Are Maxed-out Bonuses Worth the Cost?
Israel Stevens
The Case Against 100/100
Editor’s Note: I’m not saying we need to get rid of our bonuses. Just exploring some of the repercussions of having them. Read with an open mind.
We have had 100% Food, and 100% Weapon bonuses for the better part of 3 months now. This has been a great boon to our economy, and has allowed for cheap production of goods, which allows us to stretch our budget further. Cheaper weapons, means more damage, and so the cycle continues. Having the 100/100 has also been a symbol of Terra and EDEN’s strength over ONE.
But, like everything, there is a flip side to this argument as well. Having maxed out bonuses has brought a handful of undesirable aspects to our country. If you are a Congressman, you know what I mean. Everyone wants to have American Citizenship, because our production is so high. Congressman are assaulted with multiple PMs per day, asking for Citizenship. And while the knee-jerk reaction is to say that such pressure is part of the job, it invariably leads to more problems. Many immigrants attempt to bribe their way into the country, offering 10 gold in exchange for citizenship. When you have close to 60 Congressmen, it can be difficult to get them all to agree on who should be let in, and who shouldn’t. Ultimately, some undesirables (i.e. ONE members) are allowed access to our Country.
As more and more enemies receive citizenship, it becomes harder and harder to keep them from being elected into Congress. This month, we saw two enemies get elected to Congress. The first was VikiBiH and the second was Bence Mate. Both let in more enemies of the state, only compounding the issue. While the burden of vetting candidates falls on the Party Presidents, and their election teams, nearly 300 people need to be vetted to make sure they are not a threat to National Security.
If you take a look at the Top News section. If you’re really that lazy, I’ll screen-shot it for you:
Of the 10 articles, on the first page of the American Top News page, only 3 of them have anything to do with America. Now, that isn’t a huge problem in of itself. We’re a tolerant group of people, and should have no problems with foreign media. But, when 70% of the articles have nothing to do with the country, it does create a problem for new players. When there are articles in Bulgarian, and Turkish in the top section of the media, it can be hard for a new player to truly grasp what is going on. How can a new citizen learn anything, when only 30% of the articles are even remotely related to the United States?
Is 100/100 really worth it? We place ourselves in jeopardy every day, as more and more people come to our country for economic reasons. We’ve already seen China close their borders, in an attempt to regulate the flow of immigrants. America will always be a target of PTOers, that’s just how it is. But adding in 100/100 does not make defending the nation any easier.
Are the economic benefits of maxed out bonuses worth the social and political cost? What do you think?
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Comments
First !
Uh... yes. Yes I do.
Great article. A recent newcomer to America myself, I've been frustrated with the state of the media and, as a congressman, am staggered at the amount of idiotic PMs I get begging to be let in. Things here are quite different than the other nations I've resided in, and I think you're right that it has to do with the status of the eUSA as a major power.
Constant vigilance and hard work have kept the eUSA strong, but how sustainable is this current position? I don't know the answer.
Since when is VikiBIH eUSA enemy?
you should rather look here 😉
http://www.erepublik.com/en/citizen/profile/5720556
how did this serb got into your congress 😉
An interesting question raised in this article. Would lesser bonuses improve the media and add to national security? I would say take the bad with the good and find ways to reduce the harmful effects of being a desired country for citizenship. It takes time to balance such a big system, so keep at it.
Your thoughts have a point but if certain party presidents do not take the appropriate precautions to prevent people such vikiBH run for congress then i dont think that the bonuses is a cause for this mess.
I wont refer specific names here.
You need better political module protection imo and thats all.
Maybe the Dep of Interior should be in charge to cooperate with the parties for a better coordination of the elections in order to stop cases like the above.
voted
Just wasted 3 minutes of my life.
It brings a good monetary advantage of countries that are wiped, and I don't think the few that get in are organized enough to do real damage. Keeping them out should be a main priority the coming months though.
Another 5-star article from awesome writer
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Close the borders.
anti PTO operations are the main topic for smaller countries before congressional elections. Not putting "rotten apples" into basket is a major concern that is dealt with extreme vigilance involving countries' regular army.
Looks like it's time for eUS to adopt this practice of other countries and Top5 party presidents need to take care of the issue at last.
So the cost of having a great economy is.... Party Presidents being more vigilant in vetting their candidates and Congressmen getting PMs about citizenship requests. Since both Party Presidents and Congressmen volunteer for those positions maybe they should be working harder if there is a problem. (not that most of them don't work hard but I guess some have to stop whinging and/or work harder)
Voted. Damn forigners are taking our jobs!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=768h3Tz4Qik
The problem isn't 100/100. The problem is incapable and/or self-interested Party Presidents who do not vet their candidates properly, and do not fight against potential rogue congressmen.
Please tell me: How is it possible that iNCi party, a newcomer in the Top 5 can prevent having any rogue candidates, whereas USMJ supports VikiBiH, AMP a Lazocheater and a Romanian rogue candidate?
How is it that iNCi spends most of its votes to fight against the possible rogue congressman VikiBiH, while AMP and USWP were busy with sniping iNCi states?
You would perhaps say I am pointing fingers. Yes I am. And the reason is the following:
You know you don't care enough about your country, if iNCi - an anarchist group who isn't even ethnically American - cares about preventing ONE citizens to slip inside the eUS more than you do. There are no excuses, there are no rebuttals: The top 5 parties of the eUS have failed. Epicly.
To accuse 100/100 bonus for the ineptitude of PPs and congressmen is just ludicrous.
I had decided against writing an article about how self-serving the top 5 parties have become, just to prevent all the drama. Perhaps I will reconsider.
You missed something in your comment, Kemal. There is no such thing as an 'iNCi state'. The only state where USWP and iNCi competed was Arkansas...where I directed people to vote for our Party President, who has run there several months in a row.
I waste votes every month keeping idiots derps and PTO's out. If you want to point fingers, point them somewhere else.
Bring back Rod Damon and the FEC!
@Pfeiffer
Your party was made aware of the potential threat of VikiBiH. You knew fighting against an iNCi candidate would reduce the number of votes we could spend to fight against VikiBiH.
So each vote USWP cast in Arkansas reduced 2 votes that could have been cast against VikiBiH. USWP will be a part of the finger pointing, sorry about that.
>Bence Mate: Pakistani patriot, Dioist hero
>enemy of the (Dioist) state
wat
You realize you're advocating for us giving you something just because you feel entitled to it, right? That's not how things work.
@Largo - Mistakes happened then too, at about the same rate (1-2 a month). The difference was that back then a large chunk of the military weren't in any party and could be directed by Damon. Now most of them are, and can't be. You need to remember times change.
@Kemal: We may have competed in the same states, but we didn't snipe a single one of your candidates out. You lost one in a recount, just like we did.
I'm not excusing Parties for allowing people in. And I'm not placing the blame entirely on the bonuses. Just noting that having the bonuses means more enemies slip into the country, which means more people slip into Congress.
Also, the AMP (and others? idk) sent blockers to you, to fill up your list. So, don't get all high and mighty on me. In the past it's been the USWP that sent them to the PTO'd NCP.
This article isn't meant as an attack on any one group. Just exploring some of the consequences of holding max bonuses. Some of the consequences that aren't immediately obvious.
No, no, this will become a full-fledged article. Your party members deserve to know just how irresponsible the top management has become.
What? It's not already a full fledged article...?
@Pfeiffer
I couldn't give a flying **** if you sniped Arkansas AND prevented the rogue congressmen. That wasn't the case. We didn't even have an agreement on states, so you had every right to do whatever you wanted in Arkansas CONDITIONAL ON preventing the Serbian candidate first.
@Israel
We can count how many AMP votes have been cast in iNCi states; granted you didn't snipe us in the night after our discussion. That isn't the point. Please read my reply to Pfeiffer: AMP didn't spare any resources to fight VikiBiH. In addition, your constant competition against iNCi also prevented us from sending more votes against VikiBiH ourselves.
Yes AMP sent blockers to us. Just as iNCi sent hundreds of blockers to Top 5 parties in the previous months. But what is the point of blocking when USMJ leaks a Serbian sympathiser as a candidate? What about AMP supporting a Lazocheater and a Romanian rogue?
No, you guys won't slip out of this as easily as you think.
@Kemal: I remember working really hard the night before the ballots locked trying to round up help for the iNCi party because a certain party president wasn't vigilant enough to even fill his ballot with blockers.
Also, I love how you call out the Lazokrats who are no different from iNCi. Just because you don't get along doesn't make them an enemy of the state.
So it was my job to keep out someone else, while iNCi dumped votes into a state they were already losing.
Sound logic, my friend.
i prefer higher resources with more issues!
@David Wilson
iNCi has sent HUNDREDS of blockers to top 5 parties in the past. Perhaps you would have liked it better to have more Pizza candidates fighting against you? What are you even trying to say?
@Pfeiffer
We were never losing. We lost in the last 2 hours. As you should well know.
And on Lazokrats, I guess it is just a coincidence that the person who hacked Chucky Norris admitted them. Yeah, a real coincidence. Not that their group leader Mamado has been banned for multiaccounts 3 days ago.
Just to clarify, who is the Romanian rogue?
well I dont know who is right or who is wrong, but I clearly know that, in elections, there was 24 AMP votes wasted in South Carolina while running against me. and there was at least 10 iNCi votes wasted while they trying to elect me. I think the top 5 PP a little bit responsible about that..
You were losing in the morning, and then a surge during the normal time iNCi makes a push. It's not a huge deal, but the fact is that you prioritized beating Artela over beating Viki in DC, where iNCi was second all day, and where the votes sent to Arkansas in the last hours would've been the margin of victory in DC.
pot, meet kettle
Like there's never been an iNCi member banned for multis before 😛
@Israel
cata055. He was an AMP candidate in Jan, USMJ in Feb, Mar. Firo confirmed he is a rogue, as in he approves CS requests on his own whim. You can look at his CS record. Not Serbians, at the very least.
@Pfeiffer
Yeah, iNCi should spend its votes against the threat unilaterally, while all other parties can scavenge on our states that have been left undefended. That makes perfect sense Pfeiffer. Would you like us to wipe the floor as well while we are at it?
@henry
if you talking about South Carolina, in South Carolina we were never get behind, still AMP candidate tried to beat us.
@ david
he is not an ordinary member.. "group leader Mamado"
You're making the argument that I should have attempted to do the same with the mobiles I had at the end of the night. The difference between iNCi sending votes there and anyone else doing so is that it was an iNCi candidate who would have won. I'd have sent people there, but the move to keep Artela out meant that I had to choose between winning the one race I knew I could (Arkansas) or trying to win DC and losing (cause I didn't have the mobiles needed to close a 15 vote margin...what it was at T-10).
No, pearl, I didn't even look at South Carolina. Waste of votes to compete there, because iNCi will move 30+ if needed.
People still read articles?
@henry
great to hear that. then I really want to know what do you think about 24 AMP votes in SC.
I never heard of someone surrendering an advantage before 😛
@Pfeiffer
USWP is no more to blame than any other party in the situation, that's evident. That still doesn't alter the fact that top 5 parties plainly and unambiguously ****ed up, despite the identification of the potential threat. Well, I hope everyone is happy about the rogue CS approvals. It seemed to me that Israel didn't particularly enjoy their dominance in the media, and why, I thought it was necessary to remind him that he as a person is to blame for that as well, not the resource bonuses.
To be honest I no longer care about articles, only boobs :/
@pearl - pretty sure the candidate there hustled those himself, Israel isn't dumb enough to use mobiles in SC.
Admins must realize that we really need the ability to deport "unconforming" citizens to their last known citizenship. I don't get why they refuse to put this in the game. Let the president have the power to do that. The only ones who can't be stripped of citizenship are those who were born there.
I can confirm that Pfeiffer, we sent no mobiles to SC.
@Kemal, I never said I wasn't. Stop making a mountain out of an anthill.