On Mon, May 10, 2010 at 3:27 PM, Onno Meyer <[email protected]> wrote:
> > > The more I think about it, the less I understand it :-) > > > > > > Is it possible to sell "the one share" which provides the > > > basic entitlements, perhaps while or after emigrating? If > > > so, all sorts of weird schemes and situations become > > > possible (see below). If not, there are two fundamentally > > > different types of share: > > > > > > > Yes, you can sell shares. They're quite expensive (because the > > price is the current value of the income stream, which is substantial.), > > and if you can find someone willing to lend you the money to buy one, you > > could > > mortgage a share as you suggest a bit later on. One problem is that > > non-individuals aren't allowed to own shares of the junction corporation, > > so > > you need to find an individual who's willing to lend you money. > > I believe that the label 'share' for those thingies is > completely misleading. For your setting, that might be > a bonus. For fictional characters who live there, it > might be entirely familiar. But for gamers who try to > comment on your setting, it complicates things. > > How about this interpretation of your setting, changing > just the names? > > * Citizenship in Junction comes with rights and duties. The > duty of every citizen is to serve an eight-year term in > the National Service (or 12 years, at the need of the > Service, but that is compensated). The rights of every > citizen are to vote, to draw life support, medical care, > a basic 'welfare' payment, and citizenship and education > for their children. Citizenship is gained by birth, but > most rights can only be exercised after the mandatory > National Service, and it ends with death. > > Sounds familiar, doesn't it? > > I'll point out the welfare payment really is a distribution of profits. It's set at an amount less than the per-outstanding-share profit, to allow for variations in year-to-year performance, and to allow the corporation to have substantial capital available to spend on things it thinks will improve its future performance. The dividend has been suspended before, and is subject to being reduced. (One of the things they spend the surplus on is buying shares, when they start to get too concentrated among the rich.) > For quaint local reasons, the citizenship is called a > 'share'. > > * Residency Permits in Junction come with rights and very > few duties. The rights of the residents are to draw life > support and a basic 'welfare' payment, but not to vote. > > A bit less familiar, but there are real-world nations > where a sufficient investment in the local industry > will get you residency (and not just banana republics, > either). > > For quaint local reasons, the residency is called a > 'non-voting share'. > > * Residency permits can be traded between individuals, but > they cannot be held by institutional investors. They are > initially created as bonus payments for some National > Service members, see above, but the vast majority has > been purchased or inherited by their current owners. > > That is a bit unusual, but as you said, Junction feels > free do convict and deport mere residents if required. > (What happens to their share in that case, BTW?) > > generally, they're seized, sold, and proceeds used to pay off victims and creditors. Should there be a surplus, in theory it's returned to the deportee, but he'd have to make an appearance in court to claim it, and since he can't do that, it's the state's. > * Presumably there are 'lesser' ways to get short-term > visas for tourists, businesspeople, or migrant workers. > > Sure, pay cash. People arriving temporarily are required to prove their intent to leave (which is normally done by a ticket onward), but as long as they pay their bills, and don't cause too much trouble, they're welcome to spend their money. Junction's got a lot of ways to extract money from tourists and ship crew and PC groups stopping through. There's another visa type for students, and yet another for people who want to work. (Student visa is easy: just come up with sufficient cash, or convince someone else to do so on your behalf. Working is trickier, but bags of cash work there too.) > * People holding multiple residency permits (or residency > permits in addition to their citizenship) will receive > multiple 'welfare' payments and the right to cast > multiple votes if citizens (which were not originally > part of the residency permit, but then they loose the > life support benefit in exchange -- one guy can only > breathe once). > > Multiple votes (or none) depending on wealth are more > an ancient greek or 18th or 19th century thing, but > hardly unfamiliar from history. > > To turn you Junction into a genuinely strange place, > dump the restrictions on ownership and the 'free' > citizen's shares. > > Say a full share gives one vote and a dividend which > allows life support, medical, food, and good housing > for one. If two (full) shareholders have one minor > child, each of them lives on 2/3 of a share, still > enough for a decent living, especially if one of the > parents holds a steady job. Four or five in the > family, and it starts to pinch even if mommy and > daddy work. And people who own a quarter-share or > less will be at constant risk of being unable to > pay for their life support. > > Meanwhile, in the finance districts and the private > habitats of the rich, deals are made over thousands > or tens of thousands of shares, and the stockholder's > meetings are dominated by a few corporate suits to > keep the huddled masses down. > > After all, it is a free economy, they can earn their > own shares and change things if they really want :-) > And indeed, this has happened. About 15 million people (better than a quarter of the population at the time) died. That was 400 years ago, but the memory is reasonably fresh, along with the maxim "don't try and starve people who can kill you with nuclear weapons." This is an almost unimaginably rich society; spreading the wealth around isn't that much of a hardship. > Desperation is the best adventure seed, fat and happy > citizens don't go dungeon-crawling. > > Dystopian desperation is a couple systems away.... -- David Scheidt [email protected] _______________________________________________ GurpsNet-L mailing list <[email protected]> http://mail.sjgames.com/mailman/listinfo/gurpsnet-l
