Question Time Official Thread

[afleitch]

The Secretary of Internal Affairs shall open a thread in the "Atlas Fantasy Elections" board for the purpose of commentary and questions from the citizens, as well as good-hearted jabs for the purpose of livening political debate.

And it be done.

I will moderate ensuring that questions go the right people and that politicians answer them I'll open up the questions for 72 hours then allow responses (or lack thereof) and then 24 hours of supplimentary questions

Afleitch; SOIA     

[Marokai Backbeat]

Question me or the cabinet on anything you like, or just insult me, say whatever you want

In the meantime, what's the deal with airline food? Am I right?

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

I'm willing to answer Question Time in the format they do in the UK and Canada (where it is called Question Period) you can youtube it for more info.

[tmthforu94]

To whoever feels like answering it...

Despite the lack of reports from the GM, it is highly believed Atlasia still suffers from high unemployment numbers. What is this administrations plan over the next two months in regards to unemployment, and what are your ideas on improving our unemployment numbers?

[Kaine for Senate '18]

I will of course answer any questions that people may have

[Marokai Backbeat]

To whoever feels like answering it...

Despite the lack of reports from the GM, it is highly believed Atlasia still suffers from high unemployment numbers. What is this administrations plan over the next two months in regards to unemployment, and what are your ideas on improving our unemployment numbers?

I'll just bypass Afleitch's rules here, since there's little point in dragging things out if I want to keep things interesting

I'm delighted you asked this question, actually!

I have been looking into possibilities to take more action to spur the economy for the last couple weeks. Last night, I drafted a proposal to expand the Emergency Credit Access Act and sent it to it's author, North Carolina Yankee, to see what he thought of it before it is officially proposed by the Administration. With an expansion of the Act, which was signed almost exactly a year ago, we can greatly boost the amount of credit available to small businesses so they can continue to expand and hire.

Afleitch has also been brainstorming to me, upon the request of President Purple State, on the contents of a new "baby stimulus", as I call it. The proposal I am working on will include more infrastructure spending, a modest boost to Atlasia's safety net, and further tax cuts, one example being giving businesses that invest in new equipment a 100% tax deduction on that purchase, to encourage all businesses in Atlasia to replace faulty equipment or modernize their aging mechanics, further giving a boon to the manufacturing industry.

And not only that to improve manufacturing! But also I've been working on a possible small version of the "cash for clunkers" program that was such a massive success in the real world. We debated it once before in the Senate, but it was voted down after it was compromised to death and people had concerns on the long term effects.

Well, we can see that those worries were completely unfounded, as the car industry in America is still thriving and there has been no dropoff in automobile demand. There were favorable GM reports on the proposal back then, and I believe a smaller version of that program would do wonders for spurring demand of larger purchases like cars, and improve employment in Atlasia's automotive industry.

Rest assured this administration is on top of things. We will have to see how the Senate's economic conservative streak will get in the way at our modest recovery efforts!

[Barnes]

Is there any hope of true climate change legislation (i.e. Cap and Trade, a Carbon Tax, etc.) passing before the end of this term?

BTW, I guess this would be directed towards the SoIA.

[afleitch]

Is there any hope of true climate change legislation (i.e. Cap and Trade, a Carbon Tax, etc.) passing before the end of this term?

BTW, I guess this would be directed towards the SoIA.

Duly noted

I think that while climate change is clearly a highly rated and highly concernable threat, 'realpolitik' kicks in at times of economic uncertainty. There is, without a doubt a waryness amongst some to support legislation that may have an effect on employment in this country at least in the short term. Environmental legislation along the lines of what you have mentioned also falls into the time old arguement about a carrot v stick approach to taxation on industry and businesses. I have always been in favour of rewarding and incentivising business who adhere to certain practices rather than penalising them and I would certainly support legislation to that effect.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

What actually is SoIA doing?

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

Please tell us, Mr. President, when you stopped beating your mother, if you ever stopped beating her?

I'll field this one on behalf of the President.

The President has never beat his, or anyone else's mother, nor does he have any plans to change this.

[Purple State]

Please tell us, Mr. President, when you stopped beating your mother, if you ever stopped beating her?

I'll field this one on behalf of the President.

The President has never beat his, or anyone else's mother, nor does he have any plans to change this.

Thank you for that Teddy.

Vepres, I will repeat that I have never nor do I ever plan to intentionally physically injure my or any other mother.

[afleitch]

What actually is SoIA doing?

The Vice President outlined precisely what I've been working on in his post in this thread.

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

http://www.cpac.ca/forms/index.asp?dsp=template&act=view3&pagetype=vod&hl=e&clipID=4433 FTR - this is what Canadian Question Period looks like.