SENATE STANDING COMMITTEE: Gov't Oversight and Reform (Recommendations)

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

I'm confused. What are you trying to do here?

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

From the international side, I echo Marokai's concerns about continuity.  When Joyce replaced me, he followed through on my stories, which was a good thing.  Unfortunately, I don't think there's any legislative way to force a new office holder to follow through.

I agree.  Unless we threaten impeachment or call upon the person in charge to be reconfirmed more often (not likely), there's really no way of enforcing this.  However, I think the president ought to appoint people who openly intend on continuing on the storyline.

I'm not sure where this assumption comes from that enforcing something is the way to make it happen.  If you want more stories, focus on the stories in the Senate's discussion.  If no one is paying attention to the stories, and actively engaging with them in the political discourse, what's the point of continuing them?  I've gotten the sense as GM that the Senate and the regions are more interested in the raw numbers.  That's what people ask me about. You want a story about something? Okay, let me know. I tried to encourage community collaboration on stories when I started the GM position.  It got nowhere, but I still think it would be a good idea.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

It is not the public's job to think up stories for you to write, Shua. It is yours. Purple State's tenure as GM taught me that you won't know what people can/will respond to unless you write it.

When was the last time the public was interested in any story, either domestically or internationally? I can't remember. The more fundamental issue is that there's little evidence that what I write is read at all. If it had been, the question of why we still have high unemployment would not be such a complete mystery.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

It is not the public's job to think up stories for you to write, Shua. It is yours. Purple State's tenure as GM taught me that you won't know what people can/will respond to unless you write it.

When was the last time the public was interested in any story, either domestically or internationally? I can't remember. The more fundamental issue is that there's little evidence that what I write is read at all. If it had been, the question of why we still have high unemployment would not be such a complete mystery.

If you produce something, I will quickly use the pulpit to make the public care.

People will be interested in what they will, but that could help. It looks like the private press may be in revival, which could help keep stories alive as well. 

I'm trying to look through the old update threads to see if there have been any stories that have ever been continued from one GM to the next. So far, I haven't found any.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

If you're looking for some of my old material, there was a Midwest tax shelter story I started that no one followed up on, an abortion story I started no one followed up on, the social unrest in Oceania that no one followed up on, stories with the SoEA about african nations joining the GTO and the restrictions placed on them by doing so.. that no one followed up on, and the two other major stories I started, unsafe nuclear power facilities and a failing Postal Service, I had to solve myself when I became Senator months later.

Come to think of it, that postal service issue was one that I continued, but the issue was never solved.  The story I was writing for it got complicated by an unclear healthcare reimbursement bill that I couldn't get any answers on.  The Oceania story was controversial because members of the Pacific did not believe it took into account the actions of their legislature, so frankly I was confused and didn't want to touch it. The others just seemed like self-contained stories.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

Shua, why was there no attempt to coordinate or perhaps I should say collaborate with the SoIA in the past two months?

The SoIA position isn't strongly defined and so it depends on who fills it as to what its role is.
Based on the confirmation hearings, I got the impression Morgeib was more focused on cabinet work and implementing policy than in the game moderation aspect.  I didn't have anything particular in mind as far as collaboration, so my attention ended up elsewhere.

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I don't have a crystal ball to show you. A straight line continuing the rate of progress could mean under 6% unemployment in about year and a half.  Or, the economy could adjust and self-correct more quickly. Or, we could be dealing with longer term structural problems that will create a new normal unemployment  above 6%.
As far as the effects of the budget, I have mentioned in my updates the issue of higher taxes and lower spending. It may be that quickly balancing a budget during a period of slow growth and high unemployment makes sense - but the case has yet to be made in the Atlasian context, I think.