Join the new world

20 February 2009

My fellow Tennesseans,

Today I have filed to represent you in Congress for the next term. I would not have run against Jewitt even though we are of different parties, because I believe he is one of the wise voices in the eUS and, frankly I agreed with most of his beliefs and actions. I thank him for his service to Tennessee and the eUS.

But Jewitt is moving on to other endeavors and I think Tennessee deserves a like voice in the national debate.

I am lucky to have been appointed to some minor posts in the eUS government: SADD and recently Ambassador to Indonesia. These roles have granted me access to watch the debates in Congress and the Economic Council and to learn both the process of eLawmaking and the current political players.

During this time I have become an occasional correspondent of our more senior incumbent Congresspersons and policy makers. I will have a leg-up on some freshman Congresspersons simply because I have already joined the debate behind the scenes. SADD and the Economic Council in effect do the homework for our government before the debate officially begins. I have for the past month seen the numbers that support some opinions and refute others. We have some very smart and savvy people devoting their time to the eUS to find and extract the true numbers from the eRepublik server. These are not projections, but are the raw data.

I have come to a few conclusions by watching all of this. First, our current Congress has devoted nearly all of this term to debating a change to our tax rates to pay for a budget that does not exist in any one form. I have been preparing and living accountable to corporate budgets for decades. Planing, executing and being accountable to a budget is nearly impossible if neither the budget nor the financial results exist in one form for all to see. This is not exciting or glamorous stuff like claiming “I will bring you more war” or “I will reduce your taxes.” This is essential, however, to being a good custodian of your tax dollars. I promise you that I will work for more transparent government accountability.

This will most likely bring several beneficial consequences:

> A reduction of the time required to debate and execute fiscal legislation.
> A better view of our current fiscal position and results.
> More efficient use of our tax revenues, reducing the need for higher taxes.
> Defusing the occasional conspiracy claims that our Congresspersons are self-dealing.

This last point sounds like some bad Hollywood movie, but I think anything we do to increase the citizens’ confidence in the honesty and integrity of government is worthwhile. Not only that, but I believe our government owes that to the citizens. Let me be very clear on one point – I do not believe the accusations that our Congresspersons are spending money only on their own businesses. I am only saying that crystal clear disclosure of our government’s use of our tax dollars will put this talk to rest and increase your confidence in your representatives.

Second, we have had three weeks of debate about how high taxes must be raised to meet all of the government’s spending needs. I have watched from the gallery as first the Economic Council and then the Congress endlessly debated this important matter. Our government has significant and substantial spending needs. The most common reason given for the largest proposed increases was that we needed Hospitals and Defense Systems and weapons stockpiles and war every week or three.

This is crap. The only reason taxes would need to be raised to 25% or more is if we need to spend all of this money in a very short time. We don’t need to raise taxes so high. Instead we need to slow down our spending. I’m not saying that we don’t need to fill in the defense of our border areas, but I am saying that we do not have to do this immediately. Congress and the Economic Council have a written, approved plan that details the order the next Hospitals and Defense Systems will be placed. If we keep to this order but stretch out the time in which we make these purchases, we can leave more of your money in your hands.

Third, our government really does need to design, implement and fund a program to support our newest citizens. Our current system not only fails our newest citizens, but it wastes your money and mine. Beyond the charitable function of helping our weakest fellow citizens, our New Citizen Fee is an enormous, non-productive drain on our Treasury. Each day new citizens arrive in numbers that are close to 8% of our working population. What does that mean? If you look at the fact that our total population is bouncing between 8,000 and 11,000 but rarely getting out of that range, it means that we are handing out more than 1,000 USD per day and that most of that money leaves our economy. New citizens either take our money and move to another ecountry or they just bail out of the game in frustration that they can’t make any progress on their meager salary. Most of that $1,000 per day is lost to our economy.

There are two early-stage debates about a more targeted noob assistance program on the eUS forum. The Department of Education and the Welcoming Committee are jointly discussing one. The other is a small group of Libertarian Party members (me included) who are discussing another scheme. I encourage all of you to get involved in this effort. Not only might this save you tax dollars, but it should strengthen our nation by retaining and growing what are essentially our children.

And speaking of the forum – search for my posts there, especially those on economy, trade and taxation. My positions are not just crafted in this document to pander for your vote. I’ve put my beliefs publicly on the forum since it was reborn.

Finally, I encourage all of you to vote next week. Not just for my benefit, but also for your benefit. Voting is an opportunity to pick up an extra, free experience point.

Vote – its good for you.