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As I'm sure you all have noticed, there have been a few shake-ups in the economic world in the days since the launch of V2. Prices have plumetted, the price of Gold has begun to rise, and salaries have dropped significantly. I haven't even mentioned the fallout from two entire industries being destroyed (diamonds $ gifts) and four others being created (titanium, tanks, artillery, and aircraft), but as I have yet to meddle in those sectors, I can't say for sure what things are like there. What does all this sound like to me? We'll get to that later, but suffice it to say that it doesn't bode well for us.

First of all, the obvious: prices, especially those for raw materials, have dropped a rather surprising amount. Now, I realize that they weren't exactly the most expensive things in the world beforehand, especially in the Q1 category (which all raw materials companies now inhabit), but they have gotten even easier for consumer-product companies to purchase. These lower prices make it extremely hard for companies to remain competitive and turn a profit at the same time. I would presume the same goes for food/rifle/etc. companies.

Salaries have also begun to drop. This seems reasonable, considering that companies are pulling in less (see above). Also, these are hourly salaries, making the amount paid per day only differ by a little, however, on the whole, people are producing more, and getting paid the same(ish), meaning that workers are getting paid less per unit of productivity.

Furthermore, as I'm sure most of you have noticed, the price of Gold has begun to rise. This rise is not to dramatic, however, going up approximately 4 more USD per Gold is a significant increase to warrant discussion. Why? If people were getting paid less, don't you think that the price of Gold would be falling as well, since the value of the USD, according to regular economic theory, should increase? No, for some reason it's rising. In other words, Gold is going to be even harder for regular people to earn. The fact that Congress continues to print USD only exacerbates this situation. (NOTE TO CONGRESS MEMBERS: Stop issuing money! As an unregistered member of the Curch of Alby, Capitalist, I generally oppose inflation! It makes things worse for everybody!)

Now, there is one solution for those of us who feel the need (which I do not): buy Gold Packs. Ahhhhh, now I see the light bulbs flicking on above the heads of my readers! If all of this Gold is going to be harder to purchase, some people will resort to feeding the pig/admin. Basically, if the current economic situation holds (or, God forbid, worsens), V2 will most likely turn into a rather lucrative venture for the eRep team. They reduce our award prizes, replacing them with treasure maps that usually do not reward with more than 4 Gold, they up the prices of MPPs, and now this. Thank you admins. For the record, I have never purchased gold packs, and I implore you not to either.