Opinion Polls

Hey everyone, I've got some more dangerous new ideas!


For a while now I've been wondering whether or not there's a better way to run the budget system, as the current one has several problems...
1) Areas such as defence and culture are alarmingly absent from the system.
2) The economy can jump from 60% to 69% without recieving any rise in tax income, but fall just 1% to 59% and suddenly the government faces a tax shortfall.
3) The current budget unit system is so basic that things that laws which should really cost different amounts cost the same.
4) The economy rating can be very easily maxed out by the government swamping the industry & business budget with extra units.
5) We have no idea how well the actual economy is doing (the economy rating is just a measure of public opinion).
6) If we go through a period of sudden growth or decline, it can be very confusing having to update the budget every few days.
7) The government has huge reserves but doesn't get interest payments on them.


Now problem 1 could very easily be resolved using the current system, but the others are trickier. Here's the new system that I suggest to fix these problems...

Looking back over it, it is probably a more complex system if you attempt to fully understand it. I suspect however that all most chancellors would need to do is decide what % they are going to give each department and then check to make sure that they don't end up with a massive deficit or surplus. It would of course need further work to ensure a smooth transition from the current system (probably by translating current spending into FUs and then working backwards to calculate the current size of the economy).

Anyways, let me know what you think. Here are some examples of what the new system might look like...

The main restriction is that there is no possibility for long term economic growth - if the economy reached a sky-high rating then it would get so that the only possible way of increasing total government funding would be to increase taxation. Over time the number of budget units required is guaranteed to increase, and there is no system that can keep up with it.

This suggestion doesn't really help with this - indeed it hinders it by adding new areas to take up budget units. The only thing that helps is interest, but if you have very high government expenditure (which we inevitably head towards) then this is likely to be marginal anyway.

The other thing I dislike about the suggestion is that it limits the amount you can spend in an area. I don't see why a government should be forbidden from putting large amounts of investment in one area if they so desired, even if it were not absolutely necessary.

On the plus however, the increase in flexibility and improving the economy rating's effects are definately good.

It only limits untargeted spending. Basicly, it means governments would have to say what the money was actually being specifically spent on, as opposed to just throwing money at the system.

If I were an economic libertarian I'd comment on the irony of taxes being measured in "FUs" ...

You could include a basic increase in funding (say change the formula to 102+d/100) to make it more likely to cope with continual increases in spending.

How do brudgets fit into this system?

How did I know that that is what HRH would say ?...

WITCHCRAFT!

*burns*

You may have a point about FUs though - lets just call them units.

Anyways, back to the budget system... the problem with Miniyoda008's equation is that it could allow the economy rating to slowly sink without there being any negative effects.


Perhaps instead you could make it so that the equation is (100+d+(x-30)/100) where x is the current economy rating. I'm aware though that it does make the system even more complicated...

This post has been edited by Commoncold0 on Jul 15 2009, 02:41 PM

So long as I don't have to understand the point of the equations, but only how to put them in a calculator, I'm happy.

This looks like a good system to me. I'll be happy to use it if it gets enough support.

Poll added.

I voted yes, because I realized that the current system punishes (and conversely rewards) greatly based on rating. Here, we have a system with the same effect occurs, except less drastically.

We have a huge majority in favour on this one, with the official result standing at 9-2. Arrangements will be made for this system to be implemented starting next term.