The Alphabet Plan

## The Problem

Shandücha has always been a powerful military state, but it's economy was on the rocks.  Larger nations with plentiful resources were hard to complete with, leading Shandücha to exert itself vigorously to keep up.  The economic strain became crushing, and the nation headed for economic collapse. Not long after taking office the Emperor realized the dangerous situation.

## The Economic Memorandum of Shandücha Emperor.

In order to maintain Shandücha's place as a major world power alongside the much larger and economically robust nation's residing in the USA, Shandücha has been stretched to the limit.  Particularly, keeping up with Los Lobos and Tsukonia has been a great challenge.

The result is that Shandücha has begun to lose strength.  Our treasury is limited, our economy is stagnated, and the problems will only get worse over these next years.  Do not be misled, our economy is about to collapse. Significant reform is vital, lest our nation be unable to recover.

The following are my plans for economic growth and development.

### The Alphabet Plan.

For the next few years (this being 1900 ish I guess) all wars must be avoided.  Any war would only exaserbate our current economic troubles.

A.        More jobs should be created.  With jobs available most men and women will have the chance to provide for themselves.  This will do two things.  1. Provide additional oppertunities to tax income.  2. Individuals will spend more, thus supporting businesses.  In the long term the economy and Shandücha will benefit.

To do this, the Government will hire men and women for the creation of public works-- roads, railroads, dams, monuments, museums, and ect.

B.          Shandücha will offer cheap loans for business thus allowing them to develop without being crushed by interest rates.  With an increase in businesses and services the employment rate will increase as will taxable revenue.  Ideally theses business will thrive, regularly injecting new blood into the economy as those with vision use new tech to provide better quality and reasonable rates.

C.            Transportation Infrastructure must be developed.  By investing in transportation we make way for large economic growth.

 1.  Goods can be moved in greater volume and in a much cheaper way.  This would create savings, and additional opertunities for trade.

 2. With better transport services fewer goods would be lost, damaged, or spoiled in transit.

 3. It will result in better utilization, management, and reliability of goods being produced.

 4. Make a larger market available.

 Transportation systems will also improve mail services, military movements, and tourism.

D.            We will endeavour to make exports as cheap as possible, while making imports more expensive. This will increase government revenue, increase trade, and encourage domestic spending.

If imports are expensive (tariffs/taxes)-- citizens are more likely create business to produce that good inside Shandücha.  If other countries begin to do the same thing-- retaliation- then we may have to stop the tarffs.  A trade war would hurt the economy.  Instead we will offer new business subsidies-- or temporarily shielding them from more entrenched foreign companies.  These subsidies will lower the business cost- allowing them to reduce prices and thus become competitive in the long term.  However these subsidies will be temporary for each company.  The government won't prop up dying business, nor will we bail out those who failed.

Exports should be kept relatively cheap to encourage other nations to buy our product rather than developing their own production.  Long term benefits.  If tariffs are imposed on us, we may need to impose tariffs on them.

E.               To avoid an inflation crisis, currency should be backed by gold (if possible).

F.            The Shandüchan people must be injected with a desire to work hard, to buy goods with their hard earned money, and invest.   A campaign should be started to to encourage these things. (if they don't already. I mean I hope they already do but I can't prove it lol).

G.             Our companies and people will need to innovate constantly.  Using new technology and practices quickly, thus always being on the cutting edge.

H.                Education.  (Parents are the primary teachers of children, but we will have schools of course). Our schools will have a heavy focus on practical real world training and teaching students how to learn.  Our Higher Education will primarily focus on Vocational Education.  Teaching practical skills and ensuring most students can actually get a job after collage.

(Non vocational education campuses will exist.  We do need scientists.  But these will be a little more rare.)

Our economy will grow due do a rise in jobs, an increase in personal business, increased trade, and efficiency.

I.               Unnecessary Government spending must be cut to pay for these additional programs. Waste of government funds in general must not be tolerated.To show solidarity-- I, the Emperor, will accept 1/2 of my traditional salary for the duration of this project.

J.                      We must encourage entrepreneurs.  Previous points will help in many ways with this.  It is also vital that the economy and nation remain stable to allow new business.  A system should be created allowing men and women with ideas for products and services to show their ideas and gain working capital.  (Like shark tank)

K.                 We will lower general tax rates, allowing citizens to keep more of their money.  With this extra money they will do one of 2 things, both of which would help the economy.  1.  Spend the money.  2. Invest the money- even if it's just in a bank.  These 2 things historically improve the economy.

As the economy improves, the entire nation will rise.  People will have access to more jobs, a higher standard of living, more goods and services, and the government will have access to more revenue.

With a strong economy the nation will flourish and remain a dangerous threat to our enemies while being a bastion of safety to our people and allies.

#### Resources.

Shandücha has many natural resources.  However resources alone are not enough to develop or maintain a strong economy.  We do need to make use of these resources and expand their potential.

Our goal will be to become a producer country.  Quickly and efficiently producing quality goods at a reasonable price.  Raw resources are not as valuable as finished products, so this is where we will focus our attention.  Still knowing some of the resources at our disposal is necessary.

Shanducha is perhaps the biggest source of iron and salt in the USA.  We possess plenty of rich farm land and plenty of livestock.  Thanks to the Great Lakes and many rivers we have fresh water in abundance and the many fish that swim in them.

Massive stores of lumber, sand, gravel, stone, cement, clay, and peat mean we have no shortage of building material.  We also produce lead, zinc, manganese, copper, and other many other minerals.

As for coal and oil- we produce at the very least 2/3 of our necessary coal.  We have some natural gass and oil production, but not enough to meet demand. These three things will need to be imported.

Perticularly oil and coal must be developed.  We have within our borders significant amounts of coal, but we require regular imports.  It should be our aim to maximize our potential through new technology.

Oil- An agreement between Shandücha and Brewtan has already been signed, which will split the North Dakota teritory.  This could give us access to large amounts of oil.  We must make sure we can peacefully aquire this land from the Natives. It is unclear if we will still need to import oil even with these supplies.

We also possess an Advantageous Trade Location-- access to the Atlantic Ocean via the St Lawrence River.  The Great Lakes-Over 200 million tons of cargo are shipped annually.  Access to the Gulf of Mexico via the Mississippi.  These rivers and the great lakes can be used to ship goods internally and to other parts of the world.

We have already built a railroad to Tsukonia, and we would like to build another to Brewtan.  We have direct access to trade with Los Lobos, Brewtan, Roman (via Mississippi), Rum via ships, and Tsukonia (via the railroad)

We are small, and have several ways of transportation.  Waterways, railroads, and roads.  Meaning the development of transportation infrastructure will be very easy and will completly unite the nation for trade, moving troops, and civilian transportation.  Plenty of dams could provide large hydroelectric power.

Additionally, since Shandücha does not have a border on the ocean we would be able to save significant money by not needing a massive navy. While it's true that not having an oceanic border won't be ideal for trade, our two great rivers should be able to compensate.   Should any nation attempt to block one or both of these rivers (St. Laurence and Mississippi) it would likely result in war.

Not requiring a massive Oceanic Navy means we could build a powerful River and Great Lakes Fleet.  These should be able to dwarf anything other nation can dedicate to those areas, thus assuring our dominance of them.  We may need a small ocean navy to prevent piracy, though we don't possess any base for such ships.  Perhaps we could lease land from allies.  Still these fleets should be cheeper and easier to maintain than other nations fleets -- saving us money.

The result of my reforms will enable Shandücha to become an Economic as well as a Military Powerhouse. Capable of defending itself and projecting power against rival nation.

We will be able to survive a nation wide blockade for several years if we ration our recourses (like coal).

This will lead to another Golden Age for Shandücha.

## Results of the Plan.

The Alphabet Plan was meant to be a 5 year plan￼. For the results we will use a 1-20 rating system. 1 means complete economic collapse, 20 means a perfect economy. Before the Plan was put into effect, Shandücha was near Economic collapse- sitting somewhere between 2-4 points.

Year 1-- The economy immediately began to improve rapidly, within the first year. It rose 8 points.

Year 2-- The people and leaders became overconfident and the economy fell 5 points. As a result numerous officials were removed from their post-- some were fired, some imprisoned, and some were executed. This sent a strong message from the Emperor- Incompetence and Negligence will not be tolerated in such an important job.

Year 3-- the Economy improves greatly. The total points gained at this point was 8 points- this putting our rating at 10-12.

Year 4-- the Reforms were well under way, and had caused remarkable growth. Year 4 saw a consolidating of policy with no growth or recession.

Year 5-- It was hoped that the reforms along with the punishment of bad leaders would see large scale improvement in the 5th year. We were not disappointed, the economy Jumped it's highest rate. The Alphabet Plan resulted in a total improvement of 17 points. This was beyond the wildest hopes and dreams of Shandücha.

At the very least, Shandücha's economy was a level 19, of 20. It went from near collapse to near perfection in just 5 years. Shandücha would continue to be an Economic Powerhouse until the Great Event caused by QH-29.