Speculation and History (SW)

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Satori
Youngling
Posts: 147
Joined: 2007-03-20 12:27pm

Speculation and History (SW)

Post by Satori »

A bit of commentary on the weird economy the Republic has.
Anyone know of any source that sheds more light on how interstellar shipping works in the GFFA?

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"Lady Ruan, I am surprised. One would think that a family so heavily invested in the Fondor Drive Yards would be more enthusiastic about my proposal."

"Your proposal, my dear Senator, would be the end of Fondor, in time. Have you perhaps, heard the tale of the Rich Man of Onderon?"

"I can't say I have my Lady."

"He gave away blasters to both sides of the 3rd Onderonian Civil war... and grew rich on selling them power packs. That is what we in business call a successful business model."

"Very amusing, my dear, but surely Fondor would likewise benefit from repair and replacement services on Bulk Freighters."

"Would we? We are not so large as Kuat, nor so well placed in the Hyperlanes. My dear Senator, i think you will find that your promposal would find Fondor squeezed out between Kuat on one side, and small maintenance operations on the other. Once your grand 'Merchant Fleet' is built, there will be little work left for Fondor. The few replacements needed from time to time will be turned out by Kuat, and what remains of the small shipping market will turn to Corellia."

"Corellia? That den of smugglers?"

"Who do you think buys light freighters, Senator? Demand is demand, wherever it comes from."

"I see. You would rather have the custom of riffraff and pirates than join in making the galaxy a more prosperous place. Perhaps I was wrong to solicit your support."

"Don't feel bad, Senator. You would never have received it, even had I agreed with your economic analysis."

"You would put your family's pride over the good of the Republic?"

"The good of the Republic, my dear Senator, relies on much more than just money. I fear that too many of you in the Senate have forgotten that."

"And what does that mean?"

"Fondor is part of a dying breed. Ord Mantel is little more than a junk heap. The same can be said of a dozen other planets that once boasted thriving Drive Yards."

"I had not thought it was the way of the Ruan to weep over the opposition."

"Ruan has always stood for the Republic, even at the cost of our own interests, Senator. A thousand years ago, when war had torn the Republic asunder, our fleets rose to avenge her wounds from a hundred or more worlds. Now there are barely two dozen systems in the Republic that make make warships worthy of being considered naval units."

"Two dozen is sufficient for our needs. Maintaining unneeded yards only causes inefficiency and waste."

"You bemoan waste and inefficiency, Senator, but let me tell you, as a Ruan, that any ship made by a craftsman rather than a fool, a madman, or a murderer is full of inefficiency. Every secondary reactor, every back up drive, every redundant system, is an inefficiency. Redundancy is inefficiency by definition. But those inefficiencies save lives. Or would you prefer to travel in a Starliner that gave up it's escape pods for cargo space? You cannot wait until the crisis comes to build safeguards and redundancies, Senator. They must be in place when disaster strikes, or they are no use at all."

"My Lady, surely you cannot believe that we are on the brink of war? The Republic has not has more than a skirmish for centuries."

"Then let us pray that She remains so fortunate."

[]---------------------------------------------[]

"You seemed rather angry with him back there."

"I have no patience to suffer fools. He can talk all he likes about prosperity, but we all know what will happen if his plan goes through. Large transstellar shipping companies will force out free traders and smaller operations. Money will flow away from the common citizen and into the hands of those already too rich. Including the senator himself, of course, but one cannot expect politicians to stop being self serving.

"We can't exactly stop the rich from gouging the poor. If not this method, then another."

"I was serious when I spoke of the military consequences, Lilika. Shipyards will close, vital expertise lost as the young seek more vital industries to learn the secrets of. Worst of all, the Republic's supply of trained pilots and astrogators will wane. We will be more vulnerable than ever."

"Pilots and astrogators? We can hardly consider them ours, Enia. Many of them are, as the senator alleges, smugglers and pirates."

"Read your history, Lilika. Smugglers and riffraff have been the Republic's salvation before. Force willing, they will be again. If we defeat this bill."
Given the respective degrees of vulnerability to mental and physical force, annoying the powers of chaos to the point where they try openly to kill them all rather than subvert them is probably a sound survival strategy under the circumstances. -Eleventh Century Remnant
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