Taxes, the Imperium, and You!

[actionman]

Fine as long as New Starbuck doesn't talk.

 

[ottarrus]

Well, YTU is whatever you say it is [and more power to you].
But every source going back to 1977 says that the megacorporations are the primary suppliers of a host of Imperial activities, from military procurement to privatized governmental services to the citizenry. In many respects, the Imperium runs rather like the classic Soviet troika... the three legs being the Government [incl. Nobles], the Military, and the Megacorps [with considerable crossing of the streams].
And the problem with a top-down demand economy is that the level of corruption is increased while the quality of the goods produced is severely decreased. And again I point you to the lousy quality of goods produced by top-down demand economies since 1917.
You'll note I am not using the words 'Communist' or 'Socialist' here. I am not talking about the theories of government, I'm talking about the real-world effects of an economic model.

I probably should have explained this one better. People on this board are quite intelligent but I keep forgetting that they don't have the same world history and political education I do.

The Soviet Union and PR China are/were top-down, fixed price, demand economies. What that means is this:
- Prices were permanently fixed on what might be called a 'populist common' sense' basis. For example, it was decided that 'a loaf of bread should cost 1 ruble' and that was all it ever cost the citizens even thought the costs associated with creating that loaf of bread continually rose. This is especially true when one considers that the Soviets ran at a grain deficit almost every year from 1917 to 1992. That meant that the Soviets had to import grain from the West. So if that loaf of bread costs 1.25 rubles to make from local sources, you can bet it cost 2+ rubles importing grain in bulk. But the price fixing had no place to absorb 0.75+ rubles for every Soviet citizen every day. Therefore the economy was running at a deficit just to feed the population. Now imagine the same logic applied to the costs of a tank division or an aircraft carrier. Or a space program, comes to that.
- Because of all the cost deficits across all sectors of their economy, the Soviets had a difficult time producing all manner of goods including simple items that any industrialized nation should be able to produce... thinks like steel, fuel oil, or concrete.
- Wages were likewise fixed and were only raised when there was no other alternative. Again, the fixed idea that a machinist should make 'x' while an engineer should make ['x' + 'y']. But this doesn't take into account that there aren't enough machinists or engineers or tractor drivers for that matter to meet the entirely artificial goals set by the government.

All of this led to huge inefficiencies in the Soviet and Chinese industries and these inefficiencies led to crippling backlogs in the supply chains for important things while still producing large amounts of things they already had warehouses full of.

And with wages set in stone and no incentive to work harder or produce higher quality products, the items their industries did produce were shoddy and rarely performed to the design specifications.

Last thing: when I mentioned the 'troika' I meant the tripod of agencies that the Soviet and the Chinese governments rely on to stay in power... these are the Military, the Party and the Intelligence /Internal Security services. And if you look at the power structures in those nations today, you'll see that not a lot has changed. The Russians have replaced the Party with the oligarchs and Bratva and the Chinese have pretty much left Mao behind [though it's a killing matter to say so out loud] and have become Socio /Capitalists.

 

[CordwainerFish]

The Russians have replaced

the KGB with the FSB... though it was more of a rebranding. New name, same friendly service!

 

[ottarrus]

the KGB with the FSB... though it was more of a rebranding. New name, same friendly service!

Same lovely accommodations at #2 Dzerzhinskiy Square [or whatever they renamed it]

 

[MarcusIII]

Same lovely accommodations at #2 Dzerzhinskiy Square [or whatever they renamed it]

Lubyanka Square now I believe.

 

[CordwainerFish]

Same lovely accommodations at #2 Dzerzhinskiy Square [or whatever they renamed it]

The basement rooms there used to have the best view in all of Moscow. You can see all the way to Siberia.

 

[MarcusIII]

the KGB with the FSB... though it was more of a rebranding. New name, same friendly service!

They've upgraded the service. They now have drive through windows.