National Ecographic: The Population Boom
"Mourron families find it more difficult than ever to feed their children properly, opting to chase the ever-growing tail of educational advancement." - Esteline Surrona, Minister for Health.
Minister Surrona and her team of health officials published their most recent analysis of national health and the Mourron census, raising serious questions for Danako Johnson and his policies of economic reform.
As the Republic of Mourro sees its population exdeed the one billion marker, and as the country allows a steady increase of immigrants and refugees into the country, the fight for jobs and the desirable salary is incredibly hard-going. In recent months taxes saw an average five per cent decrease, but according to Minister Surrona's report, over 80% of residents spent their average tax redemptions on their children's educational pursuits or, if there were no children, on their own academic goals.
The Prime Minister herself last week asked on the Silver Corporation's breakfast show, 'Sangshigi Rashi' (Bacon News), whether it was 'time to take a step back and take a good look at the constitution and its philosophies', suggesting a referral to the current argument that there is too much focus on educational advancement in Mourro, and that this is hugely overshadowing any significant economic growth. According to one referendum, the public expressed little interest in saving public aircraft and maintaining national airports, and the government is thus drafting new policy to phase out air travel throughout the country. There is also, of course, little activity in rejuvenating automobiles or their production, as the last of Pogoro province's car manufacturing factories is closed down and is to be turned into a solar power plant.
Minister Piro Ito, Minister for the Environment and representative of the green Oleva province, told the National Ecographic that 'if the people don't want economic development any time soon, then there will be no mobilisation. It is as simple as that. The people of Mourro are far too set on education and protecting the country's natural purity than caring about building up private businesses or encouraging things like cars and planes. But this is not to say that the country is not developed per se.'
And Minister Ito seems to have a backing army on his argument. Environmentalists at the Noknok Academy for Environmental Studies in Oleva province's Pipping Town conducted several surveys in the country's southern provinces, inquiring about people's monthly expenses. A portion of the survey results is shown below.
Monthly Expenses per Family (January-May 2011)
-The national average monthly wage at the point of survey was 17,500 Wo-
*The maximum monthly expense surveyed was 22,950 Wo; the minimum was 20,290 Wo.
Food and Drink: 400-450 Wo
Utilities (bills): 80-150 Wo
Education of Self and/or Child(ren): 11,500 Wo
Travel: 50-100 Wo
Medical: 10-50 Wo
Conservation and Charity: 8,000 - 10,000 Wo
Clothing: 50-100 Wo
Social Life: 150-300 Wo
Internet and Communications: 50-100 Wo
Other: 100-200 Wo
But Danako Johnson, who represents the Lesto province, says that the above-mentioned Academy's research was 'elitist' and 'sought not to include the northern provinces', where he described the expenses for the same factors as being 'much less'. He claimed in one report published two weeks ago that the Academy and other establishments were 'purposefully making such publications biased in order to put their own agendas in a favourable public light'.
The capital's Chunga province itself and the educational powerhouse of a province Hakko have both invested millions in Academy and environmental projects over the last decade, and the last ten years in particular saw Hakko professors and government officials donating more money to educational causes than all of the previous decades in Mourro's history put together.
The Lesto Minister also indicates that while taxes are on a slow but sure decrease and the national average income increases, the economy is still an imploded one where the families in northern provinces can often not even afford three meals for their families, due to the combined factors of mass factory closure and high rates of school and Academy competition. While those in the north spend less than those in southern provinces, they still spend the most on their children's education.
Last month, more than eighty Hakbangs (public rooms built for studying) were built in Lesto alone. This is not just because of the thirst for education, but also because of the surge in the country's population and the fact that the average family has two-to-three children under the age of eighteen.
Almost 100% of all Mourron 16 year olds proceed to Academies, making the country's military a barren sector and meaning that the part-time tertiary sector is always heavily under pressure to survive as the rest of the population gets older. With the current propagation of Sir Arthur Black-esque educational and environmental philosophies and traditions been taught in schools across the nation, there is little demand for business education, and an almost non-existent private sector, and the ban on automobiles and dissolution or air travel will only make commercial spending that little bit less.
'The nation has a phobia of capitalism,' says Johnson, 'and that puts the brakes firmly on an economy which has no wheels to start with. Until the public agenda sways, the Mourron economy is set to remain one of Ritwana fruit baskets and kids selling lemonade on the street.'
But do such examples of rural or 'traditional' economy mean that the Republic is poor? There is nothing factual to suggest this. The homeless rate is zero, crime in the Republic is unknown of, and the average income increases every time, and each individual is almost always guaranteed a job after their Academy education. Donako Johnson may be right in thinking that it'll be a long time before Mourro sees massive corporations and booming industrial power, like many other nations out there seem to pursue as their economic goal.
Article written by Rachel Costello.