Join the new world

Good Evening/Morning members of the USA,

I would like to start out by saying thank you to everyone who responded to my previous article regardless of your opinion on it. I did not expect everyone to agree with the article, and the very fact that everyone doesn’t agree kind of proves my point on us being divided on everything 😁. I meant for that article to be a way for all of us to recognize our faults as a step forward to fixing them. I felt that, as President, I should level with everyone about my honest feelings regarding the nation. I meant for the ending to be more constructive, but felt it would be more effective to split that up into a few articles. The first one being the one you are reading now. I plan on using this article to discuss the main issue facing our media at this moment: our Foreign Relations and our involvement with ATLANTIS. I also want to make a few updates on government spending.

- Our Foreign Options -
I can’t think of one issue more fought over, more debated, or with more opposing viewpoints than Foreign Affairs (I think taxes are an extremely close second). There are many ways we could go with this, but it’s also guaranteed that we will never find “the perfect option” that will make everyone happy. What we can do is view the options before us, evaluate the pros and cons in each one, and decide which are most attainable. I am going to try to keep this article free of any real bias on my part and focus on the facts. We’ll start with where we are currently.

- The Case for ATLANTIS -
Perhaps basing an Alliance on a fabled city that was destroyed catastrophically was not the best way to go. This is the same logic as not naming your new cruise liner The Titanic 2. There has been plenty said of Atlantis in these past few weeks; both in favor and opposed to it. I am not here to write a solely Pro-ATLANTIS article, but I want to give everyone some history of the US and of ATLANTIS. I have always been a firm supporter of Atlantis, but I have also had the privilege of being included in their discussions every month with only a 2-term break in the middle. Let’s start with where it all began, in the US. In May of this year, former president Dishmcds signed the US into the Northern Alliance. At this point in time the world was caught in a cold war that was ever escalating. I am sure DF could fill us in with the exact blow by blow, but as it went Indonesia was continuing to expand, Pakistan was constantly growing in power, and the goons in Greece were becoming noticed for their great numbers. Upon signing the US into the NA, the coalition of F.I.S.T. was created to defeat or oppose the NA. Skimming along this overly generalized history lesson, President Dishmcds along with the allies of NA begin to draft the treaty of ATLANTIS. It was the first of its kind, this was a Super alliance which was established with the strongest nations in the world to defeat (or oppose) the forces of F.I.S.T. in the world. It was not the smoothest transition, but it did bring us the ATLANTIS we know today, more or less. In response to this super alliance PEACE GC was formed to oppose (or destroy) ATLANTIS. PEACE was the rallying call of the members in /V/akistan used while they “spread peace” to China, India, and beyond. ATLANTIS and PEACE have been locked in a cold war ever since. As long as ATLANTIS is around so will PEACE as both alliances only exist to protect their allies from the opposition. The wars that continue at this point are no longer US vs France, or Germany vs Sweden. Every war in recent memory, to 90% of our population, has been Peace vs Atlantis. We are at the point now that we cannot justify whom is the most noble alliance. These wars have all been to reaching the ultimate goal of one alliance overcoming another. What many have misconstruing as disorganization within ATLANTIS has really been the different viewpoints of what exactly ATLANTIS is to each nation. Although these may be simple generalizations, they do have truth behind them. This is a quote from a thread I started on the Atlantis forums about this very issue. I am happy to say it has stirred up a great discussion which has bettered the alliance as a whole.


“We have an Image problem.

Nations like Romania and Spain feel our sole image is that we are the strongest Alliance.

Nations like the US and the UK believe our image is that of liberators and crusaders for truth and justice.

Nations like Sweden, Croatia, and Poland feel that ATLANTIS is more of a brotherhood that lives and dies as one.

Those competing idealism's causes us to seem disorganized even when we are. It hurts us a lot in the UK and in the US when we are not seen as "the good guys". It hurts Romania and Spain when we lose our battles. It hurts Argentina, Sweden, and Croatia when we do not defend our allies.

The US’s (and the UK’s to a lesser extent) population in general is surprisingly humanitarian in its outlook of other countries. Considering the fact that no one dies, loses their home, or starves during war. The only thing really lost is their Flag. To be entirely honest, being the conquered country is equal to be a minor party in the US or in any other country. You lose your voice in government, and the flag you are familiar with. I do not condone the actions of any nation who dominate another nation entirely, either politically or militarily. I don’t believe any country should lose its sovereignty due to the notions of another, but I also believe we should be able to expand our borders beyond the RL constraints the game gives us to begin with.”

Pros and Cons of ATLANTIS
Pro - A steady amount of foreign wars to grow our skills and alleviate our flooded weapon markets.
Pro - A strong group of allies to defend us at home should an attack ever be made on US soil. (lol)
Pro - An increased connection and sense of community with the erepublik community as a whole.
Pro - An extensive and reliable source of foreign RMs we need for our economy without the risk of a war cutting off a vital supply.

Con - The views of our nation may not always match the views of our allies.
Con - The occasionally obligation to aid our allies when they are attacked.
Con - Being constrained to the bi-laws of the Alliance.


The Case for Isolationism-Protectionism
A recent surge has appeared on the horizon. This surge is being spearheaded by the newest generation to enter our great nation (lol, see I said great nation). Although I can see where this idea has its appeal, it has many drawbacks that I will discuss. What we need to know in any situation, is the history, the mechanics, and whats its affect will be on the rest of nation, economically, socially, and militarily. As we did with Atlantis, we will touch on the history to begin. The history of the eUS is a history of isolationism. Up until late April to early May, we were entirely cut off from other countries. Our Import taxes were 99% in every industry except Hospitals, and we didn't need anyone but ourselves. This was great, but what caused the initial change from Isolationism to alliances? The War Module.

Up until mid April there was no war in erepublik. Once it was released it was realized any nation trying to stand alone would quickly be consumed. The US was a very small nation at this point and had less than 1000 total citizens. "Why dont we just return to isolationism? Noone is going to attack us." I wouldn't be so sure that no one is going to attack us. Many other European and Asian nations believe the US cannot fully understand the need for an alliance because we have never had the enemy always at our door. Although I do not think we have any reason to worry, I do agree with this statement. Beyond the simple fact of a nation being at risk if in complete isolation. There is the economic side of isolationism. Assuming they would be occur at the same time, there is still the necessity of RMs. The US has access to high productivity regions in every resource with the exception of Diamonds, and Iron. These two are crucial, as they dictate the price and supply of our gifts and weapons. We would need to be prepared to have a more expensive gift and weapon industries and to have a lot less of them. In my personal opinion, Isolationism is not an option for our country at this point. Regardless of that I will give the Pro and Con break down.

The Pros and Cons of Isolationism-Protectionism
Pro - The US and its interests are the only thing in the world.
Pro - No alliances to deal with or speak to.
Pro - The ability to declare war whenever and anywhere we want.

Con - Lack of access to RMs and other Imports.
Con - Minimal National Security as no allies exist.
Con - An eroding economy which could collapse due to a lack of war.
Con - A severe backlash from attacking other nations who have an alliance.


The Case for Regional Alliances
Probably the biggest group out in our nation, besides those that support Atlantis, are in favor of the US starting a new alliance. They agree that isolationism and protectionism will only leave the US crippled in the long run, but they still do not agree Atlantis is where the US should be. As with every other option, the US has some history here as well. I do not call myself a historian and I am sure some of these facts have been slightly out of chronological order, but they are true for the purpose of this article. Sometime between the US joining the NA, and soon after Atlantis, the US was in a regional alliance called the PANAM agreement. This consisted mainly of central and south american countries and was intended to become a part of Atlantis. As time went on it didn't exactly work out that way, but lets move on.

If we were to join a regional alliance, as it has been proposed thus fa,r we would be signing up with our neighbors to the north and south, Canada and Mexico. As it has been stated they also wished for our good allies in the UK and most likely our acceptable allies, Japan, to join us as well. Essentially you are just re-organizing what you already have. I can honestly say that I personally see no inherent benefits to a regional alliance over the one we are currently in. Read that sentence carefully before you object to it. A regional alliance would aid the US in that we would not have to worry about our borders to the north or south (the East and West included depending). We would have access to a few more RM regions through trade, but beyond that regional alliances fall into the same traps of isolationism. If the US (or any of our allies) were to be attacked by a foreign nation, the aggressor would use the time zone difference to their advantage. Declaring war at 3:00AM - 5:00AM (does it really matter EST or PST?) would nearly ensure they could fight nearly unopposed for long enough to ensure their victory. On to the Pros and Cons.

The Pros and Cons for Regional Alliances
Pro - All allies are geographically close to us.
Pro - Few viewpoints to deal with.
Pro - Limits number of attack points around our bordering areas.

Con - Time Zone Vulnerability.
Con - A limited defensive stance when facing a large alliance.
Con - Limited access to additional Raw Materials.
Con - More easily compromised if one nation should decide to leave or is conquered.
Con - Promotes "regional isolationism" which sends a strong diplomatic message to other countries within other regions. ( this message could be percieved as negative or positive by that country)

To sum it all up
Although this may come as no great surprise to the great majority of you. My vote goes to staying within Atlantis. I have laid out on the table all the pros and cons of our options, and none of them compare to what we have in Atlantis. I know things are not perfect, but they are getting better, and I am going to work my hardest to ensure that they do. Ofcourse Atlantis is not eternal and there will come another chapter in the history of eUS where we will move on, but it will not be today.


An Economic Catch up
Now to change the pace from these pressing foreign affair issues. I bring you the numbers, which could all be found by any citizen, but it would require a great deal of digging and this is just much easier for everyone. It has been a cry of the people to ensure transparency and accountability in government spending, and I intend on giving just that. A spreadsheet with all goverment expendatures to the Federal Reserve Org is available on the eUSA forums, but I felt this should be made more widely known. I will outline the amount of money spent thus far in my administration and the changes in our economy since I have taken office.

40,900 USD has been spent on funding the Military with weapons, moving tickets, gifts, and additional funding.
The Marines have been deployed three times to defend our allies and to gain experience. Just from this one figure alone you can get an idea of how exspensive war can be.

34,500 USD has been spent on the purchase of 1 Hospital and 2 Defense Systems. These purchases are both to ensure the National Security of our nation and to keep our DS/Hospital Industry alive. Currently there is a proposal to buy a Q5 hospital for NJ for 26,000 USD, bringing the final total of defense spending to 60,500 USD.

3 MPPs have been passed costing 90GOLD.

Total Spending so far in my term has been 101,400 USD and 90 GOLD.

Now lets take a look at the Net change in our country accounts since I have taken office as well as the exchange rate.
USA Treasury
-50 GOLD || -7,000 USD

US Federal Reserve Org
+100 GOLD || -40,900 USD

USD to GOLD Exchange Rate
1 USD == .013 GOLD on January 5th
1 USD == .014 GOLD on January 10th
1 USD == .016 GOLD on January 14th
1 USD == .015 GOLD on January 17th

What does that all mean?
The negative balances mean that even in a time of peace with only limited spending by the government our current taxes are not able to provide a surplus. The good news is that our exchange rate is on the rise, and the most recent dip is most likely due to the combo of purchasing a DS in the same timeframe for which we supplied funding to the marines. I feel that our newly imposed tax structure is bringing us to a breakeven point in government spending and taxation. Although I have yet to run the numbers after publishing this article I will go back and do my best to estimate exactly how much USD/GOLD has been brought in since I have taken office. It shouldn't be too hard to figure out, but having these figures of government spending along with estimates of our tax income will allow us to move forward in improving our overall tax system and economy.


Thank you all soo much for sitting through another one of my novellas. I hope this will shed some light on our feelings of Atlantis and of our other options. I also hope this economic update is encouraging because it was for me. It has only been 12 days since I have taken office and a great deal of our tax changes have been since then so I feel by the end of my term we will see these numbers improve greatly. Comments, Votes, Suggestions, Critiques, and Subscriptions are welcome as always. Until next time.

- Justinious -
President of the USA