NationStates Jolt Archive


As I lay dying... (Open)

Aequatio
06-06-2008, 20:41
Ebon Tor, Magna Casa, Aequatius Prime

President Alexis Castle sat down to breakfast within the massive tower's executive dining room with her usual collection of manila folders and clustered reports from a myriad of government departments. One of the servants poured her coffee into one of the cups as she sat down to read through the first report, marked urgent, regarding the quarterly reports from the nation's largest state-owned corporations. The results were as depressing as they were predicted, all poor, as the production had decreased on most primary and secondary industries despite the increased activity abroad along with the once-powerful defence industry, which had been handing out more production licenses to customers than actual contracts. The nation's economy, long-controlled through the nationalization of every company by the federal government, was starting to falter under its immense weight, the bureaucracy of the Administratum, although relatively feasible compared to other control economic plans of the world's communist nations, was having more trouble sustaining itself in recent years. Expansion was to blame, former President Reid's expansion around the world and the settlement and development of numerous colonies throughout the world was never accounted for when Premier Bomfy first laid out the tenants of Aequatio's own brand of National Socialism, which was meant to sustain the nation itself as it was in Gholgoth. The rampant growth in Haven and elsewhere saw that resources that were normally carefully regulated and rationed for the Citizenry within the Republic fall short of numbers across the board, had it not been for carefully-planned stockpiling, the situation could have become critical a lot sooner. Although now the problem lay in her lap as crumbs from her breakfast's toast as she struggled to form a viable solution, rumours of shortages had begun as quotas failed to be reached, especially overseas and growing dissent had occurred in many overseas territories, Aequatius Decca and Volstad to name two prominent issues as the governors of each possession had already converted from Aequatian national socialism to a more liberally-minded system which included free trade with a few Havenic partners and introduction of privatized companies and property ownership as the local governments issued title deeds to individual citizens for the first time in the Republic's history.

Time would go on and the nation began to experience the first of its troubles as the shortages of resources began to take its toll on everyday life as rations were reduced, the people grumbled and the protests started. Calls came out from across the nation's continents for change, the Centralist Party founded to sustain the nation was losing the public confidence as walk-outs occurred in a number of critical professions, including agriculture and primary resources like petroleum and mining, in cooperation with students and academics alike from universities and utility colleges throughout the country. It would take three days of continued protests, rallies, and in some cases violent clashes with police and rioting, before an emergency session was called before the National Senate by President Castle to explain and resolve the situation. The session was marked with a speech by the president and a presentation of what the nation faced, short of change, the Motherland would face complete economic collapse within the fiscal year. It was then that a group, dubbed by the Aequatian media as the "Knights of Kingston" for their namesake school, presented their solution to repair the damaged nation and bring it back to the international scene. A lobbyist group named "Group for the Support of Individual Liberty in Aequatio" had presented their own solutions before the National Senate and the President's Office a week earlier before doing so again on televisor screens across the nation and broadcast overseas to Haven and elsewhere via satellites. Many of the group were native Deccans who had gone to school in Praetonia, at the famous Kingston Royal College of Economics where they had discussed and studied amongst their cohort peers from the nations of the likes of Questers, Willink and Praetonia itself, learning the strengths and advantages of capitalism and developing their own theories on its application to the unfortunately wavering system of Aequatian National Socialism. Months prior, the group had initiated their methods and theories once they had returned to their homes on Aequatius Decca and Volstad, which in turn started the downfall of the pure ANS system in place as its weakness lay in the maintenance of international power projection.

The classical liberal ideas imported from the educations obtained in Praetonia, the groups set to work on changing the massive bureaucracy that was the Administratum into a more manageable civil service while other sectors under government control were handed off to individuals in one of the largest privatization efforts the world would ever see in modern history. Under the Centralist Party's system of National Socialism, citizens would be given "housing assignments" which now became title deeds as for the first time since the nation's founding, property ownership had parted from the hands of the federal government. The massive, nationalized corporations that were in charge of the nation's most important industries were handed off to the capable hands of the executive officers and boards of directors as contracts were changed and ownership was transferred from the Department of Interior to private citizens, the media joked as ceremonies were held in which company presidents and CEOs would symbolically receive their "pink slip" from the Secretary of Interior only to immediately sign the new contract of ownership. The most momentous occasion happened when the Aequatian Republic Stock Exchange opened to world markets, with President Castle in attendance, allowing both Aequatian and foreign companies to purchase shares of Aequatian companies and distributing ownership to any persons that were willing to purchase. The former income taxes were effectively abolished as Aequatians now had markes of their own to spend on whatever they desired, instead of the mostly-strict outlines provided in the former Incentives and Cost of Living Allowance programs, many chose to begin investing capital, buying collections of stocks and saving their money just because they were now allowed to do so, despite the government's maintenance of several social systems, including welfare and pensions. It would be these changes, along with many others throughout the nation, that would see it move away from the risk of sudden and immediate economic collapse to a relatively stable, partially free market society now growing as it began its new life. Aequatians were now truly free people amongst the world as President Castle presented the Republic to the world.
Colstream
06-06-2008, 21:13
The Republic Of Colstream wishes to establish diplomatic relations with Aequatio and pledges to help its market become stable.

Here is our diplomatic program thread to apply for an embassy in the Colstream Capital, Ashland:

http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=558283
Praetonia
09-06-2008, 00:53
[Extract from Hansard 6th June, Speech given to the House by Liberal Party leader Thomas Randolph]

"Mr Speaker,

"If I might be allowed a few moments to turn the House's attention to solemn recollection:- just a few months ago, the world sat on the brink of war. Allanean tanks were ready to roll in to Questers, clearing a path for the bayonets of free people to make for the Capital of a fellow free nation. His Majesty's warships sat ready to break out at a moment's notice into the Strobovia Strait to do battle with the free navy of Cravan, repeating a battle between free peoples from Oceania and Cravan on the one side and the Questerian Commonwealth on the other that is still yet to fade from recent memory. And at our own shores, thousands of atomic-tipped weapons sat at a moment's notice to annihilate one another across the Sea.

"It is remarkable how far we have come in such a short time.

"The power apparatus of NATO has collapsed. The free countries have realigned themselves as they naturally ought to be - at one another's side, against the greater enemies of freedom, never again to be aligned against one another for the benefit of a self-interested and distant tyranny.

"But more remarkable is that across the sea in Aequatius Decca, a silent revolution has taken place that has spread to the very heartland of our Enemies. While one could justifiably ask why Cravanians or Allaneans would wish to fight against the Crown Commonwealth or her allies, the same could not be asked of Aequatio. Here was a degenerate, fascist, imperialist power, that had no stake in Haven save her ill-gotten colonial gains... or that is how it was described by many, not least my own Party. Now, today, I believe I speak for the entire House in welcoming Aequatio into the great fellowship of Free Nations.

[cries of 'hear, hear!'; applause]

"The force of our conviction, and the clear superiority and justice of our system and institutions, not the might of our armies, have proved to be the Crown Commonwealth's most powerful weapons. Without a shot being fired, an enemy has been turned into a friend and, far from presenting a deadly atomic threat against our shores, Aequatio now stands as a shining beacon of liberty and prosperity a mere stone's throw from the seat of the Old Enemy. One can only wonder if Lord Azrael, as he desperately attempts to shore up the crumbling foundations of NATO upon which his power is based, looks across the sea to Aequatio and asks himself how long his own rule can endure.

"What has happened in Aequatio is important not just because what had previously been such a grave and alarming danger to us all here has been neutralised, but because her conversion to the ideals of liberty and justice represent the continuation of a sea change in world politics that begun with the foundation of the Kingston Pact.

"I commend the motion to accept Aequatio's admittance to that organisation to the House."

[applause]
Azazia
09-06-2008, 02:53
Financial Review
Online Edition

Georgetown, United Kingdom—With the recent liberalisation, albeit partial, of the Aequatian economy, Oceanian investments in firms across all sectors of the Aequatian economy have increased. And with private property now a reality, Oceanian firms from large, multinational financial services companies to more niche-market tea salons have begun to purchase property and lease retail space in order to create an Oceanian foothold in what were formerly closed markets.

While all increasing Oceanian investment in Aequatio remain confined to the private sphere, the Government has warmly backed the decision of the Castle government to liberalise. At a speech before the Oceanian-based Oceanian-Aequatian Society, Foreign Secretary Gavin Astley noted that "Every nation develops in its own fashion and in its own time, the United Kingdom took one route at one speed and Aequatio is taking another route at another speed." The Foreign Secretary later added that "His Majesty's Government welcomes the programme of liberalisation and reaffirms its support and friendship to its long-standing NATO ally."

Prior to the liberalisation programme of the Castle government, trade between the United Kingdom and the Aequatian Republic was limited despite ties through NATO. Analysts now forecast accelerated growth in bilateral trade that will quickly reach several billion pounds before years end, then slowing to a more controlled growth rate soon after.
Cravan
09-06-2008, 03:35
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Cravanian Broadcasting Network

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Recording from CBN-4
Broadcast 6 June 2008

Lady Annadale Addresses the House of Sovereigns on the Liberalization of Aequatio


If you're just joining us, Lady Annadale has requested to speak at a session of the House of Sovereigns. came the voice of anchor Melissa Williams as an image of Director Annadale walking down one of the aisles to approach the stand was displayed. She appears to be starting. Let's listen in.

"Members of the Sovereign House, thank you for allowing me back here tonight.

"For some time our nation's position on the world stage has been fairly uncertain. My predecessor, Mr. Gallens, guided our nation under his neo-conservative policies to forge bonds with nations that, further in the past, we would have never forged bonds with. He withdrew our nation from the now defunct ISAF; he ordered the disbandment of the GASN; he entered our nation into the New Alliance Treaty Organization, a measure I and my New Liberal counterparts were opposed to however his Conservative majority was able to finalize.

"It has taken many long years to recover from Mr. Gallens' policies, both foreign and domestic, but our nation is greater than it ever has been under the binds of liberty.

"I come before you tonight, however, not to recollect on the past but instead to gaze ahead towards the future. A great, earth-shattering event took place today. The nation of Aequatio, a long time ally of our fair nation, has enacted new policies which guarantee the economic and political growth of their nation from the binds of near total tyranny. Aequatio has taken the first steps towards true liberty, and although their liberalization effort is starting with less than the liberalization my administration enacted started with, our efforts are one in the same.

"It is no secret that I was an outspoken critic of some of the Aequatian Republic's policies for quite some time; policies which my predecessor overlooked. Although, at the time, in the face of certain dangers my dissent and distaste towards the Aequatian system of government took a secondary position to the survival of our nation. Not because of our own policies, but because of the policies of our allies and our enemies alike. Conflicting ideologies and interests for all parties involved, especially ourselves.

"Now, however, with the decline of the Alliance for the Preservation of Civilization and the rebirth of freedom to much of the world, the Eastern Kingdom was finally able to break itself free from the New Alliance Treaty Organization and the massive bloc to which it had become bound in blood. A new era in the world has dawned again after an era of darkness: it is an era of freedom, where no corner of the world shall be shadowed from Lady Liberty's golden torch.

"The liberalization of Aequatio proves that Liberty's light knows no darkness. Eventually, her light will expand to people everywhere. All people have a right to live in freedom, and those who deny them that right are enemies of the people of Earth everywhere.

"In light of Aequatio's liberalization, I do hereby announce His Majesty's Government's support for Aequatian entry into the Kingston Pact. They have begun their first steps on a road that will lead them to the ultimate goal any entity should strive for, and with our help their journey will be that much greater.

Members of the House of Sovereigns; thank you."

A round of applause erupted from the chamber as Annadale bowed slightly and approached her seat at the left hand of the Lord of the House.

As just heard, Lady Annadale has promoted Aequatian membership into the Kingston Pact. anchor Williams said as the sound feed was cut from the House of Sovereigns and the image shrunk down to fit in the upper right hand corner of the screen. A rather shocking move considering most of the Kingston Pact was in direct opposition to Aequatio not more than a few hours ago. When we come back we'll be speaking with Professor Ian McKaylesworth, a member of the Political Sciences department at Lylesworth University, about these recent developments. Stay tuned, you're watching CBN-4, the latest in political and government news from all around the Cravanian Empire.
Shansekia
09-06-2008, 08:18
Shansekian House of Parliament, Internal Forum, June Session

Cameras swung to the entrance of the forum. Cheers rang through the crowd of MP's as their president walked down the stairway to the central podium. Smiling, shaking hands, and bumping fists, he walked up the marble stairs to the podium. Silencing the cheers with the lowering of his hands, he spoke with eagerness.

"Parliament members, my friends, my people, thank you for letting this old, wrinkly face grace your televisions and your eyes." Laughter rippled through the crowd. "I would like to start by saying; what is it that we all fight for? What is it we struggle to spread? You all know what it is. Capitalism! Freedom! Prosperity! But there are those that oppose the idea that the poor can become rich, and the rich richer. Those who are poor of both wealth and courage, those who cannot stand that there are worthy people higher than them. And so they drag them down."

"But, my people, there is always hope. Let me tell you, there is hope! Many thousands of kilometers away, in the land of Gholgoth, lies a nation once shrouded in darkness, despair. However, the beacon of hope, of wealth, has opened their eyes, their government's eyes! They have shredded nationally owned corporations, they have released the stock exchange, they have ditched the horror known as income tax!" A murmur rippled through the crowd as the word "income tax" rang through the forum.

"And now, my people, they are more free than ever! Their stock exchange is climbing rapidly, their people investing feverishly, their economy has rebounded from failing to propsperity! They may have welfare and pension requirements, but that is of little importance compared to what they once had! They are truly free!"

"Now, you may ask what country this is. At least, a few of you should be. I told some of the MP's specifically not to give out spoilers." Chuckles swept through the forum. "Well, let me TELL you what this nation is! It is Aequatio! That's right, Aequatio! The formally nationally socialist nation is now a capitalist freezone! Now I say, 資本主義のため! For Capitalism!" Cheers erupted into the crowd as a mob of frenzied news reporters ran up to try and get a word out of him before he left. Normally, they were not allowed in, but this was a special occasion. "私は睡眠を必要とする..." he told the news reporters as they tailed him out of the forum. "I need sleep!"