I thought this included all the notes...this is a one-shot.
Oh, so each instance of number X relates to the same note.
Sorry, I thought you were going to give each continent their own set of notes.
I thought this included all the notes...this is a one-shot.
Ironic how *Korea in TTL is using Rising Sun rays
@Bob Hope : such a fine map series and then you have to mess it up with an independent Confederacy.
I really like this concept!WI - the General Development Corporation never falls but instead turns all the world into a giant Florida?
Please do!T.A.C.O.S Flat Earth Map. Maybe I should make a bigger version with borders? Anyway, enjoy.
WI - the General Development Corporation never falls but instead turns all the world into a giant Florida?
I'm a bit puzzled by the footnote mentioning that state-sponsored Ponzi schemes having replaced pensions in certain countries. I must admit that I'm not quite sure about other countries, but to my knowledge, public pension systems in various European countries are technically speaking nothing but legalised Ponzi schemes. Current payers are not paying for their own pension, but for the pension of those now retired. When the current payers retire, future payers will have to pay for their pensions. This system, as it turns out, ceases to function adequately when population growth declines-- same way a Ponzi scheme fails. You always need new payers to keep paying for those expecting a return on their earlier payments.
So... how is the situation of this TL different from OTL? Same structure, but fully privatised? Or is the OTL pension system of the USA just completely different to what I described above? (I gather that alternative systems exist. I seem to recall that Chile uses a system where everyone has to pay part of his salary into a special pension investment account, with the result that everyone does pay for his own pension. Is it currently like that in the USA, too?)
http://www.economist.com/node/21530106
It's more appropriate to describe pension schemes (whether state or private) as pyramid rather than ponzi. All of them ultimately rely on the economic output of the workers who are working after you retire in order for them to maintain any semblance of value from then on.
And population 'growth' below replacement level isn't a critical problem as long as economic growth continues.
Senone state in Northern Italy ?Anyone have any good map ideas? My current tiberium project is making me bash my head against a wall and my TL191 thing is doing the same
Not being very familiar at all with the ways of swindle, I had always thought that a Ponzi scheme and a pyramid scheme were exactly the same thing. Thanks for pointing out that's not the case!
Regarding population growth/shrinkage, I must observe that what you say does not seem to be the case in practice-- at least not where I live. Economic growth certainly continues in the Netherlands (even in the depths of the recent crisis, we maintained just a bit of growth), yet the pension system is severely stressed. Long-existing options for early retirement were abolished, payments were however raised, and the retirement age was universally pushed up by two years, just to keep things fuctioning. It is universally understood that if the vergrijzing ("greying") of the population continues (that is, there being ever fewer births, so that there are more older people by comparison and too few young people to pay for them), further austerity measures will be needed in the future.
There is only little that economic growth can do to soothe this, it seems. My best guess as to why would be that economic prosperity also raises the costs of living (prices go up etc.). Which means that the actual way in which economic growth is expected keep the system working (namely by allowing for the raising of taxes/payments) is still going to hurt the working people. They earn more gross income, but they also have to pay more for everything... so if they additionally have to pay more into the system, they're ultimately left with less net income. Which will in the end hurt economic growth, and then everything still goes belly-up.
It seems to me that stable population growth is the only realistic way to keep a pyramid-like system from ultimately failing.
We will see how this is ultimately solved (or not). It is hardly relevant to the scenario @fashbasher presented. I was just rather curious (and still am) about the ways in which it differs from OTL in regard to pensions. It's a bit of an unusual thing to put in a footnote, after all, so I wondered what the idea behind that was.
I don't think that needed to be posted in the Map Thread.Guess what we found out!
Ranad is actually Hipster Stalin. He is banned.
But, whatevs.
Japan as the center of an economic coalition that outmuscles the US. Perhaps a non-imperialist Japan (just barely possible with post-1900 PODs) leading some sort of Asian alliance, with a divided China (Trotsyite USSR and North China vs Japan and allies?)
The editing isn't bad, but I feel a little conflicted about using Geacron's maps for this stuff since it isn't like world-a where people put them up to be used as one wishes or Wikipedia where it's all public domain. You seem to not be too bad at editing so part of me wonders if you'd be better suited at trying a Photoshop/GIMP/Inkscape tutorial instead of limiting yourself to a relatively simple map medium. Aim higher, and all that.Do people like the geacron maps??? not in terms of Accuracy, but I mean when they are edited and used for alt-history?