Office of the Game Moderator/Voice of God

[Yelnoc]

This where you can find all Moderator reports, figures, stories,  etc.  In the spirit of past GM's, I offer you a newspaper, the Voice of God.  This is a jealous God, tremble at it's feet.

One note.  I leave today and won't have internet access again until next Thursday (though I might be able to leach off someone else internet, we shall see).  So I'm going to be a bit inactive, but as I was waiting to be confirmed, I started working on some things.  So when I get back I should be able to release a quick succession of things.

Would a mod mind stickying this?

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

I think the moderator may not believe in you and, thus, won't stick it.

[Yelnoc]

I think the moderator may not believe in you and, thus, won't stick it.

I think you might be right...

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

Have you been able to look into the PM I've sent?

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

So, you have one choice, o Almighty: just PM Gustaf, wait and see.

[Gustaf]

The PM is usually a highly efficient tool to bring about these kind of actions. Especially on a night when Sweden beats Finland.

[Grumpier Than Thou]

The PM is usually a highly efficient tool to bring about these kind of actions. Especially on a night when Sweden beats Finland.

Boo >

[Yelnoc]

The PM is usually a highly efficient tool to bring about these kind of actions. Especially on a night when Sweden beats Finland.

Boo >

[Yelnoc]

RoN on Trial

Colin Hart Nickell, the suspect in this January's GTO truck bombing, will stand as a defendant in the upcoming trial.  Preliminary negotiations are still underway, with the possibility of a plea deal still up in the air.  If convicted, Nickell will likely face life in prison with no possibility of parole (assuming no plea deal is reached).

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

RoN on Trial

Colin Hart Nickell, the suspect in this January's GTO truck bombing, will stand as a defendant in the upcoming trial.  Preliminary negotiations are still underway, with the possibility of a plea deal still up in the air.  If convicted, Nickell will likely face the death penalty (assuming no plea deal is reached).

we still have death penalty in Atlasia?  we need to make these trials speedy too.

[Yelnoc]

RoN on Trial

Colin Hart Nickell, the suspect in this January's GTO truck bombing, will stand as a defendant in the upcoming trial.  Preliminary negotiations are still underway, with the possibility of a plea deal still up in the air.  If convicted, Nickell will likely face the death penalty (assuming no plea deal is reached).

we still have death penalty in Atlasia?  we need to make these trials speedy too.

There was this legislation back in 2004 that abolished the death penalty, but my understanding was that there had been a legislative reboot sometime between now and then.

[Associate Justice PiT]

RoN on Trial

Colin Hart Nickell, the suspect in this January's GTO truck bombing, will stand as a defendant in the upcoming trial.  Preliminary negotiations are still underway, with the possibility of a plea deal still up in the air.  If convicted, Nickell will likely face the death penalty (assuming no plea deal is reached).

we still have death penalty in Atlasia?  we need to make these trials speedy too.

There was this legislation back in 2004 that abolished the death penalty, but my understanding was that there had been a legislative reboot sometime between now and then.

     I'm fairly sure that there hasn't been any reboot. If there has been then that law, among others, would need to be moved to the Repealed Statute page.

[Yelnoc]

RoN on Trial

Colin Hart Nickell, the suspect in this January's GTO truck bombing, will stand as a defendant in the upcoming trial.  Preliminary negotiations are still underway, with the possibility of a plea deal still up in the air.  If convicted, Nickell will likely face the death penalty (assuming no plea deal is reached).

we still have death penalty in Atlasia?  we need to make these trials speedy too.

There was this legislation back in 2004 that abolished the death penalty, but my understanding was that there had been a legislative reboot sometime between now and then.

     I'm fairly sure that there hasn't been any reboot. If there has been then that law, among others, would need to be moved to the Repealed Statute page.

I remember some people going on about a reboot a Presidential election or two ago, but there's nothing concrete in the wiki supporting that.  I'll change it to life in prison without parole if no one else remembers a reboot.

I had hoped my relative new-ness wouldn't be a problem.  Live and learn, I suppose.  Oh, and I hope to have the budget, unemployment figures, inflation, and all that jazz up by tonight, or tomorrow at the latest.

[Marokai Backbeat]

I remember some people going on about a reboot a Presidential election or two ago, but there's nothing concrete in the wiki supporting that.

That was Purple State and I, I'm guessing. But so many people were hesitant that we had to tone it down to simply a new constitution and going through the Wiki weeding things out one piece of legislation at a time. To my knowledge, though, we don't have the death penalty aside from in one region. I can't remember if it's the Southeast or the Mideast, though.

[Yelnoc]

I remember some people going on about a reboot a Presidential election or two ago, but there's nothing concrete in the wiki supporting that.

That was Purple State and I, I'm guessing. But so many people were hesitant that we had to tone it down to simply a new constitution and going through the Wiki weeding things out one piece of legislation at a time. To my knowledge, though, we don't have the death penalty aside from in one region. I can't remember if it's the Southeast or the Mideast, though.

Southeast, I believe.  Alright, fixed.  Once the President/AG chime in, we can move on to the trial.

[Yelnoc]

RoN Trial

The government extends Nickell a plea deal, by which his sentence is commuted to 30 years to life with the possibility of parole.  Nickell proudly declared he had carried out the attacks in the name of Reality or Nothing.  Unfortunately, he was not able to identify many of the shadowy organization's members.  Nickell had been recruited online, at a little-known political discussion forum.  A member of that site whom we will call Kingfish inspired Nickell to carry out the bombings.  Shortly thereafter, his account went inactive.  His IP traced Kingfish to England, though there the trail grows cold.  The Atlasian government will presumably ask the UK for assistance in tracking down Kingfish though, excepting major breakthroughs, the trail seems cold.

[California8429]

- _ - Only 30 years and parole after committing a terrorist act.

[Grumpier Than Thou]

- _ - Only 30 years and parole after committing a terrorist act.

This.

[Yelnoc]

Sorry guys, I forgot the "to life" bit.  Next time I won't write an article before rushing off to do something else.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

Is our AG in charge of prosecuting this case?

[Yelnoc]

Is our AG in charge of prosecuting this case?

Yes.  I have been in contact with the President, who is presumably speaking for the AG, as Teddy seems to be absent.

[Yelnoc]

Budget
This just to keep everyone's appetite whetted.  The expenditures should be completely updated.  However, I left off the deficit and national debt figures because I haven't finished with those yet.  I am also still corresponding with Badger on our revenue situation.  Below is an overview of the changes to the expenditures.  Tell me if I left out anything.

Foreign Aid
.4 billion was added to the International development and humanitarian assistance for Japan’s nuclear crisis.  1.3 billion was added at the GM’s discretion.  These are one-time expenses, and should be removed from the budget once paid.  

National Atlasian Healthcare
The cost of Atlasian National Healthcare was determined thusly.  Because the program most closely resembles the British National Health Service, the cost of English NHS was converted to dollars.  It was then scaled to the US population.  From there, I determined the usage in each region vs. private health insurance (% noted beside each CHP + 50) and used that decimal to assign costs per region.  I then took the total cost of the regions and added 1% to Central Administration Costs.  Note that a minority of Atlasian citizens have opted to keep their private insurance.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spending ($2379.88 billion)

Military Spending ($446.11 billion)
$106.57 billion ... Military personnel
$153.62 billion ... Operation and maintenance
$80.84 billion .... Procurement
$68.13 billion .... Research, development, test and evaluation
$16.15 billion .... Military Construction, Family Housing and Other
$17.99 billion .... Atomic Energy Defense Activities
$2.81 billion ..... Defense Related activities

Iraq and Afghanistan Operations ($111.85 billion)
$105 billion ..... Military Operations
$6.85 billion .... Reconstruction aid

Military Retirement ($115.48 billion)
$40.83 billion .... Military retirement
$36.34 billion .... Income security for veterans
$3.24 billion ...... Veterans education, training, and rehabilitation
$34.35 billion ..... Hospital and medical care for veterans and retired military
$0.72 billion ...... Housing and other veterans benefits and services

International affairs ($33.29 billion)
$14.7 billion ...... International development and humanitarian assistance
$9.47 billion ...... International military aid
$7.97 billion ...... Conduct of foreign affairs
$1.15 billion ...... Foreign information and exchange activities

General science, space, and technology ($23.97 billion)
$5.62 billion ...... National Science Foundation programs
$3.44 billion ...... Department of Energy general science programs
$14.91 billion ..... Space flight, research, and supporting activities

Non-Defense Energy Spending ($2.12 billion)
$0.73 billion ...... Energy supply
$1.03 billion ...... Energy conservation and preparedness
$0.36 billion ...... Energy information, preparedness, & regulation

Natural resources and environment ($31.16 billion)
$5.45 billion ..... Water resources
$9.07 billion ..... Conservation and land management
$3.12 billion ..... Recreational & Park resources
$8.42 billion ..... Pollution control and abatement
$5.1 billion ....... Other natural resources

Agriculture ($26.02 billion)
$21.73 billion ..... Farm income stabilization & crop insurance
$4.29 billion ...... Agricultural research and services

Commerce and Housing Loan Programs ($6.82 billion)
$-4.28 billion ..... Federal Housing Loan Programs
$2.17 billion ...... Postal service
$-0.96 billion ..... Deposit insurance
$7.96 billion ...... Universal service fund
$1.93 billion ...... Other advancement of commerce

Transportation ($70.68 billion)
$36.51 billion ..... Highways and highway safety
$8.51 billion ...... Mass transit
$2.81 billion ...... Railroads
$17.26 billion ..... Air Transportation
$7.37 billion ...... Water transportation
$0.42 billion ...... Other transportation

Community and regional development ($19.1 billion)
$6.25 billion ...... Community development
$80.36 billion ...... Area and regional development
$10.15 billion ...... Disaster relief and insurance

Education ($64.07 billion)
$38.57 billion ..... Elementary, Secondary & Vocational education
$22.27 billion ..... Higher education
$3.23 billion ...... Research and general education

Training, labor and unemployment ($47.81 billion)
$6.88 billion ...... Training and employment
$1.6 billion ....... Labor law, statistics, and other administration
$139.33 billion ..... Unemployment compensation

Atlasian National Healthcare ($267.14 billion)
$63.48 billion ... IDS Community Health Partnership (24%)
$44.96 billion ... ME Community Health Partnership (17%)
$58.19 billion ... MW Community Health Partnership (22%)
$42.32 billion ... NE Community Health Partnership (16%)
$55.54 billion ... PA Community Health Partnership (21%)
$2.65 billion ..... Central Administration Costs

Non-Medicare Health Spending ($37.07 billion)
$4.7 billion ....... Disease control, public health and bioterrorism
$29.36 billion ... Health research and training
$3.01 billion ..... Food safety and occupational health and safety

Civilian Retirement (Social Security excluded) ($72.02 billion)
$4.89 billion ...... Civilian retirement and disability insurance
$58.22 billion .... Federal employee retirement and disability
$8.91 billion ...... Federal employees' and retired employees' health benefits

Aid to Low-Income Families ($206.78 billion)
$38.45 billion ..... Housing assistance
$87.58 billion ..... Food stamps
$19.3 billion ...... Other nutrition programs (WIC, school lunches)
$38.66 billion ..... Supplemental security income (SSI)
$18.21 billion ..... Family support payments (TANF)
$34.05 billion ..... Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)
$13.15 billion ..... Child tax credit
$4.8 billion ....... Child care funds
$2.58 billion ...... Other aid to low-income families

General Family Support ($25.62 billion)
$6.56 billion ...... Foster care and adoption assistance
$2.92 billion ...... Child support and family support programs
$16.14 billion ..... Social and family services

Social security ($544.82 billion)
$454.4 billion ..... Old-age and survivors insurance(OASI)
$90.42 billion ..... Disability insurance (DI)

Administration of justice ($43.1 billion)
$11.35 billion ..... Federal law enforcement
$10.46 billion ..... Border security and immigration
$10.91 billion ..... Federal litigation and judicial activities
$6.16 billion ...... Federal prison system
$4.22 billion ...... Criminal justice assistance

General government administration ($17.76 billion)
$3.67 billion ...... Legislative functions
$1.14 billion ...... Executive office programs
$9.8 billion ....... IRS & other fiscal operations
$3.15 billion ...... Other general government

Net_interest_long ($211.08 billion)
$211.08 billion .... Net Interest

Undistributed offsetting receipts and allowance ($-43.99 billion)
$-43.99 billion .... Undistributed offsetting receipts and allowance

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tax Expenditures and Tax Cuts ($1075.13 billion)


2001 and 2003 Tax Cuts ($294.9 billion)
$116.96 billion .... Benefits for Richest 1% of Taxpayers
$28.87 billion ..... Benefits for Next Richest 4%
$58.92 billion ..... Benefits for Next Richest 15%
$43.6 billion ...... Benefits for Next 20% of Taxpayers
$46.55 billion ..... Benefits for Bottom 60% of Taxpayers

Corporate Tax Breaks ($60.36 billion)
$15.74 billion ..... Untaxed Foreign Profits
$9.87 billion ...... R&D Tax Breaks
$4.05 billion ...... Energy, Mining and Timber Tax Breaks
$9.93 billion ...... Tax Free Bonds
$20.77 billion ..... Other Corporate Tax Breaks

Personal Business & Investment Benefits ($86.71 billion)
$30.38 billion ..... Lower tax rates on capital gains (excluding housing)
$28.76 billion ..... Step-up basis of capital gains at death
$23.01 billion ..... Tax-Free Bonds
$1.36 billion ...... Enterprise & Empowerment Zones and New Markets credit
$3.2 billion ....... Other personal investment tax breaks

Pension & Retirement Deductions ($168.47 billion)
$51.05 billion ..... Employer-paid Pensions
$58.12 billion ..... 401Ks & Keogh plans
$7.31 billion ...... IRAs
$29.48 billion ..... Group and personal life insurance benefits
$19.77 billion ..... Untaxed Social Security benefits
$2.74 billion ...... Other retirement benefits

Health Insurance Tax Benefits ($140.99 billion)
$125.69 billion .... Employer-paid Health Insurance
$4.33 billion ...... Self-employed medical insurance premiums
$1.83 billion ...... Medical Savings/Health Savings Accounts
$9.14 billion ...... Deductibility of medical expenses

Housing tax benefits ($163.71 billion)
$76.03 billion ..... Mortgage Interest
$14.83 billion ..... Deductibility of property taxes on homes
$36.27 billion ..... Capital gains exclusion on home sales
$29.72 billion ..... Exclusion of net imputed rental income on owner-occupied homes
$2.11 billion ...... Housing bonds & low-income housing investments
$4.75 billion ...... Exception from passive loss rules for $25,000 of rental loss

Other individual deductions and exemptions ($159.99 billion)
$37.89 billion ..... Charitable contributions
$34.62 billion ..... State and local taxes (w/o home property)
$6.55 billion ...... Soldiers and veterans tax benefits
$5.94 billion ...... Workmen's compensation
$14.01 billion ..... Education deductions and credits
$32.81 billion ..... Child credit
$2.81 billion ...... Child care credits and deductions
$2 billion ......... Deduction for the blind and elderly
$7.86 billion ...... Social Security benefits for disabled and survivors
$3.76 billion ...... Untaxed foreign personal income
$3.28 billion ...... Employee parking and transit expenses
$1.25 billion ...... Adoption and foster care tax credits
$5.42 billion ...... Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)- revenue loss component
$1.79 billion ...... Other fringe benefits

-----------------

New budget is $3455.01 billion
($2379.88 billion in spending, $1075.13 billion in tax expenditures and cuts).

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

We had a discussion about this in the Senate and it turned out we haven't left Iraq and Afghanistan, until the administration comes up with a plan for exiting.

Those figures for healthcare look very low. With the Atlasian National Healthcare Act, the government is responsible for most healthcare costs, and people will drop their private insurance as redundant. There's no way that's less than 1K per person.

[Yelnoc]

We had a discussion about this in the Senate and it turned out we haven't left Iraq and Afghanistan, until the administration comes up with a plan for exiting.

Well then, it's a good thing I posted a draft of the budget.  I'll fix it.

Those figures for healthcare look very low. With the Atlasian National Healthcare Act, the government is responsible for most healthcare costs, and people will drop their private insurance as redundant. There's no way that's less than 1K per person.
[/quote]
'tis simple math.  I'm assuming that ours costs about the same as Britain's.  Unlike in the UK, the bill did not make Atlasia the singular provider of healthcare, allowing wealthier folks to stick with private healthcare.  That is likely why the numbers seem artificially low; not everyone has dropped their private health insurance, as it can presumably be used to cut waiting lines and such.  Also note that the act did not abolish federal employs insurance, so we all get to do the same

[Yelnoc]

Ironically, soon after my apology thread went up my hard drive died.  I have been posting from my iTouch but that's not very reliable so don't expect much of me for the next little while.