PM's Desk- Backing up my mate, scotywest
patti11
Hello Australia,
There has recently been a lot of buzz and debate in the media about my Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Industry, Scotywest. The issue is that scoty has been messaging Q1 food and grain companies about the price of their goods, which are alarmingly high. Various supporters of the free market have been attacking scoty for doing so. What is important to note is what scoty is doing is under the orders of myself, the Prime Minister of Australia, and please direct all criticism, mud slinging and calling for someones head to me. scoty indeed supports what I have ordered him to do, otherwise he wouldn't be doing it but I ask you to share the abuse. I feel the attacks are unjust, and are an attempt by some to gain political leverage (must be close to an election 😉
).
Now onto the issue.
There has been pleas for my government to have no intervention in the market place. Anyone who has been in eRepublik for more then 30 days knows this is not only unethical, but it will have a detrimental effect on the economy. For Q1 food to be more then the highest skill 0 wage means new citizens are biting out of their 5AUD citizen fee, which should only be used in dire circumstances. This is what was occurring at the time of scoty's article. The lowest Q1 food was at 1.9AUD and the highest min wage was 1.4AUD. It was within scoty's and this government's duty of care to new players to swing into action and saying otherwise is like neglecting a new born baby.
Now why are the prices rising you ask? Greed. As war games as started many citizens wellness are between 95-100, meaning they only need Q1 food. This obviously saw an increase in demand for Q1 food, and GM's looking to make a quick buck raised their prices. Yes this is an extremely common business practice in Real Life and eRepublik, but a certain amount of responsibility and ethics must be present if you choose to run companies in industries which drive the economy.
It is also important to note that all scoty was doing was requesting GMs of Q1 grain to lower their prices, not force them. He is telling GM's of Q1 food not to buy this grain if it is overpriced. It is possible to get grain down to the price of 0.5AUD, have a look at the other RM industries.
All in all, scoty has done nothing wrong here. Ironically, 3 months ago when I was Minister of Industry the same issue arised when I warned GMs about their prices (article here). The policy was more extreme, and as a result collapsed. However, this less extreme version of the 'boycott issue' will not, and I will continue to endorse scoty and Aussie Vegeta for their hard work.
Thanks all for reading, stay safe, and participate in war games,
Patti11
Prime Minister of Australia
Comments
voted up 🙂
vote
As you've noted it was a temporary blip. Not many GM's of food co's are going to be silly enough to pay 70c for Q1 grain when there is Q2 sitting there at 84c.
So was anyone of you trying to hire lvl 0 staff at the extreme of high food prices? I doubt it - you couldn't hire any under 1.75.
A new player starts at 1.75, works twice and they're on Lvl 1 getting a pay rise to 2.50 ish.
End of problem I think, but if not then let the GM's look after their own staff..
@SS: your right GMs won't pay for grain at that price but what it does is render 500 units of grain purchasable. Not very good for the economy
Oh, rubbish.
People only have a 0 skill for 2 days, and can change jobs after the third. The minimum wage is a red herring. And the ecitizenship fee is specifically to help new players through that period, not for anything elese.
It is physically impossible for a Q1 company to compete with Q2 companies, making scotywest's remarks inane. If he made them at your request - fine *you've* stuffed up, not him. So what?
Prices are rising because workers are flush with increased wages due to increased Wellness,and rather than saving money are madly buying stuff. Prices are far too low, with the result that there are no reserves available on the market - foolish. The weapon shortage during the wargames a perfect example of what happens if there are no reserves available. Companies can hold unlimited stock, ecitizens can only hold 20 units total. Companies need to aim to hold stock at market value or slightly above, so that products will be available in crisis.
@whitelaughter
Dude, Q1 grain prices were at 0.70 and Q2 at 0.82 that is insane mate.
People only have a 0 skill for 2 days, and can change jobs after the third. The minimum wage is a red herring. And the ecitizenship fee is specifically to help new players through that period, not for anything elese.
Provided they work everyday and know the game mechanics. Not everyone does.
It is physically impossible for a Q1 company to compete with Q2 companies, making scotywest's remarks inane. If he made them at your request - fine *you've* stuffed up, not him. So what?
How? Q2 companies have nothing to do with it. If Q1 companies sell below 0.5AUD which is possible to do (see Q1 diamonds, wood(just multiply it by 2)). All it is the greed of grain companies profiting from the increase in demand.
I support my PM. Sling me some mud.
@SS
You are absolutely correct.
@Socty
"Dude, Q1 grain prices were at 0.70 and Q2 at 0.82 that is insane mate."
Let anyone buy it that wants to buy it. They have a right to choose where they buy their grain from and for what price.
I think Scoty should go one step further and advise them every day of the cheapest place to buy grain in the eWorld and supply their ORG with a moving ticket so they can go there and buy it and save even more money! He doe so with E-Pub Enterprises and defends it tooth and nail. Maybe the government should buy foreign Q1 Food and give it out for free? It would be a heck of a lot cheaper then Gifts! Where does the madness end?!?!
Skip out on our hard working grain producers like Scoty skips out on our hard working Iron producers with E-Pub Enterprises and buy from foreign companies like he and the many other members of our government do to our workers everyday!
And before you waste your time typing it, I will say it. YES, I buy low cost houses on the "Black Market" and pass them along to many people throughout the eWorld at a discount to new house pricing. NO, I do not pay taxes. Sorry it ruined you Srg.
@WL
"People only have a 0 skill for 2 days, and can change jobs after the third. The minimum wage is a red herring. And the ecitizenship fee is specifically to help new players through that period, not for anything elese."
AGREED - "Red Herring" - It could not be said any better.
FINALLY some people that can see though the garbage! 🙂
John (Icey1174)
"I think Scoty should go one step further and advise them every day of the cheapest place to buy grain in the eWorld and supply their ORG with a moving ticket so they can go there and buy it and save even more money! He doe so with E-Pub Enterprises and defends it tooth and nail. Maybe the government should buy foreign Q1 Food and give it out for free? It would be a heck of a lot cheaper then Gifts! Where does the madness end?!?!
Skip out on our hard working grain producers like Scoty skips out on our hard working Iron producers with E-Pub Enterprises and buy from foreign companies like he and the many other members of our government do to our workers everyday!"
Scoty is only a part owner in E-Pub. The decision was not made by him. Also, there was no iron on the market at that time. I would do the same thing and purchase overseas rather then let my workers not work. This argument is becoming old.
"As war games as started many citizens wellness are between 95-100, meaning they only need Q1 food."
Seems to have been overlooked by most, if this is the root cause of the issue then maybe the ratio of wargames should be reviewed ?
It's obviously important that eAus employers, and employees recieve a level of protection, particularly in light in the current size of the population. Perhaps more emphasis should be placed on the government opening trade routes with other nations (thus increasing the size of the market for Aus goods).
As a noob, i have noticed the wargames bring a significant boost to development - but if they are affecting the market (by reducing the requirement for higher lvl food stocks) then some compensation or assistance to those involved in producing these commodities would seem reasonable.
"And before you waste your time typing it, I will say it. YES, I buy low cost houses on the "Black Market" and pass them along to many people throughout the eWorld at a discount to new house pricing. NO, I do not pay taxes. Sorry it ruined you Srg."
Lol, I dont think I need to say anything more to prove how much of a hypocrite you really is 🙂 Ty for saving me a wall of text 😃.
You have no right to judge scoty 🙂, you evade tax, kill off housing market and you think you have the right to attack my mates when his trying to protect new players for eAustralia. sorry icey, but you should really keep quiet about your shameful dealings and let the rest of us look after eAus 🙂.
and let me repeat, E-PUB IS OWNED BY 6 PLAYERS, SRG91, TIMOTHY ROGERS, PREDITORIAN, BENP, SCOTYWEST AND RANGER BOB. GET THAT IN YOUR HEAD THAT E-PUB IS NONE GOV RELATED AND WE HAVE 6 PEOPLES RUNNING IT, NOT ONE, AND SCOTYWEST IS NO LONGER MOI(well in 2 days), YOU DO YOUR HOUSING STUFF, WE DO OUR OWN STUFF. (i hope these capital words are gonna get into your head 😕).
@ icey: On a side note, I love how you try and act all australian and telling us to support australian community while your killing an entire eAustralian market 🙂
Anyone who disagrees with this article....
IS
SIMPLY
NOT
AWESOME
AT
ALL
If you want to sling some mud, ensure you've got a valid point first. patti11 said it best. Why should companies list 500 Q1 grain for $0.70+? It's just stupid and they deserve the MoI on their back.
Cottus- you are awesome.
What haugenmatt said 😃
Sorry to disrupt the Old Boys Club love fest here, but the issue as I see it is this:
"WARNING TO ALL FOOD COMPANY OWNERS
Do not buy Q1 grain until they drop there prices to under 0.5 at the moment they are ripping you off. I can't explain why maybe shortage of workers, or just plain stupity."
When coming from the MoI, "Do not buy" is a directive not a suggestion.
No, Trine. It will always remain a suggestion. The government outlawed boycotts months ago. You are taking a public service warning out of porportions.
And if you don't like the comradarie, you don't have to be here.
"The government outlawed boycotts months ago."
Then someone please, for the love of God and country, inform the cabinet of this? They seem to have missed the memo.
They never instituted a boycott. Trine I understand your frustration. Really. Trying to run a company in China when the Goons outproduce you 10 to 1 makes it difficult especially when they run the government. Have faith that this issue is over.
When will you people listen....
Lower the damn Tariff's to sustainable levels and we can solve our problems with RM's.
Patti11, I call you a LIAR in open forum! There was Iron on the market when your government boys moved their company abroad to buy cheap Iron! They are in eIndo as we speak. Let me guess, no Iron on our market AGAIN?!?!? Keep lying for them Patti, Corny will be up for the job soon enough. Maybe the crap will stop with him. Our OWN PM defending the importation of Iron while we have Iron on the market. That should be an IMPEACHMENT in itself! Good thing you have the Good Old Boys Club with you or you would be out! 🙂
It is old because it is the TRUTH and you GOVERNMENT people keep doing it! 🙂
@ SRG, the seriously STUPID CRYBABY HYPOCRITE...
"E-PUB IS OWNED BY 6 PLAYERS, SRG91, TIMOTHY ROGERS, PREDITORIAN, BENP, SCOTYWEST AND RANGER BOB. GET THAT IN YOUR HEAD THAT E-PUB IS NONE GOV RELATED AND WE HAVE 6 PEOPLES RUNNING IT, NOT ONE, AND SCOTYWEST IS NO LONGER MOI(well in 2 days), YOU DO YOUR HOUSING STUFF, WE DO OUR OWN STUFF."
SO MANY ELECTED GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS DOING THE SAME THING! Get that through your head FOOL! 🙂
SRG, I killed your business because you are too weak and foolish to create a better business plan, it's JUST THAT SIMPLE. 🙂
@Cottus
You have the government contracts, so what would you care? How much are we paying for the Q5 Weapons you produce for our government? It's tax payers money, can we see a copy of the contract? 🙂
@ Trine
Thanks for keeping your eye on the ball here! Someone finally pulled their head out of their behind. Too bad our elected government officials cannot do that. It's bad enough that so many of them will not touch it with a 10 foot poll because they are afraid to say what is right no matter what anyone thinks.
John (Icey1174)
@ Alex
Good point!
@ Patti11
There are over 100 units of Iron on our market now. That's enough for make 25+ Q1 weapons. Good thing Iron is cheaper for your boys in eIndo! 🙂
John (Icey1174)
@Patti : The $5 eCitizen startup is to help new players get over the initial shortfall in incomes. Even if there's a 50c shortfall between wages & Q1 food, after 3 days there's still $3.50 left & wages are $2.50 to $3 which is greater than the cost of Q1 food.
Of course under the Socialist/Communist scheme wanted by many ADSP & ACP members of congress this wage would be much lower.
@srg91 : The eAustralian government fully supported & endorsed Icey's housing program when it started. Infact if I recall correctly there were even messages at the bottom of news articles. If you wish to claim to anybody over it then surely you should be complaining to those eGovernmental officials.
@Haugenmatt : Instruction people not to purchase from a business or group of businesses is a boycott instruction. eAustralian government officials have made these instructions. Of course what we've seen several days ago from one official is even worse. Mailing the workers of a eBusiness & instructing them to quit is a direct attack on that company. This is even worse as the claims made by Cottus were 100% false.
Hello
Not that I need to give my 2 cents to the other points above - I do believe personally government does require some regulatory role in managing the flow of our economy and business - albeit on here things work a little differently, as in RL there are a range of mechanisms available to RL government (they can come with basically anything they can dream of and enact legislation on it) whereas in here we have some controls offered through the MM, some controls through Tax, and then yeah - basically PM'ing people and educating/adivsing them where there might be some problems.
Icey as has been explained before, e-pub is not controlled by government. If you would like to approach a supportive senator to propose Senators should not hold/control any interest in companies during there term (or cabinet members), then please do so. Or, as I have said many times before, you are more than welcome to run for congress (perhaps without paying 5g for people to come and vote for you) so we can see what the majority of eAustralian's think.
Having said that, as br0ad said, yes maybe the wording was not as clear as it should have been. But, it did not provide a threat with sanction of non compliance, and I suspect many ignored it anyway.
The Government - senate AND cabinet has done in my opinion a very good job this last couple of months. Looking back on when I joined to now, we have seen some significant growth both in terms of our citizen population, business and our economy.
Hell, even AW is back in eAustralia and running for congress (I thought my account on here would have grown cobwebs before I would have believed that would happen!!).
*plink, plink*
Nice article Patti.
Icey stop bringing e-pub into this! It is not government run. You are a hipocrite and ignoring every comment that you dislike!
Please stop this rubbish.
I am not awesome at all.
Scoty advised Australia at large of the situation in our economy, his job pure and simple. If morons like Icey, who thinks that stopping political take overs is bad...., are going to try and mud sling their way to popularity they are wrong.
FACT: Scotty advised Australian people on the market which is part of his job as MoI and no one has complained before. In fact most said voted, or thanks scotty, or good work mate.
FACT: Most of the articles on this issue are full of flaws and missing facts.
FACT: Q1 food and grain is too high and it is the job of the MoI to act in the best interest of Australia by making sure that our economy remains sustainable.
FACT: If he hadn't done anything I guarantee there would have been an article bitching about the high prices of food and how its all the governments fault.
Ambrose we know that's because your arguments are flawed 😉
I'm just a traveller in this country, but whats the problem with the government asking, not demanding, companys change slightly in order to help citizens out?
Our government WANTS to be Communist. The only problem is that the game will not allow true communism. 🙂
@ Broad
"Heres your Transparency, try looking every once in a while.
http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/budg[..]1/20"" target="_blank">http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/budg[..]/20"
What is SO transparent about Centrelink here other then it pisses though 1,000 AUD a day? 🙂
@ TR
You people cannot keep your eye on the ball here. I am going to discount everything you say from here on out as you are too stupid to read words for words. You boys down under ate WAY too emotional for me.
@ RB
You missed the WHOLE E-Pub issue too. Thick skulls I guess. I can do nothing about that. Sorry! 🙂
@ Cheese
Let the free market work! Every time you buy something you are making a statement. Why can't any of you people understand this very simple and very basic idea of economics?
Not being rude, but being very serious. Have you guys even studied Economics in school yet? You are talking to a group of adults that own and operate real life businesses with employees, customers, and expenses. Just by reading the comments made here I can figure out who has even a basic understand of economics. You ideas make no sense what so ever.
John (Icey1174)
Great Stuff Patti. Voted.
""Not being rude, but being very serious. Have you guys even studied Economics in school yet? You are talking to a group of adults that own and operate real life businesses with employees, customers, and expenses.""
Have you even passed grade 3 yet or do u just like to pretend ur mature? nice job attacking every1 m8, thats really going to prove your point.
Br0ad when people start turning to personal attacks it means they have nothing else to say 😉
"Have you guys even studied Economics in school yet? You are talking to a group of adults that own and operate real life businesses with employees, customers, and expenses. Just by reading the comments made here I can figure out who has even a basic understand of economics. You ideas make no sense what so ever."
Icey I was raised in a left winged economic market (for 10 years)and I have lived in a right winged economic market (for 8 years).
I think I would know more about how both sides work then you and your right winged economic market. I dont even think you have stayed long term at another country besides America 🙂, or ever faced a left winged economic market IN YOUR LIFE. so dont talk about what you don't understand 🙂
"@ RB
You missed the WHOLE E-Pub issue too. Thick skulls I guess. I can do nothing about that. Sorry! 🙂"
No, you missed the whole you killed our market and we dont really give a crap about what you say because your an ignorant once sided person.
Just because your running out of stuff to say doesn't mean you can start insulting players here 🙂.
i still fell the goverment should be in charged of the q1 food suply somehow because without new players in the game we are nothing
@Matt when a Cabinet states to Q1 Food Companies to NOT buy from certain Q1 Grain Companies, it is considered a boycott even if the word Boycott is not used, that is common sense. Now here is the fact on this. No Q1 company can survive by selling below 1AUD per grain its not possible. I have tried selling my grain at .6AUD and I'm losing .35 per grain sold. One members hit level 2.5 or 3 they head to better paying jobs.
@Pat, and the rest of Cabinet: I may no longer be a citizen of Australia but I will still help when given the chance, but trying to force or even ask grain companies to sell below what they can afford is bad and in the Governments side epic fail. If you are really doing this for the newcomers I got two ideas that may cost the government a little but works. Look at the lowest Q1 Food on the Market, which at the moment is being sold by Lets Eat at 1.49AUD per unit, so round it to 1.5AUD and Multiply that by 5. Making that 7.5AUD, that should be your new Citizen Fee, and Raise the minimum Wage to 1.5AUD or 2AUD.
Instead of helping companies die faster let them die on their own. This seems more like an Idea for the government to weed out the weak companies. I have to sell Australian Granary at a loss since I cant afford to supply my company with money anymore from my own pocket.
We can hardly survive by ourselves and all your doing is weakening us even more, with to much regulation. Even Canada is doing the same, and look where its going not so well at the moment with war and war games.
@jaybay: That is rather hard to do, all q2 q3 q4 q5 food companies start from q1 and most of them save up slowly to upgrade their companies.
If it was a suggestion, then it should be stated as such and not simply 'implied'. Maybe for all the old vets it might be know that if scotty said it then he's just making a suggestion like he always does... but think of the new players or those who don't know whether it's a suggestion or a directive. Personally i'd not want to violate a 'possible' directive, so if in doubt, i'd obey it. Basically all i'm saying is that in future such a suggestion could be done as:
WARNING TO ALL FOOD COMPANY OWNERS
The current Q1 grain prices are extremely high. It is the recommendation of the DoI (or alternatively "my recommendation") to avoid buying until prices dip below 0.5. This will ensure you're not being ripped off. Current reasons for the price hike are unknown and i will attempt to find out the underlying reason ASAP and get back to you with more information as it becomes available. Thanks for your time. DoI"
This makes it very clear that it is a "recommendation" not a directive and that the minister will continue to investigate the cause, so that normal trading may resume ASAP. So benefit of the doubt should go to scotty, but maybe a message like the above one might help eliminate any confusion in the future. 😃
@Son of Rambo - Well said. My hat is off to you.
yes scoty has admitted he worded it wrong and he will take steps in the future to be more careful.
Now wasn't that easy? Instead of writing 500 articles and dishing out 500 personal attacks?
'@ Cheese
Let the free market work! Every time you buy something you are making a statement. Why can't any of you people understand this very simple and very basic idea of economics?'
Icey, free-market has been tried and failed in this game repeatedly.
We know that buying something is making a statement but more importantly: Wow you completely ignored everything I said. Then you said something totally un-related to what I was saying, good work mate.....
'Not being rude, but being very serious. Have you guys even studied Economics in school yet? You are talking to a group of adults that own and operate real life businesses with employees, customers, and expenses. Just by reading the comments made here I can figure out who has even a basic understand of economics. You ideas make no sense what so ever.'
Not being rude but have you graduated from primary school yet?
Any half-wit who does economics outside can see that the game mechanics differ to that of RL, hence not all you have learnt will apply here. Socialism, I know this may be hard for you Americans to take, works very well, it beats both capitalism and communism hands down. So far I haven't given any ideas merely pointed out facts. And Icey if you are going to look at RL look at USA and Australia, USA capitalist, Australia socialist. USA is in a worse recession and Australia's gap in upper class and middle class is much smaller. I wonder why....
(CheeseBall here btw)
good post Cheese 😃
A misinterpretation caused by a flawed fragment of text lead to all this. Now that that has been verified I think we can all sleep soundly tonight.
Guys - the market is correcting itself already - without the need of interference.
I just bought into a Q1 food company and couldn't believe my luck when I could actually make money with lvl 0 employees and all the work that goes with that.
Grain has never been a problem and Q1 food prices are dropping - unlike wages.
I now worry for the Q3/Q4/Q5 food co's. They've invested the big bucks and that market is in trouble while we keep up with war games or wars for real.
The only problems with the market is that people can't make market decisions until we get all of our territories back (& the eBusinesses with them). We can't start new eBusinesses because to do so when there's going to be more coming could well overload eAustralia with excess eBusinesses.
Until we have all of our territories, there's going to be instability. If you want to fix it then campaign to get states back sooner.
well thats the biggest load of crap ive ever heard. We have a labour shortage. that means that we shouldnt start buisinesses but try to get the existing ones full of workers. you suggest getting more territories that have more buisinesses ... isnt that just making the problem worse?
Unfortunately AW doesn't have any Idea what he is talking about.
It was him and Icey who has opposed lowering the food price to help our fellow countrymen.
Why? Because their looking for profit.
Quote Australian Warlor😛
"Simple fact, $1 for Q1 food isn't profitable"
Quote speaks for itself.