I can understand why some people might object to the energy policy and medical care parts of my proposal; I am bemused, however, as to why anyone would oppose having a federal minimum wage, or to having a national bank.
As conservatives are so fond of point out, Regions unilaterally raising and lowering the minimum wage will cause wages and employment to plummet, as companies will inevitably move their base of operations to the Region with the lowest minimum wage. The only way to prevent that is to have a national minimum wage that is the same in every Region. (If there is anyone who thinks that we should abolish the minimum wage entirely, I would remind them of the Gilded Age as an excellent example of why this does not work).
Likewise, it is quite obvious that we need some kind of Federal Reserve to keep borrowing and lending from getting out of control. I realize that many conservatives like to lambast the Fed as an evil, job-killing cabal controlled by bankers and lobbyists, but that's not actually how it works. If we deny the federal government the right to establish some kind of national bank, I guarantee that the economy will crash before the end of the next decade.
I'm not exactly a fan of minimum wage but I'm looking at this convention with severe skepticism towards giving the federal government more power than what was given in the 2009 constitutional convention.
As for a centralized federal bank, I have some serious concerns about having one. Look at the Federal Reserve (irl). If the Atlasian one had some strict mechanisms requiring transparency I would be open to it. A full reforming of our governmental financial system would need regulations like Audit the Fed or Glass Steegal to prevent or minimize any possibility of graft and corruption. Also a mandate requiring the House (where all financial bills start from) and the Senate to balance the budget
A Mandated Balanced Budget would not work. If every congress, we were forced to cut important government programs to safe a couple dollars here or there, just for the sake of the "deficit", it would be lunacy. Now don't get me wrong, we should control our deficit, but not mandate it in our constitution. The constitution is about what is doing best for the people, not abandoning good plans for the betterment of Atlasia because we project a deficit.
