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Re: Poor Transtellars -what are they going to do? | |
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by noblehunter » Thu Sep 08, 2016 2:02 pm | |
noblehunter
Posts: 385
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I think transtellars trying to outsource military power are going to run smack into the agent problem. Basically, what's to stop the guy on the spot from acting in his interests rather than those of his employers? The current system seems to deal with it by ignoring or legitimizing a substantial amount of corruption and there's always the threat of being arrested by the OFS. It's a lot harder to manage when you can't arrest your minion without getting him to come home first.
I think it's more likely that would-be warlords will co-opt (or be co-opted by) local power structures and tell the Core Worlds to get stuffed. Especially since transtellars may find their home systems to be as hostile to them as the verge when the local populace discovers just what they've spent the last few centuries ignoring. |
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Re: Poor Transtellars -what are they going to do? | |
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by DDHv » Thu Sep 08, 2016 8:47 pm | |
DDHv
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Over 50 years ago, Ludwig von Mises pointed out that in a free economy, successful business are working for their customers by doing good work at anticipating what they will want and producing and/or distributing those things. The customers are the bosses, voting by the money the spend. In an un-free economy, the crony types prosper. So does the black (free) market in spite of the controls. The Industrial revolution didn't start by mass producing for the rich, but by mass producing for the masses. The rich wanted silk, etc, not cotton. Now, just what things would the common people be willing to pay for in the GA/SLN situation? Maybe some mercenaries could prosper the same way the Andermani started. Unless the SL was totally corrupt, some transtellar might choose to go the Walmart route instead of the crony route. What if said mercenaries and said transtellar(s) happened to get together and work in a place where problems are heavy Last edited by DDHv on Fri Sep 09, 2016 8:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Douglas Hvistendahl
Retired technical nerd Dumb mistakes are very irritating. Smart mistakes go on forever Unless you test your assumptions! |
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Re: Poor Transtellars -what are they going to do? | |
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by GabrialSagan » Fri Sep 09, 2016 1:35 am | |
GabrialSagan
Posts: 76
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Aye. But Edward E Baptist showed us using extensive quantitative analysis that an industry that utilizes torture and intimidation to incentivize slave laborers is more productive than the same industry that utilizes free labor and reward based motivation. As sick and disgusting as the Plantation System of the American South was, it produced crop yields that were double what free labors produced in the Post-war cotton industry until the advent of the automated cotton picker in the 1920s. https://www.amazon.com/Half-Has-Never-Been-Told/dp/046500296X Though the 20th Century P.D is very different than the 3rd Century A.D. the fact that Transtellars use debt peonage and brutal exploitative tactics in their business practices shows that this principal sadly remains true even 2000 years after mankind has ventured to the stars. |
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Re: Poor Transtellars -what are they going to do? | |
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by JohnRoth » Fri Sep 09, 2016 9:51 am | |
JohnRoth
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I suspect that the analysis you reference has a few "externalities" (*) that aren't accounted for. One of those is the fact that, in the slave system of the Old South, every ablebodied white male was part of the militia, and had to devote time and energy to it. Another was the fact that there were continuous slave revolts, and that cost time and money to suppress. (That's why there were so many "Southern Colonels.") I also wonder whether he accounted for the degradation in soil quality that was one of the major reasons why the planters kept pushing westward to find new territory to exploit. (*) "Externalities" is economist-epeak for "I don't want to account for this factor, so I'm going to either ignore it or arm-wave it away since it's obviously too small to be relevant." |
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Re: Poor Transtellars -what are they going to do? | |
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by HungryKing » Fri Sep 09, 2016 10:09 am | |
HungryKing
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Ah, but the thing is that the honorverse is an industrialized setting, workers in a factory have a better opportunity for subtle sabotage. Besides most of the major industry is nanotech based, the machines do the work for the most part. Sure we know that some products are organic, so to speak, but the one we know about under OFS control, some type of wood, was mechanically harvested, and was being overheated. We do not know what the majority of the trade is but it appears that the verge ships out processed materials and receives key components for gravity tech and maybe materials to be further processed.
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Re: Poor Transtellars -what are they going to do? | |
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by Weird Harold » Fri Sep 09, 2016 10:29 am | |
Weird Harold
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Every time I see this topic, I want to say, "the poor transtellars are going to be fine. They don't generally have entire planets in debt-peonage or sweetheart deals with OFS; those are the province of the RICH transtellars.
The poor transtellars are going to chug along, making ends meet any way they can. The rich transtellars are the ones who are going to take a severe hit in their bottom line no matter how thing turn out for anyone else. .
. . Answers! I got lots of answers! (Now if I could just find the right questions.) |
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Re: Poor Transtellars -what are they going to do? | |
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by Rincewind » Fri Sep 09, 2016 11:10 am | |
Rincewind
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Ooooh! Sneaky! |
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Re: Poor Transtellars -what are they going to do? | |
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by pnakasone » Fri Sep 09, 2016 12:34 pm | |
pnakasone
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I think it would be a very safe bet that some of the smaller transtellers had fair(ish) deals with some planets but where pushed off by a bigger one that is now doing the slash and burn exploitation routine with the planet. These ones will be very happy to see some of the big boys finally get destroyed after years of abuse of their position.
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Re: Poor Transtellars -what are they going to do? | |
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by drothgery » Fri Sep 09, 2016 5:16 pm | |
drothgery
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Eh. I've always pictured most of the business that OFS and the corrupt transtellars do out in the verge as relatively small-time, and only relevant to anyone outside the citizens of the Verge worlds in question because it provides a disproportionate amount of the League government's income. If you've got a successful real business, you don't need to be doing shady deals in the Verge, and don't want to be, because bad PR hurts sales. |
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Re: Poor Transtellars -what are they going to do? | |
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by DDHv » Fri Sep 09, 2016 8:58 pm | |
DDHv
Posts: 494
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Some smaller transtellers might find a chance for creative and profitable changes in the turmoil. The slash and burn route wastes resources. Un-free economies also waste (people) resources because they cannot permit innovation. The innovators might cause upsets to society if they succeed Douglas Hvistendahl
Retired technical nerd Dumb mistakes are very irritating. Smart mistakes go on forever Unless you test your assumptions! |
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