Economic History

## 2010

The economy in 2010 has been named "The First Economy" by a few individuals from the past as it was the first interation of the Triumvirate's economic system, it was vastly different than the economy citizens know today. The economy of the Triumvirate in 2010 was based around the game of RuneScape, along side the Triumvirate which was comprised of several RuneScape clans that where members (hence the early use of the Triumvirate being called a Union, due to Unions in RuneScape being a strong alliance of clans in a similar fashion to the United States being a Union of states). In RuneScape there is a currency called, RuneScape Gold Coins (Abbreviated to RSGP) and unlike transactions today, transactions in the very early economy were not traceable, allowing anyone to steal money through fraud or outright hacking and transfer the money to another account with no record of the transaction. During the PHANTOM Crisis, Red (an Executive serving as War General) accused Head of Intelligence Ascencia of theft after PHANTOM "revieled" information that suggested that Ascencia had approperated money that was supposed to go towards the Department of Intelligence. Zerouh stated that he would look into the matter, its assumed that Zerouh asked around to see if they got money from Ascencia as that would be the ONLY option available to anyone looking into illegal transactions in the first economy. What resulted from the investigation is unknown. Due to the first economy being based in the game RuneScape, the economy revolved around the mechanics of RuneScape. See the game for more on how it works.

The first economy also featured the Head of Finance who lead the Department of Finance. In those days, the Head of Finance was in charge of the economy as a whole, whereas today the Head of the Treasury manages the government's assets and serves as an adviser on the economy and the Head of Commerce and Industry who manages all of the trade, economy sectors and transactions. In those days, due to being a part of the game RuneScape economy, the Head of Finance, held by Stavrok from February 2 until July 3, managed a RuneScape account that was dedicated solely to holding the government’s money. Had anyone hacked or otherwise logged into the account and transferred the funds to their own personal account(s) they would have been able to transfer the money without anyone knowing it was them unless they told someone. The only real way to tell would have been if someone checked the IP address from the account’s last log in location and see if the money was still there. But even then, the chances of a case against someone succeeding against the person(s) who stole the money would have been slim even with the IP as the person who did steal it could have been the one to first report it or potentially claim that the person who accessed it after them did it as there could have been a record on who last logged in. However any records of a log in record being kept haven’t been found nor talked about.

### Significant Events of 2010

1. February 2: Stavrok is elected to be the Head of Finance.
2. July 3: Stavrok steps down as Head of Finance.
3. December 14: Zamorak Agent is elected to be the second Head of Finance.

## 2011

Nothing major happened in 2011, save for Zamorak Agent's impeachment as Head of Finance and Minor Executive.

### Significant Events of 2011

1. December 13: Zamorak Agent is impeached from all offices.

## 2012

### Trimester I

The year of 2012 is probably the most critical year for the Triumvirate. This was the year that saw the return of Stavrok as Head of Finance, little over a month after Zamorak Agent's impeachment. Stavrok with his first week would have written up, proposed and passed the Financial Code. The first version of the financial code established many aspects that are currently apart of the Triumvirate economy today.

First and foremost, the financial code established the Tri, the Triumvirate’s currency. In the Financial Code, each Tri in circulation was backed by 20,000 RuneScape Gold Coins (RSGP). With the backing, if the government wanted to put more Tris in circulation, they would first have to gather the needed RSGP. Example: If the government wanted to coin another 250 Tri, under this first system with the Tri they would first have to gather 5,000,000 RSGP and store it. Each Tri was valued at $.10, however 10 Tri could never be exchanged for a United States Dollar and 10 Tri was valued at 200,000 RSGP however you couldn't exchange them, least with the government. The code also recognized the RSGP and United States Dollar as currencies alongside the Tri and no other currency.

The second important feature of the Financial Code was the establishment of the current trading system we know today found at TDC:Transactions. It established that in order to conduct trade or business in the Triumvirate, one had to fill out a transaction check. It also set the rule that in order to conduct business they had to have a TID number, IOF account, TFF account or a TFIF account. Essentially if someone didn’t have a TID number (in other words if they weren't apart of the Triumvirate, an IOF account (a Triumvirate business account), a TFF (Triumvirate Foreign Finances, which were foreign individuals who registered to trade) or a TFIF account (Triumvirate Foreign Institutional Finances, a foreign government or business) one could not trade in the economy. This prevented people from being able to trade without being registered, something Triumvirate citizens don’t have to worry about due to already being registered when they join.

Soon after the Financial Code was passed, the Government Ethics Act was passed (March 3rd). This act was instituted to prevent government corruption among the different government officials, most notibly the Executives, with the first section of the act stating that Executives couldn't receive more than ∇10 at one time without a proper and reasonable purpose. It went further to state that Executives could never work for an individual or group while serving on the Executive Branch. In effect this meant that an Executive couldn't work FOR a business, Example: Ehyta, Chief Ambassador at the time, couldn't work for Ermier's business First Nation Consulting while he was an Executive. This act also saw the first Conflict of Interest clause, which in effect meant that if a bill or anything came up that benefited an Executive's business, they had to exclude themselves from the vote.

Come March 21st, the Trade Index Act was passed, this piece of legislation brought forth the Triumvirate Trade Index which was a means for the government and populous to measure how businesses were doing in their perspective markets. With this system the TTI used how much cash a business had as a unit of measure divided by the number of business, so if Corporate Corporation had 156 Tri and General Media had 572 Tri and they were the only two businesses, the TTI would show 364. This system was a flawed system in that it's measure of success was by how much money businesses were in possession of, meaning that businesses couldn't spend money less they risk dropping the TTI index. This in effect created a system where businesses didn't spend money unless absolutely necessary and even then it was a rare occurrence.

Less than a week after the Trade Index Act was passed, on March 27st General Media was opened by Chief Ambassador, the first business to be opened and the first Media business. Soon thereafter First Nation Consulting was opened by Ermier on April 19th, the first Legal business. In between these events was the passage of the Copyright Enforcement Act, this piece of legislation established the protection of pieces of intellectual property, including Literature, sound, video, art and media, technology and the names for businesses and institutions. This in effect gave businesses protection against theft of said pieces of intellectual property, marking the first legally defined asset that wasn't a currency. In other words if General Media created an art piece that was valued at 25 tri, Corporate Corporation couldn't copy the artwork and sell it as their own legally, only General Media had rights to the art piece.

### Trimester II

While April of the Second Trimester saw little in terms of economic activity, on May fourth the Executive position of Head of Finance, including it's department (Department of Finance) was dissolved ans split into two new positions and two new departments. The Executive offices created were: Head of the Treasury and Head of Commerce and Industry who lead the Department of the Treasury and Department of Commerce respectively. What this did was it freed up the Head of Finance's work load in that rather than managing the entire economy, the Head of the Treasury's main focus was the government and it's assets, including the RSGP backed Tri. Whereas the Head of Commerce and Industry's main focus was the economy, they didn't have to worry about the government as much and could focus solely on helping businesses in the Triumvirate. Both new positions and departments have worked together on issues pertaining to the economy, while some of the Executives in the two positions didn't see eye-to-eye all the time, their cooperation did lead to prosperous times in the future. Shortly after the Department and position split, Head of Finance Stavrok who was both the first and last to hold the position (He left to serve as a Justice on the Supreme Court with Zamorak Agent being the second) was elected to serve as the Head of Commerce and Industry where he would go on to be the Third Major Executive and remain for almost a year in this new position.

Just two days later (on May sixth), former Emperor of The Empire (A major Triumvirate ally at the time) left the Empire to be elected as the first Head of the Treasury. Two days later, Head of the Treasury opened Corporate Corporation which was then solely an Exchange business. One of the first issues to be presented by Hester in his early days was the halving the Tri's value, rather than being backed by 20,000 RSGP each Tri in circulation would be backed by 10,000 RSGP. This in effect increased the amount of Tri in circulation from ∇1,000 to ∇2,000, however while increasing the amount of Tri in the economy the value of the Tri was also halved, meaning that if you were to buy a ∇10 piece of artwork it would now be valued at ∇20 while it may seem more valuable, in reality it's value only reflected the value of the Tri which was based on the RSGP at the time.

By around May 26th, Stavrok, Ehyta and Hester were in discussions about the state of the economy. With General Media amassing ∇204 due to their Triumvirate Today newspaper, the first paper in the Triumvirate, and Corporate Corporation amassing ∇100 due to Hester's personal investment into his new business, there was some worry about the state of the economy. With only ∇2,000 in circulation and ∇304 already in the hands of just two businesses, which is 15.2% of all money in circulation at the time, stagnation was a prevailing concern at the time. Shortly after the discussions started, Stavrok drops the idea that Corporate Corporation will get a contract to gather more RSGGP *"if [he] have anything to say about it"*. By May 28th a series discussion had begun between Stavrok and Hester about a contract for Corporate Corporation to gather RSGP for the government to be minted into new Tri by June 13th the contract was signed and approved by the Executive Branch, with Hester abstaining, and Corporate Corporation via Hester, the sole owner. By August 5th, Corporate Corporation was able to obtain the needed 30 million RSGP to finish the contract, twenty-three days after the contract was signed.

#### Contract Controversy

From the onset of the contract's early conception, some suspected Stavrok managed to secure Hester's vote for the Major Executive elections that were occurring on the same day that Stavrok first mentioned the idea of a contract for Corporate Corporation, the elections happening on May 26. All of the Executives' votes at the time were accounted on where who they would vote, with the exception of Hester's vote who was still new and taking an official stance of *"no comment"* on the two candidates, Arnold Ogamon and Stavrok. Some, including Ehyta as reflected in the June 10, 2012 issue of the Triumvirate Today and recently Hester (reflecting on the past) wondered if Stavrok influenced the vote with the contract and slipped unnoticed. To this day it's unclear if Stavrok had intentionally used the contract to help secure Hester's vote for himself in the Major Executive election or if it was simply due to the pressing economic talks and that it was a coincidence that the elections were happening on the day Stavrok brought up the idea.

#### Contract Effects

The most immediate effect of the contract was the hyper inflation, by the amount of currency going into the economy from ∇2,000 to ∇5,000 in very short order with no gain in membership, the result was the price of goods doubling. The other effect was Corporate Corporation's rapid over taking of General Media as the wealthiest business in the Triumvirate. As a symbolic gesture, Corporate Corporation owner, Andrew Hester, who was the Head of the Treasury, gave 10% of all earnings from the contract to the government as a voluntary tax. On July 7th, Schay Enterprises was founded by James Schay, it was the first engineering business and would go on to be a controversial business as well.

### Trimester III

The start of the third trimester was slow, only by the middle of November did one of the most controversial laws come to the table, the Tax Code. After weeks of negotiations the Tax Code between Nathan Maine, Andrew Hester, Stavrok and Andrew Mearl is tabled, this sparks a major debate between Stavrok, Maine and Hester on the proponent side and Ogamon on the opposition. After some minor variations and changes to the bill, it's passed with five in favor and two against and sent to the Administration Branch, which passed with five in favor and three against. Maine showed his relief and joy from the passage of the bill with the expression: *"It's been a long and tough fight Stavrok and Andrew, let's take the night off."* However, the victory was short lived as the schemes of Ogamon and A. Mearl to add conservative measures to the bill to get it to pass held an ulterior motive. Ermier soon went to Chief Justice Esteemi to open the case First Nation Consulting v. The Universal Triumvirate which soon deemed the taxation part of the tax code unconstitutional, allowing the other parts to remain in effect. The effects sent shock-waves throughout the economy, with many businesses no doing business till the conclussion of the case but also bitterness of those who worked to get the bill first passed against those that used the bill they knew would get struck down to get their own stuff added.

Most bitterness subsided when after roughly two weeks, Ehyta came out with The Grand Tax Deal which put together several constitutional amendments, most notably giving the power to the government the ability to implement a flat tax that could go no higher than 20% on all business incomes. While the original camps held some ground, the deal passed both branches and taxes became, as Ogamon put it *“The tax is the law now"*. All that remained was to implement a tax rate, to which Hester was quick to offer a rate of 5% on the floor for a vote, which was quickly passed soon after. The effects of the tax has been felt since it was passed, not only did the court case state the government couldn't seize private property but the tax itself after the constitutional amendment has made a significant impact on the economy, especially in the field of politics, taxes continue to be a hot topic issue.

### Significant Events of 2012

1. January 16: Stavrok is re-elected as Head of Finance.
2. January 21: The Financial Code is passed, effectively establishing the Triumvirate economy and starting the economy off with ∇1,000 in circulation.
3. March 3: The Government Ethics Act is passed, restricting government officials from voting on measures that would result in a conflict of interest with their business(es).
4. March 21: The Trade Index Act is passed, establishing the Triumvirate Trade Index which measures how businesses are doing.
5. March 27: General Media, a Media business, is established with Chief Ambassador Ehyta as it's owner and Chief Executive Officer.
6. April 6: The Copyright Enforcement Act is passed, establishing protection for business's rights to intellectual property.
7. April 19: First Nation Consulting, a legal business, is established by with Ermier as it's owner.
8. May 4: The Executive Position of Head of Finance alongside its department, the Department of Finance, is dissolved and split into the Head of the Treasury and Head of Commerce and Industry.
	1. The Department of the Treasury and Department of Commerce are created alongside the Executive Positions of Head of the Treasury and Head of Commerce and Industry.
	2. Stavrok is elected to serve as the first Head of Commerce and Industry
9. May 6: Andrew Hester is elected as the first Head of the Treasury.
10. May 8: Corporate Corporation, then an Exchanges business, is established with Head of the Treasury Hester as it's owner and Chief Executive Officer.
11. May 11: The value of the Tri is halved and the amount in circulation is doubled to ∇2,000.
12. June 13: The Contract:Triumvirate-Corporate Corporation is signed by the government and Corporate Corporation. It commissions Corporate Corporation to gather 30,000,000 RSGP from RuneScape to be given to the government to pump the economy with ∇3,000, and ∇800 going to Corporate Corporation as a commission. ∇500 being dispersed to members of the Triumvirate and the remaining ∇1,700 remaining in the government's main account.
	1. The first issue of the Triumvirate today is published.
13. July 7: Schay Enterprises, an Engineering business, is established with James Schay as it's owner.
14. November 18: The Tax Code is passed after long negotiations and opposition by members of the Establishment party, marking the first time in Triumvirate history the implementation of taxes. The tax code has a progressive tax, the more a business earned the more it paid, with rates being 0% for incomes of ∇0-99, 1% for incomes of ∇100-199, 2.5% for incomes of ∇200-299 and 5% for incomes of ∇400+.
15. December 1: The Supreme Court Rules in First Nation Consulting vs. The Universal Triumvirate that taxes are unconstitutional and the taxation part of the tax code is struck.
16. December 7: A flat tax of 5% is placed on all businesses, a flat tax is a tax in which all pay the same amount no matter how much they make.

## 2013

### Trimester I

The first tax collection occurred on January 1st at the start of the new year, with ∇37 being collected. Shortly after, James Schay of Schay Enterprises dissolves his business and leaves the Triumvirate, most likely due to taxes being apart of the Triumvirate. But before Schay left, he gave away all of his money with ∇86 going to General Media and ∇125 to his political party, the Establishment Party, marking the first time in Triumvirate financial history that money was in the hands of a political party and to surpass ∇100. So after both the Head of Intelligence and Chief Attorney are barred, by law, from being able to own a business. To most it is and remains the right course of action, reasons being that the Head of Intelligence needs to be focused primarily on the defense of the Triumvirate and not concerned with making money. While in the Chief Attorney's case, they're the one in charge of prosecuting representing the Triumvirate Government and it would be a gross conflict of interest if their business was on defense, coupled with if the Chief Attorney couldn't represent the government another Department of Justice worker would represent the government and the Chief Attorney could use their seniority over that worker to pressure them to drop the case.

Nearly a week later, on March 2, yet another position was barred from owning a business, that of Minor Executive, which too makes sense: The Minor Executive is the next in the line of succession for that of the Major Executive, the Triumvirate enjoyed that in the passed Ehtya during the Countdown Crisis was only the Minor Executive to assume the role of Acting Major Executive, and he hadn't had a business at that point. While it's easy to assume someone in Ehtya's case would put country over profit, the risk would be too high. And it also made sense due to the fact that the Major Executive can't own a business and few seeking the position of Minor Executive don't have aspirations of becoming the Major Executive and thus have to make a decision about their business sooner or later, with this they had to make that decision earlier than later. At the time Andrew Hester was the Minor Executive and he also still owned Corporate Corporation, many wondered what his intentions would be regarding to this change, though he had until the end of the second trimester to decide.

### Significant Events of 2013

1. January 1: Taxes of ∇37 from businesses is collected.
2. February 19: Schay Enterprises is dissolved by its owner who then leaves the Triumvirate soon after.
	1. Schay leaves giving all of his business's money (∇86) to General Media. And ∇125 to the Establishment Party, this marks the first amount of Tri to go into the hands of a political party's account. The Establishment party becomes the first political party to surpass having ∇100 in a political party's account.
3. February 27: The Head of Intelligence and Chief Attorney are barred from owning businesses, as added to the Financial Code as part Chief Historian Maine's restriction on officials owning IOFs for the trimester.
4. March 2: The Minor Executive is barred from owning a business, as then Minor Executive Hester who owned Corporate Corporation was allowed to remain the Minor while also able to keep his business till the next trimester when he had to either leave his business or not run for Minor Executive. The last of the position restrictions by Maine to be passed.
5. March 5: Section 14 of the Financial Code is changed from the 2014 provision, to the 75 member provision. Instead of government officials not being able to own a business by the beginning of 2014 they could instead own or be affiliated with businesses until the trimester after the Triumvirate reached 75 members.
6. April 6: General Media becomes the first business to break the ∇1,000 mark.
7. April 14: Lanclot Rice is elected to be the Head of Commerce and Industry.
8. July 6, 2013: General Media the first business to go public, offering 100 shares.
9. September 1: Andrew Hester resigns as Head of the Treasury, along with his position as Minor Executive, due to the political environment around a deal to prevent underfunding to the government.
	1. Ryan Bleitze is elected to be the new Head of the Treasury after Hester's resignation.

## 2014

### Trimester I

1. February 6: Lanclot Rice transfers from Head of Commerce and Industry to Head of Education.
2. March 11: Thomas Crick is elected to be the Head of Commerce and Industry.

### Trimester II

1. May 19: Thomas Crick is impeached from Head of Commerce and Industry due to excessive absences.
2. June 18: Vulpese Arenas is elected to be the Head of Commerce and Industry.
3. June 26: Andrew Hester is elected to be the Head of the Treasury.

## 2015

### Trimester I

The start of the first trimester of 2015 was a slow one, while Prime Personnel gained ∇195 (∇180 for the contract and ∇15 from incentives) for recruiting a new member, the start of the new year was one of the slowest otherwise. One relatively significant event was the impeachment of Vulpese Areanas from Head of Commerce and Industry, due to having done nothing in office to help businesses. Another event early in the new year was the passage of the CLEAN Act act, the Minecraft server project that many, including Aaron Ehyta of General Construction and Andrew Hester of Corporate Corporation had looked forward too as a new means of income for their perspective businesses, was removed from being backed by the government. Many perponents of the server project had argued that the server would open new markets for the economy, but with the server's lack of progress due to multiple factors the project was for a second time canceled and no longer being backed by the government. The server, as Major Executive Stenbach stated, would be best to be done by the private sector. The CLEAN Act also saw the addition that the Department of the Treasury was to collect foreign currency, including from video games such as RuneScape and that the task must be done by May 1, 2015 to gather ∇200 worth of foreign currency.

On March 9, the Naturalization Contingency Act was passed, a significant bill that greatly effects the economy. The first significant effect was the removal of the Future Coinage Plan, the plan outlined when the Treasury was going to be enabled to 'print' more Tri into the economy when membership reached a certain level. This removed the government's immediate ability to add new currency into circulation for public use (when spent by the government) as new members came in, and indirectly removed the Department of Naturalization's ability to ideally justify high expenditures. The next significant effect was allowing the Department of Naturalization the ability to issue it's own debt, a limit of ∇500 (∇2,000 less than what the Treasury is able to do, bringing the total government debt ceiling to ∇3,000 if both departments issued debt). This marked the second department able to issue public debt and allowed the Department of Naturalization to fund itself in the short run outside of requesting funding from the Treasury. Another effect, though minor, was that it excluded the Department of Naturalization from being suspended in a government shutdown, however this would only be the case if it was still able to issue debt. Possibly the most important aspect of the act was that of what happens in the event the Department of Naturalization wasn't able to pay off its existing debt. In this event, the Head of the Treasury is to immediately take control of the department and effectively be the person in charge. This however doesn't extend to the Head of Naturalization's role in the Executive Branch, or their vote within the branch itself.

On March 22, a bill was presented to the Executive Branch by Administrative Liaison Charles Sessions to implement a universal sales tax in the Triumvirate. The bill was quickly struck down by Chief Attorney Clark McDearny as implementing a *"double tax"* the other tax being the corporate tax on business income (with a few exemptions) and increasing the burden on businesses, along with Major Executive Stenbach saying that *"If, and only if, you eliminate the corporate tax and reduce this tax to 5% will I consider this."* Head of the Treasury Andrew Hester shortly thereafter stating that the economy wasn't ready for a new tax, indicating he'd be open to the idea at a later date, Hester would then point out that Sessions' arguments for the tax weren't (in his views) correct, pointing out that businesses would pass on the tax to citizens through increased prices to battle and pay the tax and adding a burden to both businesses and citizens alike, he argued that he would rather see a higher corporate tax than a new tax and concluded his stance on it with *"I as Head of the Treasury cannot justify my position nor my department in actions that would cause damage to the fragile economy!"* being Head of the Treasury his department would oversee tax collections. The day after on March 23 it was announced that via a 2-5 vote the bill failed to pass (as there were only ten Executives at the time). Shortly after Major Executive Stenbach stated he was willing to discuss "*finding a balance between a sales tax and a corporate tax" with Sessions expressing disappointment in that the bill failed, stating that he was trying to bring back the economic prosperity that Maine brought forth, Hester would conclude the discussions stating that the economic "*happy times*" were still possible but not via Mainenomics through massive spending unlike in the old days when the government had money or issuing more bonds. The final vote was 3-6, indicating a fairly hostile mood towards taxes in the Executive Branch.*

On March 26 Joseph Margall is elected to be the new Head of Commerce and Industry, promising to get the economy working again. Come March, it was announced by General Media and Corporate Corporation of the General Media-Corporate Corporation Office Designs Contract. It marked the first contract between businesses and not with the government, as contracts had always been since the economy's inception. The contract outlined that General Media was going to purchase office designs for Executives and Administrators alike from the McDearny plan from the second attempt to launch the Minecraft server.

On April 3, the REPAIR Act was passed, spearheaded by Head of Naturalization Lanclot Rice. It established a government employee pension for former government employees, placed under the control of the Department of Naturalization. While establishing the pension for government employees who had worked for the government for no less than two years, it drastically cut government employment incentives to compensate for the new expense. The act was initially struck down in the Executive Branch due to a procedural issue, but was passed nonetheless shortly after.

Also passing on April 3, was that of Foreign Currency Asset Act by Head of the Treasury Andrew Hester. It expanded the ideas from Major Executive Edward Stenbach's CLEAN Act, specifically that of the foreign currencies that were to be gathered by the Department of the Treasury. The act allowed the Department of State the ability to request and use these government assets in it's diplomatic missions with foreign powers, should that state use the currency held by the Treasury, while also directing the Treasury to gather an additional ∇25 in reserves. The most important aspect of the act was granting the Treasury the ability to sell foreign currency for tri and allowing the public trading of Tri for foreign currencies. This in effect gave the government a potential source of revenue. The last important event to occur in the first trimester of 2015 was the establishment of Dread & Feld by Arthur H. Feld & Matthew Dread on April 29, the second legal business in the Triumvirate. By the end of the trimester, Head of the Treasury Hester completed the gathering of required foreign currency for the Treasury with 40 million RSGP gathered.

#### Brayer-Braugh Act

*Main Article*: Brayer-Braugh Act

*Main Article*: Durand v. Hester

Five days after Margall's Executive Election and the General Media-Corporate Corporation contract, the Brayer-Braugh Act is passed, this marked another controversial act that dealt with the economy and taxes. The law set about replacing the corporate tax with that of a corporate holdings tax, that is a tax on how much money the business was holding onto at the time of taxation. This sparked great controversy as Major Executive Edward Stenbach and Head of the Archive Theodore Crown, a former Chief Attorney and Supreme Court Justice respectively, questioned the Constitutionality of the act, as did Head of the Treasury Hester who supported it but felt it was unconstitutional with how the constitution was worded stating that the Executive Branch "*By law, levy a tax on institutional income, provided it be a standard rate among all and that no institution pays more than 20% of their income in total dues per trimester.*"

The controversial act was brought to a head in Durand v. Hester on July 16, in the second trimester of 2015, when First Nation Consulting Attorney, Harrison Mearl, submitted a complaint to the courts representing Bradford Durand of Prime Personnel. Followed shortly being sent to Head of the Treasury Hester, represented by Chief Attorney Clark McDearny. The main objective of the plaintiff was the removal of the controversial section, though this would mean that the government would have no tax in place for the next trimester. The defense's main objective was to either keep the corporate savings tax or if deemed uncontroversial, have the entire act nullified and keeping the corporate income tax.

### Trimester II

By the start of the new trimester, Hester discovered there wasn't enough money in the Treasury to send out the budget, claiming he had been focused on the foreign currency and didn't notice the shortfall sooner. Rather than issue a new bond to cover the gap in funding as people said and a hurriedly made bill to re-allocate money dismissed by several other politicians, Hester transferred ∇32 from his personal account and immediately sent out the budget after.

By the near end of May, on the 22nd, Major Executive Charles Sessions releases the State of the Union XV and outlines his economic goals, mainly that the of the *Systemically Important Financial Institution Monitoring and Identification (SIFIMI) Act. Which was to give the Department of Commerce the power to monitor and identify important financial institutions. Sessions would state that the Union needed to be responsible with its economy and that wanted to ensure that large financial institutions didn't collapse, bringing the economy with it. The day after, Head of Commerce and Industry, Joseph Margal, is impeached from office due to in-activity.*

As Margal is impeached from office, Pevolt Levici starts up his own business, General Grants and Investments. However, shortly after, Aaron Ehyta of General Media, General Defense and General Construction files suit against Levici stating that "The 'General title was copyrighted under 15 UTC §4(a)(3) and reserved for businesses owned, created, or managed by the Ehtya family." This marks the first legal action between two businesses and/or their owners, while also a landmark case. The Supreme Court upheld Ehyta's claims on the 'General' title when applied to business. Shortly after the lawsuit, nine new individuals are recruited within a span of three days (My 25-28). This marks the largest influx of members ever and brought the Triumvirate closer to the 45 citizen mark before committees (including the economics committee.

#### Administration Blockade of laws

*Main Article:* GREAT USE Act

After Major Executive Sessions released the State of the Union, Administrative Liaison Allison Braugh delivered a message (on May 22) from Speaker of the Administration, Luke Cannon, that he and Underspeaker of the Administration, John Brayer, were joining forces to block any and all legislation until the GREAT USE Act was passed, even legislation pertaining to the budget and government spending. This upset many, including Head of the Treasury Hester who planned on spending the Trimester with the budget and government spending, as the GREAT USE act had already been struck down due to an even split in the Executive Branch. The 'blockade' was lifted nine days later on the 31st, when one Executive changed their original vote against to for passed the GREAT USE Act.

The financial ramifications had the GREAT USE Act not passed in the trimester, even if only shortly after the blockade started, would have been that the Treasury would of had to issue debt through bonds for the entirety of the budget as the government main account only held ∇9 in it at the time. Though some departments would later send their excess funds back to the Treasury, though only after a reallocation bill was being drafted later.

#### Significant Events of 2015

1. January 5: Vulpese Areanas is impeached from office as Head of Commerce and Industry.
2. January 27: The CLEAN Act is passed.
3. February 20: Triumvirate Media Corporation is founded by Henry Gobar.
4. February 27: Triumvirate Media Corporation becomes the second business in the Triumvirate to become a conglomerate after opening Triumvirate Research Institution.
5. March 6: General Media and Corporate Corporation formulate a contract for CC to create new images for Executive and Administrative offices.
6. March 9: The Naturalization Contingency Act is passed, allowing the Department of Naturalization to issue its own debt, but with the provision that enables the Head of the Treasury to take over the Department of Naturalization should it fail to meet its debt obligations.
7. March 22 - 23: A universal sales tax is proposed in the Executive Branch, but fails with a 3-6 vote. The first sales tax proposed in the history of the Triumvirate.
8. March 26: Joseph Margall is elected as the new Head of Commerce and Industry
9. March 31: The Brayer-Braugh Act is passed, a bill that replaced the corporate income tax with a corporate savings tax.
10. April 3: The REPAIR Act is passed, establishing a government employee pension and cutting back on the government employment incentives program.
11. April 3: The Foreign Currency Asset Act is passed, expanding new requirements and rules for the Department of the Treasury in the acquisition and holding of foreign currencies started by the CLEAN Act.
12. April 29: Dread & Feld is founded, the second legal business in the Triumvirate.
13. May 1: A government shutdown is found to be potentially on the horizon by Hester, it is later averted when he uses his own money to cover the shortfall.
14. May 22: The State of the Union XV is released by Major Executive Charles Sessions, in it he outlines plans for the 'Systemically Important Financial Institution Monitoring and Identification (SIFIMI) Act, giving the Department of Commerce power to monitor and identify important financial institutions.
	1. Administrative Liaison Allison Braugh delivers a message from Speaker of the Administration Luke Cannon that he and Underspeaker of the Administration John Brayer will block any and all legislation until the GREAT USE Act is passed, even legislation pertaining to the budget and government spending, infuriating Head of the Treasury Hester who's goal for the trimester focused solely around the budget and government spending.
15. May 23: Joseph Margal is impeached from the office of Head of Commerce and Industry, due to in-activity.
	1. General Grants and Investments is founded by Pevolt Levici.
		1. Shortly after General Grants and Investments is founded, Aaron Ehyta owner of General Media, General Defense and General Construction files a lawsuit against Levici stating that "The 'General title was copyrighted under 15 UTC §4(a)(3) and reserved for businesses owned, created, or managed by the Ehtya family.
16. May 25-28: Nine new individuals are nationalized over the course of three days, marking the largest boom in population and as noted by Edward Stenbach, the Triumvirate was close to achieving the 45 people required in order to bring back committees.
17. May 27: LAW 2015-II-3 is passed, drastically cutting pay to government officials.
18. May 29: Anna Antoniou is elected as the new Head of Commerce and Industry.
	1. Eden Publishing is founded by Jackson Eden, announcing a new paper the Triumvirate Tribune.
	Eden Publishing buys out competing media business, Triumvirate Media Corporation. Marking the first time a business bought out another in Triumvirate economic history.
	CEO and Owner of Corporate Corporation, Andrew Hester, announces his business would resume operations on the 31st.
19. May 31-June 6: A reintroduction of a minimum wage is rejected by the Administration Branch.
20. June 6: CEO Aaron Ehyta wins his case in Ehtya v. Levici, Supreme Court rules the 'General' name is the Ehyta family's and that Levici was to either rename his business, General Grants and Investments, or dissolve it.
21. June 10: The 'Party On' Act is passed, it establishes that to create new Political Parties, that a fee of ∇50 be paid to the Department of the Treasury. Marking the first time that new political parties need to pay a fee before being established.
	1. The Systemically Important Financial Institution Monitoring and Identification (SIFIMI) Act is passed, granting extraordinary powers to the Department of Commerce.
22. June 14: The Business Standardization Act is passed. Creating a set definition of businesses within the Triumvirate.
23. July 22: Law 2015-II-10 is passed, significantly cutting activity incentives.
24. July 26: Corporate Corporation is sold by it's owner, Andrew Hester, to Jackson Eden, of the Eden Publishing company. Establishing Eden Publishing as a newspaper monopoly.
25. July 31: Non-Profits Reform Act is passed, set to define Non-for profit institutions in the Triumvirate.
26. August 11: Head of Media Jackson Eden, announces the Universal Triumvirate Chess Contest with an entry fee of ∇5
27. August 17: The Repeal of the Tariff in the Triumvirate fails via a 6:6 even split in the Executive Branch.
	1. The failure of the measure also sparks a headed debate amongst Executives.
28. August 20: Head of the Treasury Hester announces policies that effect the Treasury, organizing the structure and political neutrality.
	1. The transaction report for 2012-II is published.
29. August 21: The transaction report for 2012-I is published.
	1. The transaction report for 2012-III is published.
30. August 22: The transaction report for 2013-I is published.
31. August 23: The transaction report for 2013-II is published.
32. August 24: The transaction report for 2013-III is published.
	1. The transaction report for 2014-I is published.