perhaps we should focus on helping the common Kahfhaliqhi farmer succeed and sell his products abroad. With a unified export effort and a lot of tenacity, we can make Kahfhaliqh one of the primary exporters of agricultural products in its region. However, this will require the widespread mechanization of the Kahfhaliqhi farmer, which we can provide for a cheap price if and when our agriculture mechanization companies are allowed to begin importing their products into Kahfhaliqh at will, and even begin manufacturing them indigenously. The latter, itself, will probably create tens of thousands of new jobs. New agricultural techniques can be introduced, including 'dry farming', which is farming without a nearby water source. It can be done with injection equipment and water tanks, that a farmer that makes the income to justify the purchase of the equipment can do. For that reason, I suggest that the Kahfhaliqhi government begin to subsidize its farmers to catalyze larger productivity.'

He paused for a brief second, to allow everyone around him to soak that information in, and then continued, 'Díenstadi Agricultural Goods is a Macabee company that will most likely begin to invest in Kahfhaliqhi farming in order to insure its position as the prime exporter of Kahfhaliqhi goods relevant to the sector, including foodstuffs. DAG is a well-known exporting conglomerate, that has a big name behind it - us -, and works very similar to a cooperative. It invests in the farmers that it invests in it, hoping to make a profit off the goods it sells. In other words, it pays the farmers for the goods and then sells them for more. For the farmer, the payment is good as the company makes money from selling the product in bulk, while the farmer sells in much smaller quantities.'

There were other interests, as well, but they would be hard to detail one by one, given that there were so many companies looking forward to making a foothold in the Kahfhaliqhi economy, 'But, we shouldn't discuss such specifics. They will work themselves out once free-trade is established and I'm sure our respective companies can talk it out between themselves. There's no question that from the point of view of control, our companies will have the advantage, but from the beginning an advantage for us is also an advantage for your nation. We will stimulate greater growth over the short-term, allowing your nation to compete actively at an earlier stage in its life.' The minister decided to move on to what was more of an issue that could be worked out, 'We should focus on the nation's requirements for an economic aid package per year. We can pay for percentages of certain budgets (http://sunsetrpg.com/economystatistics.php?nation=Kahfhaliqh), including - for example - the military budget, welfare or commerce. Given your military budget is so low, we can even pay it all for you, given our budget is about one thousand times larger than yours. Given the size of other budgets, we are willing to provide Ŗ5 billion, or roughly $10 billion for the military and Ŗ1.5 billion, or an estimated $3 billion, for welfare. We can discuss this in greater depth, if you'd like. What we gain is more income by taking over strategic industries, such as the electricity companies, banking companies, oil companies, et cetera.'

The Minister was also willing to talk about military bases, but he would wait until the economic aspect of the conference was finished before changing the topic - it was best to take things one step at a time.

"Agreed", Jones replied, regarding the military cooperation. The Prime Minister reminded himself to calm down about all this, he didn't want to start relations with a nation of this proportion talking about the military. He was in favour of peacekeeping for the most part.

"I'm glad that you brought agriculture up; Farming is a fast growing business in parts Kahfhaliqh. In the province of Tabinhlam, on the western region of Kahfhaliqh, the export of Barley, Rye, Flax and Rice are being boosted by the rapidly changing climate. The soil has started to get even more fit for Canola. If DAG could invest in those types of wheats, and I'm sure there are more varieties to come, it could help us alot with our search for investors in order to stimulate the Kahfhaliqhi economy in terms of GDP."

"However, this 'Dry Farming' concept concerns me. Our nation has a reputation of keeping workers happy, and they might protest the idea of even more machinery within the farming industry. I must ask you later on, is there any mechanization involved in the 'Dry Farming' business? Anyway, General Yusuf Miruts would like to discuss the military purposes of this meeting." He looked over at the General and nodded.

Miruts nodded back and thought how he should put this. "Well, regarding the issue with our military budget and you lending us money...", he commented in a low, sort of wheezy voice. The General knew it was important not to say the wrong things and have Jern interpret it in such a way as to assume he's more of a hostile person than he actually is. "We are very much interested in the military portion of our country, and we appreciate your offer of more than 10 Billion dollars, but Prime Minister Jones and I are only wanting enough money to build up a sufficiently sized military force. We are in plans of particapating in many peacekeeping missions in the future in order to prevent a catastrophe such as what happened in our past. We are planning to help with disastrous situations such as Civil War, Genocide, including relief from natural disasters. So, I hope you do not take any offense from this, but we would only need enough to supply ourselves with a good military, mostly to protect our borders, and relief efforts."

Daví Jern moved to respond to the Kahfhaliqhi general first, since that was more easily addressed without a major dissertion. The minister kindly apologised to the prime minister and made mention that he would return to the point of agriculture, and then he looked at the general and said, 'I agree, to a point, and it was more to offer an idea of how much aid we can give. Like I said, the sheer size of our budget allows us to pour in a lot of investment. Admittedly, the scheme is Machiavellian, since we expect to make returns by our companies investing in your nation. Obviously, these returned won't equal Ŗ6.5 billion per annum, but our aid will not be indefinite - at least, in that magnitude - and so the long-run is much more profitable for us. Nevertheless, given the nation's small budget and the need for the nation to increase the budget elsewhere, we can offer as much as Ŗ10 billion per year, or roughly $20 billion, to complement other budgets; this includes welfare, procurement efforts for the military, administration, et cetera. This relationship is strictly quid pro quo.'

Daví perhaps shouldn't have been as direct as he was being, but it was the Empire's style to trick its potential friends with economic schemes to take over the economy and suck it dry. There were many nations like this, which took advantage of a foreign nation's necessity for weapons and to keep control of the government, and so took everything and returned nothing. Fedala preferred to help build-up the foreign nation's economy, so that nation could potentially become a strong partner. In a world like this one, a nation needed as many partners as it could get. Straight economic imperialism was reserved for nations that didn't cooperate. Besides, although Kahfhaliqh was a small nation, it was not a third-world country. It had a smart, stable government that knew what it was doing, and so any attempt to open an economic relationship would have to be one stressing 'fair grounds' - well, as fair as it could be between a behemoth of an economy and a starting economy. It was not a matter of chauvanism or elitism, it was just plain truth; it could be indicated that the Kahfhaliqhi economy was technically stronger per capita than the Empire's. In any case, obviously the Empire would be making big dividends from this agreement, and they would grow as the 'host' country grew, but nobody never did anything for free. Ultimately, the Empire would also profit more so than the Kahfhaliqhi government and economy from a 'two-dimensional point of view', but the Kahfhaliqhi would grow to the point where the country could conduct similar business with other countries and reap the same benefits.

Regardless, the minister decided to address the prime minister now and started with, 'Prime Minister Jones, 'dry farming'^1 is when there is no direct, mechanical water source to irrigate the field. This means, that either there is no water source, period, or the farmer is not interested in spending the money to dig deep enough to find water and pump it out for the irrigiation pipelines. Consequently, either the terrain has to be left for the rain to irrigate, which is perfect for regions with a lot of rain, or the farmer has to supplement this source with water. Normally, since there is no nearby mechanical pumps, the water has to be brought by tractor and so the farmer will require a tractor - which can be his, or cooperatives can rent them out - and it requires pumping equipment, which is normally the injectors which are pumped by hand. This is far better and far more efficient, but another method is to have two pipes coming out from the rear of the water tank - tugged by the tractor - which pour the water into either side of the 'lane' while the tractor is moving between two 'seed lanes'. 'Dry farming', if there is not enough natural water, requires more work, but is cheaper overall than having to build the equipment for mechanical irrigation. It's used fairly often in the drier regions of the Empire to great effect. This is more true for small time farmers, more than bigger, wealthier farmers. But, these techniques allow for more widespread farming even in regions that are less condusive to less ripe soil and less ideal climate.'

He then went onto the DAG section of the topic, 'Wheat is actually a powerful commodity, since most of our basic foodstuffs come from things like wheat, barley, oats, et cetera. As I mentioned before, the fact that the majority of nations are opting for industries based on heavy production it means that these societies are less keen on having a big agricultural economy. As a result, the few nations that opt for agriculturally based economies have a big advantage, given that agricultural goods normally now sell for more since many nations have to import them. For example, in Greater Dienstad this is one of Indras' biggest advantages, since it's almost the only true agricultral producer in the region - only recently has the Second Empire been changing policies to catalyze a greater growth in the agricultural sector. In the past fifteen years the farmer population decreased from 7% of the population to less than 1%, and we're aiming at subsidizing 'young farmers' in order to increase the farmer population to at least 2% of the total population. But, you can see the pattern and the dividens that it would give your nation. Of course, you can export without DAG and not lose that minor commission, but DAG's size, influence and ability to dish out funds are unrivaled.'

He decided to add one more thing, before allowing his colleague to response, 'In terms of mechanization, it's been found that small nations that have their economy overtaken by larger megacorporations have a hard time competing because farmers cannot afford mechanization. Since our industrial ability is larger than our agricultural capabilities, that means that your farmers have less of a chance of not being able to compete and they will have an easier ability to procure mechanization, since our companies can sell for very cheap. For example, a good eighty horsepower tractor can cost as little as Ŗ25,000, which is extraordinarily cheap.'

Notes:
1. I made up the word, since I don't know how it's really called in English. In Spanish, it's called al secano.

OOC: Sorry about not replying for a bit; I'm constructing the map of Kahfhaliqh, and it's pretty detailed. Also, how do I add the Ŗ10 Billion into my budget after we're done this? =\

IC:

Jones was feeling that this meeting would be concluded fairly soon, considering the fact that nearly all the requirements that he was asking for were met. Meanwhile, the General felt his were too.

"Ah, I get it now. I was worried there for a minute." He chuckled. "I'm relieved that the farmers of Kahfhaliqh will be able to actually survive and the large corporations won't completely destroy them. The rainy conditions you mentioned are plentiful within one of our island provinces, Blathaon. We could possibly accept both methods of dry farming, so that will help employ the unemployed in Blathaon, considering that it is the 2nd most prioritized island in terms of unemployment. Also, regarding the money involved, Ŗ10 Billion will be plenty; I'm sure that the General will agree."

[OOC: Since there is no calculator that keeps tabs of your economy on NationStates proper, you have to keep the information 'in your head', so to speak. There are sites such as Sunset Economics (http://sunsetrpg.com/economystatistics.php?nation=Kahfhaliqh) that give you an idea of your economy based on the issues you answer to on your nation page. There's no way to modify it to take into account role-playing, so it's in your head. If anybody asks you about it, you link to this thread.

As for responding, don't worry - it's the weekend and I'm not going to be inside my house for much, either.]

Daví Jern felt content about what he had accomplished, for multiple reasons that were not worth stating - but should have resulted fairly obvious. The minister smiled and said, 'Well, we can let the farmers decide since the farmer is effectively running a private enterprise. We will just offer the machinery to make this type of farming possible for cheaper. In a market economy there's not much the government can control, regardless. In the end, the decision to buy tractors, seeding machines, fertilizer spreaders, et cetera, is up to the farmer or to the cooperative. This agreement would only make this technology far easier to access. This is not only true for agricultural machinery. It includes automobiles and other finished products as well. The advantage is that we can't export them, and so your industry at home doesn't suffer as much as one would assume. It's cheaper for a company to manufacture the product in your nation just due to the shipping ranges being taken into consideration.'

He stopped there, as he didn't want to get too much into economics. His task here was done, and there was no use continuing, in case people changed their minds last minute. He then addressed the last concern, the economic aid program, 'In regards to the economic aid, I will pass on the news to His Imperial Majesty and we will finalize a program in Fedala and then pass the information on to you. We will outline expected methods of investing the aid and whatnot, but ultimately the money becomes yours.'

For the most part, then, it was done. Within months, the Kahfhaliqhi economy would be flooded with Macabee corporations and there would be a growthspurt of building programs for new factories and corporate buildings. This would benefit Kahfhaliqhi construction companies, at first, although it was probable that wealthy Macabee construction companies would buy out a large portion of their Kahfhaliqhi colleagues, although the industry would remain indigenous in the fact that it had to be based in Kahfhaliqh. There would be a growthspurt of production of Macabee agricultural machinery, automobiles and other major consumer products. This was not only for the Kahfhaliqhi population, but they would soon hit the market of most of the nations of Kahfhaliqhi's region, opening thousands of new doors for the Empire's economy. In fact, this economic deal was one of the most important post-war economic details to date, although there was much information to reassure that the Empire's capitalist imperialism would continue on to dozens of more countries - wherever the Empire could find them.

OOC: So what now? Do I just kinda type the budget you are supplying me with and subtract fractions of it if I buy things from DMG (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=440478) for instance?

[OOC:

Keep this thread in the back of your mind when you're making procurements, and mention to the seller where the money is coming from; you can link to the thread, even. A note, however, I wouldn't procure from DMG. These days, most designs are peer reviewed on the NS Draftroom (http://z4.invisionfree.com/NSDraftroom/index.php?act=idx), and DMG has refused to post there. His weapons are generally not remotely realistic, and although his write-ups are good he just doesn't care about making them realistic. This is not a bad or a good thing, and it really depends on what you're looking for - some roleplayers just don't see realism as a major issue, but most do. On the link there, to the NS Draftroom, there is something called the 'International Mall' and it has a large number of storefronts that you can look over. All of the technology on there is peer reviewed.]

OOC: How many days/weeks in RL would be in an RP year? Cause I don't want to have a hugeass military within a week; Realism is a big thing for me.

OOC: How many days/weeks in RL would be in an RP year? Cause I don't want to have a hugeass military within a week; Realism is a big thing for me.

[OOC: It depends. I don't role-play with a set 'time-line'; I do what's called fluid time, which allows you to go back and forth, as long as you have a clear idea of what you should have and when you should have it.]