Peter Pumpkinhead
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by Korbin King
When I think of the type of leadership a successful country should have, I always think of a song released by XTC in 1992 called "The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead".
The reason I like this song so much is because it reveals the simplicity of a good leader. Many people look up to great leaders in awe of their perseverance and bravery. What these people fail to understand is that leaders of this kind are not the mysterious and complicated people they are made out to be. They are simply people that have recognized principles and values that they find to be worth dying for and will never be swayed to deviate from their course by any form of corruption. People follow leaders that live and die for the mission, plain and simple.
With that said, my goal here is not to elevate myself to the level of truly inspirational leaders. In fact, I will claim outright that I am not one. What I can claim are the following qualities:
Unwavering Integrity - I think my record clearly shows that I can be trusted. Many times in my Erepublik life I have had opportunities to profit from both access to financial power as well as insider information that could have been used for profit...a lot of profit. My point is that Thailand needs time to grow large enough that dictators can be overthrown easily. Until then, the president should be chosen based on integrity.
Good Communication - Unfortunately, my articles, posts and replies to messages can be lengthy. This is because I am rarely satisfied with a short explanation unless it completely answers a question. Having the ability to effectively communicate one's intentions is critical to good leadership.
Team Player - I clearly understand and admit that I have limitations. I cannot and will not try to lead this country by myself. I will need help with economics. I will need to delegate duties to other players or allow those already working to do their respective jobs. There may be existing programs that I disagree with based on personal values, but this isn't MY country. It is OUR country, and I will respect the opinions of others and consider their viewpoints before initiating policy.
Decisiveness - There will be times that our country is split on one or more issues. There may also be times that the entire country will be against one or more of my policies. During these times I will need to make a decision. I will never base my decisions on popularity. I will always base them on my assessment of what is best for Thailand at that given moment. As always, these types of decisions will only be made after listening to all sides of the issue.
Transparency - I have yet to learn of any government activity that needs to be withheld from the public unless it involved military strategy during a conflict or an equally sensitive criminal investigation. So unless we are at war or hunting for criminals, you will always know what we are working on as a country. Our citizens are not children (even if some of them are only 13 years old). We all have a stake in our success as a country and should be treated as such.
My positions on specific issues:
Taxes - Low Income Tax and VAT; High Import Tax for all industries that have strong native resources. Low Import Tax for industries that don't thrive domestically.
Minimum Wage - I am against having one so it should be as low as possible.
Military - To be used for defense only.
Social Programs - I will only "spend" tax money on programs that make Thailand stronger defensively. I will only "loan" tax money to people that have a good chance of paying it back to the treasury. I will only "invest" tax money into ideas/programs/companies that will provide a good return to the treasury and therefore the people of Thailand. I will never "grant" tax money to anyone.
Economic Policy - This is my weakness and I will rely heavily on various economic advisors that have been successful economically in the past. Specifically currency trading and determining return on investment for each vehicle used.
Government Owned Businesses - I think this is a bad idea. However, I will need to look at each case individually in order to understand what the objective is for the given business.
Foreign Policy - Somewhat isolationist until Thailand's population and economic base grow. Once we reach 1000 or so active citizens, it will be time to become more involved with other countries. Of course we should always keep active channels of communication open with all countries. I'm just saying that until we have more to offer, we should not try to become a major player on the world stage. We just aren't ready for that.
Now ask me some questions and give me some opinions.
- Korbin
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PERTAMAXX
wakakakakakakakakakaka
perpakan line...do not cross
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Help me out Emerick. I'm not privy to the street jive of the internets.
good luck. 😁
I´ve read your article, but i am going to sleep, so later i ask you more about your plans and ideas.
@Antonio - I am sad that my article made you sleepy. 🙂
@Korbn- Whatever happened to everyone's shares in Blue Beaver?
A very well written manifesto. Persuasive and ticked all the boxes for me. I hope that whoever wins, you will be part of the government. I like the tax and business policies.
@haugenmatt:
http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/blue-beaver-report-703594/1
The government companies were intended to be training grounds only for new workers. I think they could continue to do that by hiring anyone of any skill for a low wage, lets say 2 or 3 THB a day, allowing them to get training for 3 or 6 days, that being the time between 0-1 and 0-2 skill then firing them to be hired by other companies in either land, manufacturing, or construction. I don't know if there is a government run land company but if there isn't there should be one for grain.
What Beorn said. With the exception of the Defense System company. That's frankly a company that it makes sense to have as a government company if we want to install DS in eThailand, though in that case it might make sense to bump up its quality once we get the current one finished.
Alternately, we can conclude DS is not a current priority, sell it off, and let someone try to make it work as an exporter.
Training companies are good as long as they aren't competing on our domestic markets. It is unfair for government-backed companies to control the market prices. With bottomless pockets it is easy to charge less and run honest companies out of business. Perhaps training products can be stockpiled for economic hardships, foreign aid or export.
...and I won't say it's impossible for us to generate Defense Systems locally, but it is definitely a challenge and a handicap at the moment. In our current state we would need to convince nearly the entire labor force to move to the industry. Perhaps we could promote work programs and bring in new players from other countries to build up their skill so that they can return to their country later to earn more money. By the time they get their skill level up, our exchange rate may be favorable enough for them to remain in Thailand. It would depend on the availability of training in other countries.
I'd say keep the DS nationalized. It can always be jumpstarted if we really need a DS installed. Mobilizing workers for the DS I think won't be too hard if there's a compelling reason. Plus competitive wages can always be offered.
I have a question. Why did you come to Thailand of all countries? Why did you leave the USA? Why are you running for President aside from the usual reply along the line of "I want to help the people".
Mew Tong: I'll go ahead and try to put words in his mouth. He came in response to the anti-Rockman opposition's global call for active eCitizens to come and bolster our numbers; he cite his reason specifically as coming to try to help eThailand develop into a viable democracy. Also mentioned something about wanting a challenge, which eThailand certainly is compared to a lot of eNations. See: http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/thailand-s-tyrant-694503/1
@Mew Tong - Ealb summed it up. If you are searching for a selfish reason, it's a bit of an ego boost for me to be remembered for accomplishing something even in a game. In this case, I could be remembered alongside the few that have become president of more than one country. I also like being recognized for someone that can be trusted because I value such people myself. Thailand was in bad shape and is already turning around (not by my hand, but I have done my small part as a worker). If I can expedite it's recovery by holding down the president's desk while we all work to build the country it will give me a sense of pride. For the most part the president is merely a spokesperson for a country with a dash of his/her own values thrown in as a moral compass. The ability to rally the citizens and come up with ideas to solve problems are other aspects of the job that I think I can fulfill. I really can't explain it any better than that.
I love all of your ideas. the government training companies i think should stay and like you said, not allowed to compete in the market.. some sort of emergency stockpile or foriegn aid is a good idea.. or maybe just sell all products overseas and use the profit to help run govermental programs. Some sort of immigrant skill-raising work program would be neat.. im just not sure how something like that could be executed. anyway you got my vote hands down. 🙂
For the recor😛
Govt Foods doesnt sell any product on the markets, it stockpiles q2 food in case of an emergency.
Govt Houses sells houses to the Housing Lottery on the cheap.
Def Systems, well, I moved it to a Govt Controlled company because honestly I couldnt support it myself financially and building a def sys here is loads cheaper than some of the foreign offers Ive gotten. (I think the cheapest offer was around 260g for a q3, which given our exchange rate is around 52k thb.) With our markets still being relatively cheap in regards to the value of thb versus gold, we could eventually export systems and make further profits for the govt...but that is relatively a long term idea.
@Jack - Thanks for the info. Good call on the Defense Systems.
With the training companies and their production, I thought that it may be a good idea to use traders to sell (smuggle) those products abroad. It is time consuming but the government could create an organisation to buy the products for 0 THB and nominated government traders could sell them at discounted prices through the forums abroad. The money would then return to the government, it will not create a profit but it will certainly reduce the loss!