Turn 3 - Hollywood
January 4, 2012
GNP: $31B with -0.5% growth, Revenue $7B (Base: $5B, Other: $2b), Budget $9B, Debt $16B at 4% Interest.
Population 5M (-0.2% growth rate, 4% Serbian immigrants)
Popularity High (63%), no overt revolutionary groups.
Internal Security 2, Crime Control 2, Civil Law 4, Corruption 5
Regulations: Business 6, Environmental 3, Egalitarian 4, Health & Safety 3, Vice 1
Military Power: Air 1, Land 7
Budget:
Defense 35%
Education 5%
Health Care 10%
Law enforcement 2%
Regulation 4%
Social Programs 40%
Other 4%
Two years can be a lot of time. Last year, around this time, your nation was celebrating its first anniversary, and many were wondering if it'd last to its tenth. People are still wondering if there'll be a proper decade anniversary, but prospects are somewhat lifted by the growth of the economy. An economy that's still in a minor downward spiral, but one so slight that you don't get the sensation that the nation could enter into freefall at the drop of a hat. There's an increasing debt, an ominous debt at that, but you're actually seeming to guide the nation in the right direction. You haven't made any ridiculous and grandiose boondoggle projects, after all.
Still. You do have grandiose projects.
One of those is something that, in the back of your head, evokes the name "Treadstone". Of course, you're actually a competent political figure and not the parody of one, which is why this project has absolutely no name whatsoever on anything remotely approximating government documents.
If you aren't smart enough to be able to maintain an extremely heavily encoded system of personal records, odds are, you aren't smart enough to help run an unethical program reliant on child abduction, extreme physical and operant conditioning, and more than likely a fair amount of non-consensual experimental pharmaceutical applications. You spend a fair amount of time speaking with Mr. Ivanov, and while he doesn't seem all that eager to get into a staged fight with another Latverian intelligence service, he seems to do rather well once you assign him and his agency a rather healthy slush fund alongside normal operational budgets. It isn't long before the man has assembled a full platoon of children which, from what he has mentioned in discussions, should result in "perhaps a few promising hopefuls."
That such a program might take thirty children and leave only a few is either an ominous or promising sign of the results, dependent on your perspective.
In any case, you start to learn an appreciation for Mr. Ivanov's skills: Within just the span of a year the children are turned from (largely) sniveling urchins into a more solidified nucleus of terrified-but-obedient child soldiers. Children that are slowly starting to shed the youthfulness of their appearance and, from what few reports you have received, are actually responding rather well to the pharmaceutical programs Mr. Ivanov has tailored for them. Of course, your intelligence agents report that he's been bringing in people from around the world. A Chinese biochemistry expert. A former US Green Beret. He's building his own little nucleus of elite trainers for this group, slowly but surely.
Other Affairs:
There are, however, other affairs to attend to. Your political gestures towards your neighbors, looking to open up lines of communication, goes fairly well. Even the Hungarians seem willing to at least listen to you, and to open up some diplomatic channels in the form of landlines and ambassadorial presence. Envoys who seem to serve as a quick political line between your absolute authority and their respective political majority leaders.
Mr. Hill, true to form, proves himself an invaluable asset. His revised tax code not only serves as the foundation of a more efficient and straightforward tax system, but it actually has the added benefit of helping root out a major cause of corruption; tax collection. Apparently in the more rural areas of your growing nation there isn't too formal a system of taxes; with most taxes being levied by local "tax collectors" who, more oft than not, were simply a front for the organized crime in the region to collect their fees. By reorganizing the tax code to funnel tax collection through the postal system (which is one of your more secure and corruption-free offices), alongside some clever criteria selection, he manages to pull the rug right out from under the organized crime elements prevalent in your rural areas. Some of the more innocent tax collectors are fired, but it's a rather small minority given the prevalence of sticky fingers in your nation.
Finally, there is the matter of infrastructure. You actually cut down heavily on unemployment, though your debts rise up as your electrical and water expansion programs seem to run a bit overbudget. The results are, however, rather spectacular so far. With over a billion being dumped into setting up a working electrical grid again, you attract several Chinese electrical engineering firms' attention, who promptly work to bid against each other and even a US firm in getting rights to your electrical systems and to push your water infrastructure further. Within just a couple months you have engineers flying in, heavy cargo planes loaded with millions in computer systems and Chinese-made power transformers being shipped off. It doesn't take overlong for them to get the most critical work done; illustrating, in pidgin Russian, just how to operate the complex systems. Thankfully things aren't too radically sophisticated given your rather meager needs, and your engineers actually learn a fair amount while restoring the most critical grid requirements. By the start of the new year, your capital enjoys a 24/7 flow of electricity (if not total electrification), and your other cities have reliable enough power that manufacturing can start up in stride again. While most homes don't enjoy similar power services, at least your economy isn't stagnating due to lack of energy. Just a whole host of other issues!
Though there's a nice addition to all this; your water expansion plan, hammered towards the farmlands, helps to produce the biggest crop in years! Having transitioned from rationing into actually having a bit of a surplus of food helps ease grumblings about electricity in the populace, though the ongoing pollution has soured some of the food produced. Not enough to create any immediate health concerns, but a good fifth of the crops produced from this increased water coverage seem to have some mild contamination. Compared to rampant drug use and other issues, though, poor quality control will be last in line to kill people.
Turn Event: (57) One of your officers, a senior captain, took his vacation overseas! He visited India, and managed to schmooze his way into a meeting of several local stars. Unfortunately, he proceeded to make a total fool of himself, groping a B-list actress and proceeding to puke all over himself and a minor director. The man claims he was drugged, but right now, there's plenty of laughter on the internet over this little kerfluffle.
You could always just go the bioweapons route. They're cheap, they're easy, they're fun for the whole family! Provided you aren't afraid of taking a little safari to Africa and picking up some blankets!
