MILSPEC-555: "EVACUATING A PLANET"

cthia wrote:

Vince wrote:The first problem I see in building what is necessary to lift the population of a planet (with little to nothing in the way of possessions) is how to pay for it.

Since all the real estate and everything built on/under/in orbit around it is going to go boom and thus the value will literally evaporate, externally, who would be willing to finance the cost of building the means to lift the population off the planet?

The government of the people, for the people and by the people would be willing to pay for transports. A vehicle which would undoubtedly see many uses. In fact, they would have been used to evacuate the remaining citizens of Hades.

Also, the value of one's life should not depreciate in the face of losing one's possessions. Besides, more possessions can be bought with the bank accounts of Manticorans over the long life left on their prolonged odometer.

cthia wrote:

Vince wrote:The first problem I see in building what is necessary to lift the population of a planet (with little to nothing in the way of possessions) is how to pay for it.

Since all the real estate and everything built on/under/in orbit around it is going to go boom and thus the value will literally evaporate, externally, who would be willing to finance the cost of building the means to lift the population off the planet?

The government of the people, for the people and by the people would be willing to pay for transports. A vehicle which would undoubtedly see many uses. In fact, they would have been used to evacuate the remaining citizens of Hades.

Also, the value of one's life should not depreciate in the face of losing one's possessions. Besides, more possessions can be bought with the bank accounts of Manticorans over the long life left on their prolonged odometer.

Vince wrote:You misunderstood the point I was attempting to make. A government's ability to pay for goods and services (in this case, evacuating its citizens from the planet) is derived from either its ability to borrow, or to tax, with its ability to borrow directly related to its ability to tax and therefore repay its lenders. And if a government needs to evacuate all its citizens, it will need to borrow.

A government's ability to tax is directly related to the strength of the economy and wealth. If the planet is going to experience an incident that is serious enough to require total evacuation, I would expect the economy to go into a severe depression at best, since the value of the planetary real estate, and everything built on, under, or in planetary orbit will drop to zero. Only movable property will retain any value at all, with some forms of movable property being worth much more than others--merchantmen, including transports will be worth much, much, more. This means that the government will not be able to borrow the bulk of the funds from its own citizens, and must therefore look to outside lenders.

For the Manticoran binary system, the only sources of wealth and economic activity will be the other two planets, the merchantmen and the Junction (this assumes that Manticore is at peace). For a single habitable planet system, the economic outlook is much more bleak.

cthia wrote:

Vince wrote:You misunderstood the point I was attempting to make. A government's ability to pay for goods and services (in this case, evacuating its citizens from the planet) is derived from either its ability to borrow, or to tax, with its ability to borrow directly related to its ability to tax and therefore repay its lenders. And if a government needs to evacuate all its citizens, it will need to borrow.

A government's ability to tax is directly related to the strength of the economy and wealth. If the planet is going to experience an incident that is serious enough to require total evacuation, I would expect the economy to go into a severe depression at best, since the value of the planetary real estate, and everything built on, under, or in planetary orbit will drop to zero. Only movable property will retain any value at all, with some forms of movable property being worth much more than others--merchantmen, including transports will be worth much, much, more. This means that the government will not be able to borrow the bulk of the funds from its own citizens, and must therefore look to outside lenders.

For the Manticoran binary system, the only sources of wealth and economic activity will be the other two planets, the merchantmen and the Junction (this assumes that Manticore is at peace). For a single habitable planet system, the economic outlook is much more bleak.

Please see Course Description.

You're the only person I know who wants to stop and balance the checkbook when order to evacuate is given.