Governments

[joshua johnson]

Yes, that would be true that if your business generated revenue, that it would not need to dig potatos all day.

Yet since the currency is not widely used in town nor well established outside of town, there is not enough in circulation. I think that the the currency only circulates between at most a couple dozen people. This makes very low monetary velocity, which is a major problem. I would guess that there is not consistent demand for products from the few citizens that use it to intake enough product sold at a good margins to survive on business income alone, without digging the potatos again.

Traders come to town, and do not use the Q, since a currency that is exchangeable for Q only in a distant town and valued on potatos and stone is of no value to most traders. If a trader took Q back to his own town, and tried to buy something with it there, it would be like trying to buy something at a Japanese store with the Peso, or at a Russion store with Brazilian Real. There are exchange services available to rectify this in our world (perhaps a business opportunity in Cantr, although it would likely have to be certified by the bank, and might not be feasible without the telegraph).

It really becomes much like a small rural town. There are not enough people in town to support many retail businesses. There is also not enough commercial business to support other supporting commercial businesses only selling to each other on the one town's currency.

Since the businesses probably need things that are not made in Quillanoi and have no relavant value to the Q, businesses do not generate any export revenue, only resources. This would be similar to a trade deficit in our world.

As a side note, having to have all transactions go through sleepy bankers is somewhat cumbersome as well

As far as I can tell, I think John Woodhouse is the longest established business man there, or perhaps the banker is, although the bank seems to be run in a governmental fashion. John Woodhouse supports the Q, but I wonder how many employees he has?

[Solfius]

Last I knew John Woodhouse employs noone, and is easily the oldest businessman in Quillanoi.

I think it comes down to lack of demand, and lack of circulation. You can't use Quii outside of Quillanoi, and within Quillanoi once you've sold someone something (unless it is a resource) they generally won't need to buy anymore. In terms of demand, it becomes almost a perfect example of why item degradation is so important to economy.

I did have a friend studying economics who would argue it's impossible to have a proper economy in Cant because of the problem of supply and demand. something to do with supply outstripping demand, so really the only way is to artificially limit supply, but that kind of move would more than likely be deeply unpopular whereever it may be imposed

[The Industriallist]

About governments...I've just noticed the incredible amount of un-freedom in Quillanoi. Lots of Qui-related restrictions, weapons restrictions, taxes (unheard-of in most places...). And I don't think any of the political parties actually have more freedom in their agendas, though at least 2 want less...

It's a city of political lemmings...they're willingly eliminating every freedom expected in cantr, and I can't see what they get in return...how does this happen? It makes my character nervious, but it scares me even more.

[Jur Schagen]

The thing about gold or silver is that they only have a little more inherent value than unbacked paper. Demand for them for anything is very rare. Though I imagine that when it exists you could get a good price for them.

This relates to my Conspicuous Consumption thread yet again, doesn't it? I've noticed that employees of MWS Inc tend to be very well dressed when they leave the Forest to trade, probably because they are paid in clothing. Along the way this doubtless creates at least some little added demand for such items, which is often what they carry to trade. And MWS itself uses silk cloth as a kind of currency. One could imagine the same principle operating in respect of gold, silver and diamonds, which are after all used in jewelry. Or glass beads, for that matter, if its raw material was under goverment control and the next nearest source far enough away.

No, MWS inc employees are not payed in silk clothing... anymore. They are given clothes for representation when away from the Forest. And yes, silk is attempted to be used as a currency, but is having trouble being accepted as such (even if it is fully backed by the company for goods, even including iron and steel). For now, it is mostly used as a calculation tool, but that will change. Clothing is the ideal currency since it does not have any weight...

Jur.

[Solfius]

About governments...I've just noticed the incredible amount of un-freedom in Quillanoi. Lots of Qui-related restrictions, weapons restrictions, taxes (unheard-of in most places...). And I don't think any of the political parties actually have more freedom in their agendas, though at least 2 want less...

It's a city of political lemmings...they're willingly eliminating every freedom expected in cantr, and I can't see what they get in return...how does this happen? It makes my character nervious, but it scares me even more.

Sounds just like a real government.....

[Surly]

About governments...I've just noticed the incredible amount of un-freedom in Quillanoi. Lots of Qui-related restrictions, weapons restrictions, taxes (unheard-of in most places...). And I don't think any of the political parties actually have more freedom in their agendas, though at least 2 want less...

It's a city of political lemmings...they're willingly eliminating every freedom expected in cantr, and I can't see what they get in return...how does this happen? It makes my character nervious, but it scares me even more.

The QCP wanted to reduce some of those restrictions... But then Sven slept through his Presidency...

[Lumera]

It's a city of political lemmings...they're willingly eliminating every freedom expected in cantr, and I can't see what they get in return...how does this happen? It makes my character nervious, but it scares me even more.

I was only there for a short time; there were too many people for my character's liking, and the rules seemed annoyingly complicated, so she took off. You may not be thrilled with the government there, but as long as you can leave whenever you feel like it there's no significant restriction of freedom. It's only if they start arresting newspawns who try to leave without permission that it could become really scary...