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With two of the three most important presidential platforms now viewable to the public, I think it would be best to address them from an economic stand point. Point out strengths, point out weaknesses etc. I will address solely the economic portions of the platforms.

The complete platforms are located here:

http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/canadian-empire-party-platform-725878/1/20

http://ecanada.forumotion.com/election-center-f42/the-ccf-platform-t387.htm

CEP:

1. Taxes

A. What sectors in particularly? surely not moving tickets (the last manuf sector to see reduced import taxes) this sector was barren and extremely overpriced until imports were lowered. Gifts? Weapons? Housing? we have had MONTHS for these sectors to develop under protective tariffs yet they haven't, I don't see that changing anytime soon.

B. The government currently has about 330 gold total (couldn't tell you the exact, no access) if 25% i.e. 5 gold were granted for this it may be feasible without dipping too deeply into the government coffers. If this encouragement is only through media, I can support it.

Wage Cap.
A. Canadian business don't LIKE paying high wages but they will to get labour, the reason prices (wages) are high in the first place is too high demand too low supply. Putting a price ceiling (wage cap) will help initially but when high skill workers who currently are the back bone of our consumers leave because they can get better wages in elsewhere they will move. I surely would, and if there were a wage cap system implemented I would probably encourage workers to leave because it would be a clear sign that the government does not understand supply and demand.

B. Its unenforceable, short of putting it into the constitution and thus having it admin backed. This wage cap would have no teeth

C. We could use government consumption as a deterrent i.e. those companies who pay to high wages don't recieve CAF purchasing which is a very large sum. But is it not CEP policy to make the CAF independent as possible from the eCanadian economy? partly to reduce CAD going into circulation and also to create stockpiles for CAF to use. What about industries that aren't dependent on CAF purchasing like Food, housing and raw materials. A Spaniard starting a diamond company in Canada and exporting home won't give a hoot if government companies don't buy diamonds from them.

NOTE: This was originally posted on the eCanada forums (tweaked so it wasn't out of context) and written as a response to my response. Furthermore Bruck has contacted me about reworking the platform. I would simply like to make it available to the public that such a policy is bad and should be channged.


CCF Platform
Once again, Oct, November, Dec, protective tariffs remained to allow for home made goods, the market did not rise to meet the demand and prices continued to creep ever upward until imports were halved. Now we have abundant food at far more reasonable prices, especially in contrast to our wages which are high, this puts more money into the pockets of private citizens which will allow them to start companies on their own and compete. Being a company owner is very hard, trust me, I know, but hurting Canada for the sake of business owners is bad very bad. Therefore, no sector should be above 50% and some such as housing should be at 1%. This includes diamonds and lumber the gems of Canadian industry.

5% VAT are too little, especially if we are drawn into another costly ATLANTIS war, income taxes remove far less CAD from circulation then VAT (though income taxes do increase the gold available to the government). Keeping VAT on all goods at 10% while keep import tariffs low will keep prices down get more CAD out of circulation and improve the value of the CAD which is a very good situation.

Encouraging exports is a good plan, but is it monetary or simply ad campaign support?

Minimum Wage:

So if domestic companies lack the capital to compete with foreign companies (which is fairly sound reasoning) lowering the minimum wage would hurt them? wouldn't it allow for skill 0 workers to work for what they are worth (in terms of productivity) as opposed to working for 2CAD when they can't produce 2CAD worth of goods. Furthermore, skill 1 wages are above 2CAD naturally and that will only change as the supply/demand for labour changes. Increasing it to 3CAD especially with a policy of increasing CAD value and fiscal responsibility is not a smart move, it will make it even harder for a Canadian to run a business.

The Workforce and Immigration Program:

Sounds fine, as I said in response to the CEP platform, government companies could only meet 50% of the CAF supply anyway without massive expansion which I am against since it would hurt manuf considerably.

Immigration and a strong CAD is the key.

Government Companies:

So run them effectively, alright

This is rather cookie cutter, I would advise against such a heavy handed policy. Let the MoI and MoF do their jobs, they will make sure things run right and production is a efficient. JT Vanguard has a done a splendid job running Shinra with minimal damage to the economy.

Trade:

I can support Free Trade, it would also mean more imports for us, thus even lower prices.

This is this weeks Rearden Economic Report, next week I will discuss the CSD economic platform and whatever else I want really.