Mongol Federation

Indeed but I'm not a Marxist, I'm speaking of feudal taxes and this isn't an argument for abolishing taxes but rather reforming them. Rather then spending money on infrastructure with no return and having to tax income and wealth to fund gov't, this system would allow infrastructure to pay for itself and allow for an alternate form of funding allowing for contemporary taxes to ether be reduced or eliminated, depending on how much money this generates (something that would differ from place to place based on population and level of development). As I sated before, you pay your utility bill and then you pay your taxes. Would it not be more efficient to pay your utility bill and have that be your tax? I've already provided an example of how 1 piece of infrastructure can pay for both itself and another. All 1 must do is expand the concept.

This has nothing to do with capitalism (a strictly capitalist gov't would fight this tooth and nail), this is about updating taxes so as to be more efficient and less burdensome.

It's my blog, it's my topic, I've offered arguments, I've invited questions, I've answered said questions and I've offered numbers to prove a point. You've offered meaningless 1 liners with no relation to the topic. Get out or I'll report you from spam posts.

And it's bad how? If you have nothing to say, why do you post? Ether offer a valid counter argument or frankly, GTFO.

So it's a bad post because you disagree with it?

During 1 of the Ideological Wars 1 of the nationalist alliances used the Norwegian national anthem in a recruiting video. Their nationalism, participation in the wars, germanic symbolism and an unfortunate claim by Storm Front that they used the game as a recruiting ground prompted Norway, upon discovering the video, to try to have the game shut down for being a Nazi training site. The number of players skyrocketed, the community backlash wiped out the Nazis, Norway was humiliated and I think admin still thanks them for the free advertisement that put this game on the map and made him lots and lots of money.

Thank you for you counter argument.

I considered this. This is why I allowed for democratic control and ownership by the local population. They could charge more (How's that different then now?) but they'd risk getting voted out of power (unlike now ) unless the higher charges translate into more/better services in proportion to the increases and higher dividends. For example my local (and I stress local) power company made a total profit of $761,000,000 last year. Florida is in the process of constructing a high-speed rail system that is expected to suffer coast overruns and is estimated to cost local gov'ts at least $7,800,000 per year once the Feds surrender control of the system in '13. Feared construction debts, low or negative profit-margins and a still suffering economy have lead many to fear it can't be funded. Now look at the profits of just my local power company. Problem solved (and that's profit remember, the power grid will still be payed for) and there'd still be $753,200,000 left over for other projects. Feared economic slump and tax shortfalls averted and with no need to raise taxes on the people. Hell you could run the system for free off power profits alone which would actually be higher as you'd have all of them contributing. Apply this across the bored and it becomes clearer. Now I'll be the 1st to admit, I haven't crunched all the numbers as I've not taken the time to look them all up so I can't say how much this would generate or even claim this would allow for the total abolishment of taxes but alas we still have to pay these costs and our taxes under the current system. Frankly I wouldn't mind my power bill going to the gov't instead of my pay check. I wouldn't mind a higher bill ether if in addition to better services (and lower/no taxes) I also got a dividend. Allow me to find all the numbers and I'll post an explanation of how I see this actually working.

The Ideological Wars? An age when armies of RL Nazis and socialists/communists clashed in a series of epic wars resulting in the RL nation of Norway DoWing all of CN and trying to get it shut down? An age that ended with Norway's humiliating defeat and a massive Nazi-hunt (thus all the open socialists/communists today)? What about the CoaLUEtion that brought the NP/pO to their knees only for them to rise back up and claim domination over the world in a war that makes the Karma War seem like a side show at the hight of the game's popularity? What about the Epic struggle between the NAAC and NPO that lead to the NpO's creation? What about the Papacy Wars between Pope Pius and Pope New Hope or the spam wars between Pope Pius and Kanadian (thus his epic post count)? Indeed the days of old were great!

Not at all. What you seem to not get (admittedly, 1 of the points I left out) was that this would require ether nationalization or at least a major gov't stake in companies that handle roads, communications, power, garbage disposal ect. This wouldn't mean state-run collectives however. These operations would, as stated, continue to operate on a for profit basis, would sell stock to investors (so income wouldn't be totally based on bill payments and the stock would be privately traded to only employees and local residents) and run not by the gov't itself but by democratically elected infrastructure authorities. You also seem to have misunderstood profit. Profit is money after paying obligations. The money gained by the gov't would be after payroll, maintenance, ect. same as it is for the private investors and corporate executives now. I might post a part 2 to this blog entry. This 1 to explain the concept, the 2nd to explain how it'd work?

Long ago the once great Roman Empire collapsed in the West bringing over 800 years of darkness, anarchy and other Somalia-like chaos. During this time a new governing system, based on the nobility, came to power. To support themselves, the nobles created a tax system in which the peasants were ether tined to the land as serfs or owned outright as slaves. These peasants were to create wealth (food and property more then money at the time) which was then confiscated almost in it's entirety. Then civilization returned and the age of nation-states began. At 1st the old feudal system remained largely unchanged, the monarchs simply becoming the head of their nobilities de facto as well as de jour. Soon however the monarchs and their nobilities became, at best, figureheads and at worse, were wiped out by the new republics. The feudal economy began to collapse, displaced by capitalism at 1st and was finally wiped out completely by the successful overthrow of the Russian Empire by the socialists. Still, 1 major feudal system remained in place, the taxes. Now the people as a whole, not just peasants, create wealth, that wealth is now counted as money for the most part and it's confiscated not by nobles but by central gov'ts. This system violates modern Western ideals of personal freedom and the individual sovereignty dictated, albeit with different interpretations, by the now dominant capitalist and socialist economic schools of thought. The result is systematic inefficiency, corruption and general populist anger. We have an outdated tax system too slow to adapt to economic shifts and too damaging to the wealth of the workers and businesses. We need a new system not based on the seizing of personal wealth but on the idea of a self-funding gov'ts. We need gov'ts that don't deficit spend or even balance a budget but rather gov'ts that turn a profit. Such a system would allow for the financing of gov'ts without the need of the punishing taxes as they are known now while increasing the efficiency of gov'ts by inherently generating more funds then get spent. The more a gov't spends with this system (if spent wisely), the more funding it would receive as the investment payed itself back. An example, a multi-billion dollar power plant would pay for itself within a few years as it operated on a for-profit basis, the people freed from having to pay taxes to fund it and the profits allowing the reigning gov't to forgo taxation for other projects. This opposed to the current need to tax the people to fund construction, the profits going to the private business that owns the power plant and the reigning gov't needing to tax the people once more to fund itself. Such a system, based on profitable infrastructure, would at 1st seem like the status quo but consider this: You currently pay your utility bills, as a result you lights stay on, the water keeps flowing, the garbage get's picked up and you maintain communications with the outside world. You then turn around and pay taxes to keep the roads paved, the cops patrolling and the firefighters keeping the flames at bay. In my proposed system, you pay the utility bills and nothing more as the profits pay for what your taxes do now. Obviously it's far more complicated then this and I'll happily explain further to any that ask but to avoid a wall-o-text, I'll end this here with the basics explained.

Indeed.

Death isn't all that bad if you can accept it. I mean really, look at your options, they rage from attaining immortality is some non-corporal paradise to just not existing at all in which case you won't care. What's to be afraid of?

They went down some time ago...

OOC: Oy! I seem to have forgotten this, stupid BR. [img]http://forums.cybernations.net/public/style_emoticons/default/lol1.gif[/img] So, about that attack cochin? It needs to happen so I can continue.

That's the point. You sounded like a racist.

I don't. It's preventing the creation of much needed jobs.

[quote name='thiagogramacho' timestamp='1282777910' post='2431259'] How do I change my War/Peace Preference? I'm a peaceful nation, but it says that if I remain in that condition for too long, it influenciate negatively my citizens' production. I wanna change it to a war nation. Where do I do that? [/quote] Wrong forum, this should be in Game Play. To answer your question, go to 'Edit Nation', look for the 'War Preference' drop down box and change it to 'War is an option.'... If you still can't figure it out, I don't know what to tell you. [img]http://forums.cybernations.net/public/style_emoticons/default/happy.gif[/img]

You're kidding right? You don't see how our actions in those theaters have made them mad at us?

Since '62 Cuba has suffered under the US Trade/Travel Embargo. During the hight of the Cold War, the Soviets took off much of the pressure but after the Fall in '91 that all changed. The military, once a world class force and celebrated to this day as liberators in Africa, was forced to drastically downsize. The economy fell apart up as trade fell off. The people grew poor, humbled by crushing poverty. As the years went by, increased trade with the Europeans, Canadians, Mexicans and South Americans combined with the Cuban Gov't's heavy investment in public education started to turn things around. But the US, once Cuba's #1 trading partner making up a full 70% of it's trade, maintains the embargo. The US, which could flood Cuba with tourism money, much needed medical supplies and the experts and tech needed for the creation of a high tech industry does not. The Cuban Gov't is unbowed, the people suffer and the US economy suffers from the continued closing of what has been historically some of the most profitable trade routes in the South. If the embargo was to end, up to 500,000 Americans are expected to visit in the 1st year alone, the economy, it's major trade routes restored and the resources needed to harness it's highly educated population, would expense massive growth. Vary quickly Cuba would become one of the major economic powers in Latin America. So why do we maintain the embargo? It's a major humanitarian disaster and it's stated goal of deposing the socialists has proven to be 1 of the greatest policy backfires in US history. It's time to end the embargo, the suffering and the mutual economic harm.

Iran? Afghanistan (the 1st time)? Creation of the Arab States (the West as a whole is at fault)?