Economies of the New American Wasteland

Of all the things that people took for granted before the collapse of the Old United States, money has been considered by most to be the greatest lost convenience. The certainty of printed money and its value has been lost in most parts of the New American Wasteland. Most of the country has reverted to Frontier-era economies, limited by the goods they can produce. In other areas, corporations derive value to their workers and offer credit for work performed. New nations have begun minting their own currencies, and foreign wealth can be found in areas near national borders and former international hubs.

Before the withdrawal of the federal government, the nation was experiencing a time of great civil strife. Rising tensions and frequent violence destabilized an already-vulnerable supply chain, and inflation had spiraled out of control by the mid-2020s. As the federal government collapsed in some places and withdrew elsewhere, its currency value disappeared overnight. The dollar no longer held its promise of certainty. As the Dominion and corporations took hold in the abandoned territories, US paper money was no longer recognized, and the people were held for ransom to provide service in exchange for food or the privilege of staying in their home for another day.

The New American Wasteland now has a new spectrum of economic doctrines that further complicate returning order to what remains of organized society. The choices of payment are just as expansive as the diversity of the people that inhabit the land. Many different options are recorded here, but the list is expansive and ongoing as more data is gathered on how the people get by in this new America.

## Legacy Economies

The nation of the US, or what’s left of it, still exists in some capacity. The "United" States of America, at least the territories it still holds, still retains its original currency, the US Dollar. Its value is still derived in through Fiat Value. US banks control how much of the currency is printed, guaranteeing some value backed by the promise of federal production.

As sound as this practice is, the collapse of the United States had far-reaching impacts on the security of its economy. Untold wealth was lost as the federal government withdrew from the West. Government officials took as much as they could carry, but the complete transfer of material value was impossible from the start of the ordeal. What the government couldn’t bring, they mostly destroyed. Entire vaults of US money were burned in the retreat, further damaging their wealth in the process. To moderate the impact, the US sold federal land and materials at bargain rates to private corporations or foreign investors.

The US Dollar is used in very few instances in America. On its borders in contested Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, the local populace varies through use of US Dollars, Dominion currency, and corporate scrip. Given local circumstances, US Dollars are the most consistent currency for what little trade is done in the persistent war zones of this region.

Now, the US economy is a shadow of what its legacy government was. Most of what the USA produces is limited to its territorial holdouts. It retains the economic markets in New York City, but the recoiling value has had far-reaching consequences for its economy and the world, as a whole. Foreign trade is significantly reduced, and the Dollar is no longer recognized as the world’s reserve currency. All of this compounds the US and its status as a Rump State, crippled by its own incompetence. There are very few places outside of its own territory where the US Dollar has any significant value, besides in an outhouse.

### Foreign Economies

In the United States’ place, foreign intervention has brought other currencies to the North American interior. UK Pounds, EU Euros, Russian Rubles, Chinese Yuan, and many more currencies have taken the place of the Dollar in many former international markets. However, the use of such money is limited to NGOs conducting relief operations in the territories they can safely work in. The most obvious to use currencies are from the economies of the nations that share physical borders with former American territory: The Canadian Dollar and the Mexican Peso.

Canadian Dollars are the most-recognized currency used in the Northern border zones, especially around the Great Lakes area. The Peso is also recognized to some limited extent across the American Southwest. Although the Peso has brought some stability to Mexico’s reclaimed territory, Texas publicly rejects the use of the Peso in whatever territory it claims to hold.

The Ruble experienced a brief resurgence in wealth with foreign business, as Russia was one of the few countries willing to do business with the Dominion. This also included the introduction of the ruble to its newly-annexed territory of Alaska (Now Alyeska Oblast). The current insurgency has limited the use of money in the region, and international outcry has resulted in more sanctions on Russia’s economy.

All of these different monies can be found in limited quantities across the land. Some of the vaults of foreign currency that previously belonged to the United States that weren't destroyed were reclaimed by local parties from abandoned embassies and consulates. In practice, foreign currency is usually exchanged for illicit goods by local insurgent groups, such as trading for weapons and material aid to combat the radical secessionists.

### Dominion Economy

In the absence of the US in much of the country, the religious fundamentalist groups that form The New Dominions have taken power. Their show of force in their conquered zones included the public burning of US money they had collected from looted stores, seized banks, and executed “heretics” (usually burned at the same time). As the dust settled, the duty of governance proved to be much easier said than done for a Christo-Fascist regime that hadn’t adequately prepared for administration after wartime. Much of their economic leadership had been well-advertised grifters that absconded with donated wealth to secure zones, where they live out their lives safely in fortified housing behind corporate security forces.

With the introduction of a zealous fundamentalist interpretation of Christianity as the new law of the land, feudalism became the new economic doctrine for much of their holdings. Leadership lived their lives in relative comfort, serving as a noble class, while their vassals toiled on land on their behalf. This revived society pays for much of its goods with crops harvested, or basic material goods. Said goods are exchanged for Dominion-minted coinage, usually made from stolen US gold or treasure looted from religious outliers.

A much darker form of monetary value has experienced a resurgence in the white supremacist-dominant social order: Slavery. Whatever minorities that remained in their controlled zones were largely enslaved and sent to toil away on plantations and labor camps, producing staples such as cotton or tobacco. Even though this was an ultimate goal of the white supremacist agenda, the impact of virtually-free labor has stricken their society with a new labor crisis, further compounding civil unrest with the limited prospects to sustain themselves. Loyalist workers are confounded by job uncertainty, eking out what little they can against cheaper slave stock.

### Corporate Economy

Wherever the Dominions don’t assume control, the corporations do. State-wide business consortium's lobbied the federal government to buy the territory the US was already abandoning, and they have provided objectively stable societies as a result. In their new Corporate States, virtually the entire local population is employed by their new corporate administrators. Most work in large AgriFarms, ore and mineral mines, textile mills, or distribution centers for long scheduled hours in the week.

Workers in these zones are paid in company scrip, substituting legal tender. Scrip is only recognized in company-owned businesses. As a result of corporate takeover, all real estate is company property, and is subsidized by the state in exchange for employment. Virtually all of the state economies in these zones are corporate-controlled by subsidiaries. Company stores, company recreation, company hospitals, company houses of worship, all perks of working for the company.

The companies offer this company scrip as legal tender to buy food or amenities for subsistence. However, the proliferation of wealth has been severely reduced, and costs for goods are high. Much of an individual worker’s credit is indebted to the company quickly, and the majority of the workers are indentured servants. When workers are unable to provide enough hours for credit, they are summarily “dismissed” and arrested by corporate security forces, who transfer them to corporate prison labor camps, where they continue to produce for the company for less pay and less privileges.

These Neo-fiefdoms are largely insular, and corporations go to great lengths to prevent UN inspectors from entering their holdings, as much of their new practices violate international law. The current legal argument is that as corporate states, they are not sovereign nations, and do not fall under the jurisdiction of international law. This includes the requirement to adequately pay their employees for services rendered.

### New Government Economies

Besides the Dominion and corporate powers governing major territories, new states have risen up as well. These new states exist in varying levels of success, but with international aid, some have reached states of stability in a tenuous time. With these new states, new currencies have also been minted, with varying degrees of value.

#### Republic of Texas

The Republic of Texas was the first major state to secede from the union as the US withdrew in 2031, to the surprise of absolutely nobody else in the former United States. Much of their economy and infrastructure was independent from the rest of the country, which gave the state government some advantages. Their power grid, energy production, highway and rail infrastructure, and local markets had remained protected in their largely insular society. It was natural for the state government to mint its own currency to replace American money: The Texas Dollar.

Even with all of these advantages, the first Texan government, largely composed of the previous state administration, collapsed within six months of their independence. The energy grid had deteriorated to the point where power failures were commonplace. Dominion incursions were frequent from Texas’ Eastern neighbors, and a tribal secession of Oklahoma (a territory Texas had annexed into its territory) had further hampered their economic growth. Since then, new government administrations have taken over and failed almost every year, with conflicting players vying for power in the state. The Texas Dollar has suffered severe inflation and devalued significantly.

Despite growth limits, Texas' vast oil reserves make the Texas Dollar the de facto Petrodollar in the continental US. This gives Texas a significant advantage on domestic markets, which it uses to export oil to the Southern Dominions, Corporate States, foreign neighbors, and the United States remnants, begrudgingly. All of these parties are much more welcome to import cheap Texan crude oil, compared to Californian crude oil, which is exported with high tariffs, and priced with the global market.

#### United California Republics

Although California wasn’t as insulated as Texas, it still had the advantage of significant international involvement in every facet of its pre-collapse economy. Even before the US withdrawal, California’s economy stood on its own as more powerful than even other nations. On its own, California’s economic output placed the state as the fifth-wealthiest power in the world. However, much of that wealth was spent elsewhere by the federal government, crutching up poorer states that did little to invest in their own economies, and lobbied for more financial assistance from other states.

When the government was reformed into the United California Republics after the 2032 revolution, their new technocratic policies guaranteed that the most qualified would be put to the task of administration. After several months of financial planning, the state economy was reformed with its new currency: The California Peso-Dollar. With open bilateral trade with its neighbor Mexico, as well as the international markets, UCR became an economic powerhouse in North America. No longer spending its wealth outside its borders, California began a comprehensive infrastructure revival campaign, creating jobs for the millions of displaced American refugees-turned citizens, and running with the momentum of growth.

With this new financial power, UCR began laying the groundwork with Mexico and the rest of Central America to create a new economic union, similar to other partnerships elsewhere in the world. The partnership is only in its infancy, and likely won’t come to fruition for another decade or more, assuming enough countries join to gain traction. The Peso-Dollar is recognized in California proper, as well as its new states in former Nevada and Arizona, as well as their tribal states.

Despite this domestic success, the USA has publicly protested the recognition of the Peso-Dollar abroad, due to its own financial downturn. Texas trades with California, but exchange rates are varied. Cascadia has limited currency-recognition in its local economies, but most of their communities accept it as a line of credit for vital water imports into California. The Dominion also rejects the existence of the UCR on principle, and any UCR Peso-Dollars or products are considered forbidden. The Corporate States recognize the Peso-Dollar, and welcome the new economic stimulus, but are limited in divesting the currency, as the UCR government publicly protests the treatment of their working class.

#### Cascadian Confederation

The large independent communities in Oregon, Washington, and Jefferson make up the Cascadian Confederation. Their sovereignty has been recognized by the UN, but their society is largely insular. The same goes for their economic output. Cascadia produces some of the most vital of resources in the New American Wasteland: Energy and Water. Much of their water production is imported to the drought-stricken UCR, and their surplus clean energy is sold on credit to the corporate administration of former Idaho.

Despite this economic boon, Cascadia has no independent currency. Their communities largely collect credit with their economic partners, which they use to import what they cannot produce themselves. This is largely seen with California, who offers technologies and rare earth minerals for the Cascades, who seek to preserve the integrity of their land.

#### Reclaimed Nations

The term “Reclaimed Nations” is a catch-all term for the individual territories largely populated by Native Americans in different territories of North America. Since the US has withdrawn territorial claims to these lands, the reservations they were once corralled on no longer have any US authority to answer to. Some of these reservations have unified into tribal confederacies or loose coalitions to protect their own interests and combat foreign powers, such as the Dominion or Corporate States.

While some have limited economic power by way of monopolizing gaming and hospitality industries in their lands, these powers are only in their infancy, and their people have a cultural identity that has little need for Western values of property or currency. A revival of Native identity politics has vivified their people with hope for a new future unshackled by the US government and its genocidal treatment of the Tribes.

Even still, some Reclaimed Nations provide comforts no longer commonplace in America, and the rich and powerful of the Corporate States and the remaining upper class elsewhere flock to resorts and casinos on Tribal land, with the occasional Dominion oligarch visiting in secret. Much of the business exchanged is paid for with lines of credit, usually financed by resources and imports.

### Independent Commune Economies

Outside of the new states, or the corporate holdings, or the religious fiefdoms, the remainder of American civilization has reverted to Frontier-era standards. Supply chains no longer exist in some areas, as most stretches of abandoned highway are dominated by raiders. The communities of the New American Wasteland that thrive best are the Independent Communes, or InComs.

The InComs try to be self-sufficient, growing their own food and producing their own goods. Harvests are shared by neighbors, and everyone contributes to the community in some way, whether it be patrolling their walls, tending the crops, stocking the pantry, or any other chore that makes a community thrive. In some InComs, the closest thing to currency that is used are paper vouchers or ration cards. Otherwise, the InComs subsist on a barter economy. Goods that are no longer commonplace are of great value, such as manufactured ammunition, comforts such as tobacco products, or medicine such as herbal and fungal remedies.

Friendly InComs may ally with each other and pool resources, forming collectives. These allied collectives have been found to recognize their own community vouchers, or create basic tokens that are recognized by all parties. By nature, these economic partnerships are kept small, usually by only a handful of communities. To grow any bigger would attract unwanted attention from the Dominions or Corporate States, looking to exploit new pools of revenue. Despite this, a handful of alliances have blossomed across America, such as the Cascadian Confederation, with some in the remote ungoverned regions, others deep in Dominion territory.

### Ungoverned Zones

Wherever civilization hasn’t clung on has reverted even further into lawless wasteland. The UN declares these zones as different sectors of Ungoverned America. The closest thing to authority in these lands are warlords or gangs. Money means very little, and whatever holds value is taken from weaker parties by the dominant raiders of any one territory.

In the Disputed Territories bordering Canada, the parties vying for power are too many to count. Canadian currency is reluctantly accepted here to purchase illicit goods. However, the acceptance of money is largely discarded in this region. Most resources are taken through force.

In the Southwest, outside of UCR or Mexican territory, the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts are plagued by organized crime syndicates from Central America, colloquially known as The Cartels. The Cerda Melendez Cartel is one of the most dominant of these mafias, and most of their business is conducted with laundered UCR, Texan, and Mexican money.