Harkbank International - NS finances - Now Investing!

[Harkback Union]

HARKBANK INTERNATIONAL




Bank Vault

(you can view your balance and transfer your money there)


Welcome to Harkbank International.



Whats harkbank international?
Harkbank International is the International Incidents branch of Harkbank P2TM. Harkbank international issues the Internationale (][) bank notes. The ][ are primarily intended for use in commerce between nations. For instance, if you want to obtain a shipment of woodchips from another nation, you can offer him a couple million internationales in exchange. He can then use the money to buy stuff from other nations in the same way.

How do I get more ][ ?

-All nations that create an account for the first time at Harkbank international gains some ][ depending on their population. For Every 10 Million citizens your nation has at the time, you gain 1 million ][ or 1 m][. A million is the smallest unit of money in which harkbank is willing to deal.

-Additionally, Harkbank is willing to give out ][ for Z. Z is a rare, mysterious and very valuable mineral that is also in a very limited supply. Z can only be mined in a remote island, unkown to most nations, though corrupt harkback officials are willing to disclose the location for 1,000,000,000 ][ (that's one billion ][).

- Finally, ][ can be gained by taking out loans from Harkbank. The loan terms are the following:
> The size of the loans you can get depends on your nation's credit rating. By default, its F, which means that you can't take up loans from Harkbank.
> For every 10 m][ of debt your nation has, there is an interest of 1 m][ per week. That's a 10% per week in other terms.
> If the debt you piled up exceeds what your credit rating allows, Harkbank will take... legal actions to recover its losses.


How do I manage my nation's ][ ?

Simply saying in any random thread that you send ][ to someone else isn't enough. You'll have to inform our accountants of the transfer either by posting here or by leaving a comment on the Vault Google Document. You can only send ][ to a nation with an account here.


Disclaimer
1. Harkbank International does not guarantee to fulfill its promises and is exempt from all legal obligations.
2. Harkbank retains the right to add or subtract ][ from any accounts without the consent of the owner. Harkbank is not obliged to state the reasons behind such actions.
3. Harkbank cannot be held responsible for fraud conducted by our costumers. Its their fault, not ours.

Terms of service

1. By accepting the terms of service, you allow Harkbank to confiscate your nation's publicly and privately owned land, infrastructure, vehicles, satellites, gold, fiat currencies, woodchip reserves and ice cream, should you be overdue with payments. Your most valuable resource deposits, historical architecture and jet bombers can be sold by Harkbank at auctions across NS until enough ][ are raised to cover your debt, though you may also choose to sell WA votes to Harkbank International or fight wars for Harkbank International to have a portion of your debt ereased.
2. None of our costumers are allowed to discredit Harkbank International on any forums.
3. None of our costumers are allowed to complain the quality or speed of service by Harkbank International. It is allowed to report misconduct by our employees though.
4. By accepting the terms of service, You agree in advance to any points that will be added to this document by Harkbank International in the future, regardless of what they say.

Nations that refuse the tos will have their credit rating set to F pernamently and will not receive any starting ][.


New Account form:

Code: Select all

Name:
Gender:
Do you accept the terms of service?: Yes.
Your Nation's current population:
Signature:


Deal Form (use to make safe transactions. Both the source and the recipient of the money can fill this out to clarify what the deal was about. You can skip this step if you trust the person you are dealing with.)

Code: Select all

Sending or Receiving:
What the Deal is about:
Internationales Transferred:
Signature:


Complaint Form:

Code: Select all

Subject of Complaint:
Signature:


Harkbank now offers capital for new storefronts!

Capital investment form:

Code: Select all

Name:
Your plans with the money:
Signature:

Attention!
Harkbank is hiring new employees for the following positions:

Available Positions:
Chief Executive Officer - Salary of 100 m][ per week. Responsible for running the banking operation and paying salaries to all employees. - Already taken.
Public Relations Officer - Salary of 35 m][/week. Ensures that Harkbank is favored by the masses.
HR Manager - Salary of 35 m][/week. Hires new employees and ensures that existing ones are working around the clock.
Accountant - Salary of 20 m][/week. Handles transactions between nations and sorts out technical problems.
Senior Accountant - 35 m][/week. Sets credit rating for Nations, handles loan requests and charges interest on loans every week.
Lawyer - Salary of 35 m][/week. Handles legal affairs of Harkbank. Expands terms of service on a regular basis.
Security Chief - Salary of 50 m][/week. Ensures safety of Harkbank assets.

Job App

Code: Select all

Name:
Desired position:
Certifications (if any):
Signature:

[align=center]Employee list:

Employee 001 - Apple, Accountant at Harkbank P2TM and Harkbank International.
Employee 002 - G-tech, Vice president of Harkbank P2TM, accountant at Harkbank International.
Employee 003 - Oscalantine, Senior Accountant at Harkbank International.
Employee 004 - Sci, PR officer at Harkbank International.
Employee 005 - Moon, PR officer at Harkbank International.
Employee 006 - Seno, Security Chief at Harkbank International.

[Oscalantine]

Name of your nation's leader (the account will be made out for him/her): Nathaniel Nestor Kwon
The leader's gender: Male
Do you accept the terms of service?: Yes to all BUT service #4. I request the bank to inform me of any changes made in any parts of Heartbank International.
Your Nation's current population: 9.433 billion
Signature: FOR THE CORPORATION


Name: Oscalantine
Desired position: Senior Accountant
Certifications (if any):

• I used to be Secretary of Culture in the Roleplay Region of Tiberiam, which has similar system of Credit Ratings and points system.
• Currently CFA Level 1 Candidate (no, seriously XDDD)
• Oscalantine has been a conglomerate of TNCs, all with a long history of accounting excellence

Signature: FOR THE CORPORATION

[In Gentem Et De Libris Scientiam]

Name of your nation's leader (the account will be made out for him/her): Aurelius Kjahj
The leader's gender: Jales
Do you accept the terms of service?: Yes.
Your Nation's current population: 2/3 billion
Signature: Sci

Name: Sci
Desired position: Chief or PR officer
Certifications (if any): I know many people
Signature: SCI

[Harkback Union]

I changed my mind. I'll use your NS names for account names to make things easier.

Also, Welcome aboard Employee 003 and 004. You can find your cubicles on floor - 14.

[Excidium Planetis]

Name: Valerie Nguyen (Counselor, Excidium Planetis)
Desired position: PR Officer
Certifications (if any):
- CEO of a multi billion dollar international company (Gizmos and Gadgets Surplus)
- Member of the Advanced Technology League of Active Storefronts
- Has worked in advertising before
Signature: Valerie Nguyen

Name of your nation's leader: Adrian X. Velderrain (High Counselor, Excidium Planetis)
The leader's gender: Male
Do you accept the terms of service?: All except #4, I wish to be informed of any new terms before they are added. I don't like #1 either, but I plan not to have any unpayable debt, so I accept it.
Your Nation's current population: 1.084 billion (1084 million)
Signature: Adrian X. Velderrain

[Reloria]

1. By accepting the terms of service, you allow Harkbank to confiscate intellectual property from your NS account, should you be overdue with payments. Your most valuable IC and OOC posts and OPs can be sold by Harkbank at auctions across NS until enough ][ are raised to cover your debt, though you may also choose to sell WA votes to Harkbank International or fight wars for Harkbank International to have a portion of your debt ereased.

{OOC: Could you explain what this section means exactly, and how that might work, please?}

[Excidium Planetis]

1. By accepting the terms of service, you allow Harkbank to confiscate intellectual property from your NS account, should you be overdue with payments. Your most valuable IC and OOC posts and OPs can be sold by Harkbank at auctions across NS until enough ][ are raised to cover your debt, though you may also choose to sell WA votes to Harkbank International or fight wars for Harkbank International to have a portion of your debt ereased.

{OOC: Could you explain what this section means exactly, and how that might work, please?}

OOC: Basically, It means Harkbank will auction off any RPs you are the OP of, and sell any of your nation's intellectual property (perhaps that newspaper you run?) until your debt is paid.

[Pac Kindom]

Place holder

[Reloria]

{OOC: Could you explain what this section means exactly, and how that might work, please?}

OOC: Basically, It means Harkbank will auction off any RPs you are the OP of, and sell any of your nation's intellectual property (perhaps that newspaper you run?) until your debt is paid.

{OCC: Yes, I got that. What I'm unclear on is:

A) I'm not 100% sure how Harkbank can justify that from an IC perspective, particularly where they mention 'OOC' posts. Nor how a bank would realistically 'auction', for example, a war thread.
B) Sinilarly, while my newspaper thread represents an IC company, it is a privately-owned company that couldn't legally be 'seized' because of something the government had done. I imagine most 'business' threads would present similar problems, and again, would be difficult to justify from an IC perspective.
C) How Harkbank plans to enforce that from an OOC perspective, or how the moderators would feel about any attempt to do so - particularly as intellectual property is a real-life thing with legal ramifications, and such is recognised and respected by NS, whereas this bank is an IC agreement with no real-life implications.
D) Who would actually bid in such an auction with all of the above being true!

I've never seen anybody try to put such a term into an IC organisation before, and I'm just very confused!}

[Seno Zhou Varada]

Name of your nation's leader (the account will be made out for him/her): Caera Seno
The leader's gender: Female
Do you accept the terms of service?: Yes.
Your Nation's current population: 2.781 billion
Signature : Caera Seno
I WANT MY MONEY

[Excidium Planetis]

OOC: Basically, It means Harkbank will auction off any RPs you are the OP of, and sell any of your nation's intellectual property (perhaps that newspaper you run?) until your debt is paid.

{OCC: Yes, I got that. What I'm unclear on is:

A) I'm not 100% sure how Harkbank can justify that from an IC perspective, particularly where they mention 'OOC' posts. Nor how a bank would realistically 'auction', for example, a war thread.
B) Sinilarly, while my newspaper thread represents an IC company, it is a privately-owned company that couldn't legally be 'seized' because of something the government had done. I imagine most 'business' threads would present similar problems, and again, would be difficult to justify from an IC perspective.
C) How Harkbank plans to enforce that from an OOC perspective, or how the moderators would feel about any attempt to do so - particularly as intellectual property is a real-life thing with legal ramifications, and such is recognised and respected by NS, whereas this bank is an IC agreement with no real-life implications.
D) Who would actually bid in such an auction with all of the above being true!

I've never seen anybody try to put such a term into an IC organisation before, and I'm just very confused!}

OOC: Seeing as Harkbank was originally an OOC P2TM organization meant to provide "Roleplay Credits" (basically "premium" currency for roleplays), and the terms were carried over from there, I think Harkback just really has no idea what he's doing. Personally, I don't even think this deserves to be in International Incidents at all. Seems more like a GE&T thing, or maybe NationStates. But yes, the terms are really screwy, I wouldn't agree to any of them were it not for the fact that I get money for doing so.

[In Gentem Et De Libris Scientiam]

I changed my mind. I'll use your NS names for account names to make things easier.

Also, Welcome aboard Employee 003 and 004. You can find your cubicles on floor - 14.

I cant find the floor....
could you tg me? i wanna talk.
Also, i would like to get my wages in C~ (or whatever the P2TM monies are called)

[In Gentem Et De Libris Scientiam]

{OCC: Yes, I got that. What I'm unclear on is:

A) I'm not 100% sure how Harkbank can justify that from an IC perspective, particularly where they mention 'OOC' posts. Nor how a bank would realistically 'auction', for example, a war thread.
B) Sinilarly, while my newspaper thread represents an IC company, it is a privately-owned company that couldn't legally be 'seized' because of something the government had done. I imagine most 'business' threads would present similar problems, and again, would be difficult to justify from an IC perspective.
C) How Harkbank plans to enforce that from an OOC perspective, or how the moderators would feel about any attempt to do so - particularly as intellectual property is a real-life thing with legal ramifications, and such is recognised and respected by NS, whereas this bank is an IC agreement with no real-life implications.
D) Who would actually bid in such an auction with all of the above being true!

I've never seen anybody try to put such a term into an IC organisation before, and I'm just very confused!}

OOC: Seeing as Harkbank was originally an OOC P2TM organization meant to provide "Roleplay Credits" (basically "premium" currency for roleplays), and the terms were carried over from there, I think Harkback just really has no idea what he's doing. Personally, I don't even think this deserves to be in International Incidents at all. Seems more like a GE&T thing, or maybe NationStates. But yes, the terms are really screwy, I wouldn't agree to any of them were it not for the fact that I get money for doing so.

You need money to build your tanks, do you not?

[Excidium Planetis]

OOC: Seeing as Harkbank was originally an OOC P2TM organization meant to provide "Roleplay Credits" (basically "premium" currency for roleplays), and the terms were carried over from there, I think Harkback just really has no idea what he's doing. Personally, I don't even think this deserves to be in International Incidents at all. Seems more like a GE&T thing, or maybe NationStates. But yes, the terms are really screwy, I wouldn't agree to any of them were it not for the fact that I get money for doing so.

You need money to build your tanks, do you not?

OOC: I do not. Excidium Planetis does not build tanks.

[In Gentem Et De Libris Scientiam]

You need money to build your tanks, do you not?

OOC: I do not. Excidium Planetis does not build tanks.

You know what i mean....

[Excidium Planetis]

OOC: I do not. Excidium Planetis does not build tanks.

You know what i mean....

No, I don't. Our nation has a large budget, well regulated. We keep records on a month by month basis on how much money we have to spend in each sector of the Budget. For example, for the month of May, we had a budget of 3,189,698,630,000 NS$, 33.9% of which went to the military budget.

[Oscalantine]

No, I don't. Our nation has a large budget, well regulated. We keep records on a month by month basis on how much money we have to spend in each sector of the Budget. For example, for the month of May, we had a budget of 3,189,698,630,000 NS$, 33.9% of which went to the military budget.

Wow... personally, I should take some money off of Hark for defending his bank, but I am already hired so I am expecting bonuses for this ^^

Where do I even begin? Firstly, ALL government suffers from liquidity problem. Taxes can only be collected monthly, and budgets are constructed annually. Even IF you consider that you plan your budget on monthly basis, you need a yearly spending plan to have such a massive bureaucracy of over a billion folks moving. And even if you have a phenomenal accountant, what about natural disasters and relief efforts? What about defensive wars and collective economic actions on global community? Government cannot fully pay for everything that they have to do with monthly funding alone. It NEEDS funding from outside sources. Whether it be from banks or government bonds, you need immediate credit to meet immediate needs that can be paid back in the long term.

And... that budget is not decided by your earning, but how much you are PLANNING on spending. It doesn't mandate that you will fund (tax) that much. Remember a simple equation of of your GDP... or your Aggregate Demand: C+T+S = C+I+G+(X-M). Breaking it down, taxes goes up, income for middle class goes down, consumption goes down, savings goes down, export and import goes down, investment falls as a result of stagnating market... bad things. Aggregate demand suffers, supply falls in equal amount, economy as a whole suffers a deflation, which affects the commodity market extremely.
... sorry, you don't need to know that, but basically taxes causes a dead-weight loss that cannot be recovered by the society. In short? If you tax enough to fund your budget at a monthly basis, your economy will fail. No questions asked.

Let's sum it up: you cannot meet "surprise" spending at a monthly basis, and even IF you can predict the future... you cannot tax THAT much so quickly without giving a lasting shock in the market. Plus... even IF you have a quantum-computer-level-probability-calculation-system for predicting the exact budget for your monthly needs... you cannot change the tax rates without chaos and confusion on the taxpayers. In conclusion: you have liquidity problem if you rely on taxes alone.

Coming to ultimate conclusion... you need other funding besides taxes. That's where borrowing and issuing gov-bonds come in. Who will lend you loans or buy your bonds? Large financial institutions. So... big financial institution... Harkbank... big financial institution... Harkbank... do you see this bank's needs and why you cannot rely on your national budget alone?

[Excidium Planetis]

No, I don't. Our nation has a large budget, well regulated. We keep records on a month by month basis on how much money we have to spend in each sector of the Budget. For example, for the month of May, we had a budget of 3,189,698,630,000 NS$, 33.9% of which went to the military budget.

Wow... personally, I should take some money off of Hark for defending his bank, but I am already hired so I am expecting bonuses for this ^^

Where do I even begin? Firstly, ALL government suffers from liquidity problem. Taxes can only be collected monthly, and budgets are constructed annually. Even IF you consider that you plan your budget on monthly basis, you need a yearly spending plan to have such a massive bureaucracy of over a billion folks moving. And even if you have a phenomenal accountant, what about natural disasters and relief efforts? What about defensive wars and collective economic actions on global community? Government cannot fully pay for everything that they have to do with monthly funding alone. It NEEDS funding from outside sources. Whether it be from banks or government bonds, you need immediate credit to meet immediate needs that can be paid back in the long term.

And... that budget is not decided by your earning, but how much you are PLANNING on spending. It doesn't mandate that you will fund (tax) that much. Remember a simple equation of of your GDP... or your Aggregate Demand: C+T+S = C+I+G+(X-M). Breaking it down, taxes goes up, income for middle class goes down, consumption goes down, savings goes down, export and import goes down, investment falls as a result of stagnating market... bad things. Aggregate demand suffers, supply falls in equal amount, economy as a whole suffers a deflation, which affects the commodity market extremely.
... sorry, you don't need to know that, but basically taxes causes a dead-weight loss that cannot be recovered by the society. In short? If you tax enough to fund your budget at a monthly basis, your economy will fail. No questions asked.

Let's sum it up: you cannot meet "surprise" spending at a monthly basis, and even IF you can predict the future... you cannot tax THAT much so quickly without giving a lasting shock in the market. Plus... even IF you have a quantum-computer-level-probability-calculation-system for predicting the exact budget for your monthly needs... you cannot change the tax rates without chaos and confusion on the taxpayers. In conclusion: you have liquidity problem if you rely on taxes alone.

Coming to ultimate conclusion... you need other funding besides taxes. That's where borrowing and issuing gov-bonds come in. Who will lend you loans or buy your bonds? Large financial institutions. So... big financial institution... Harkbank... big financial institution... Harkbank... do you see this bank's needs and why you cannot rely on your national budget alone?

You failed to consider that as a nomadic nation of space fleets, we have no natural disasters and defensive wars are a rarity (usually, we can just leave).

Additionally, we do tax on a month by month budget. Our budget is not the work of politicians, but the populace. The people propose taxes, which go to referendum. The monthly budgets are allocated by the choice of tax payers, so at the beginning of each month the government is told what portion of the tax revenue was allocated to what by the taxpayers. People tend to dump a lot into the military because of a (perhaps rational) fear of attacks by foreign powers or pirates. People tend to put very little into welfare, partly because we are capitalists, partly because the taxpayers form the budget, so the unemployed don't get a say, and partly because the average income for the bottom 10% is still a whopping 70,000 NS$ a year. After budget allocation, the government decides what exactly to spend money on.

So what happens in a crisis? A massive attack by outside forces, perhaps? The budget is flexible. With about 35% of the budget for the month devoted to the military, we can devote literally hundreds of billions of NS$ a month to fighting wars. If we need to suspend soldiers pay until the war is over, or forgo maintenance on non-damaged vessels, so be it. If it means we need to hold an emergency budget referendum to reallocate the business subsidies or the social policy budget, we'll do that too. And of course the favorite of governments everywhere: War Bonds! Our citizens will gladly loan us money if it means they don't die when Reckoner is destroyed in a cataclysmic event. As a last resort, income taxes can be raised from their usual 14-16% to maybe as high as 20%. I don't believe that will lead to complete economic collapse, it will at most lead to economic downturn.

[New Aeyariss]

OOC: This should go to GE&T.

[Harkback Union]

@ Reloria

Owning stuff is really just about bragging rights. For instance, If someone was to buy all the posts on all the forums, he could say that "I own all of NS", which is I think a really satisfying experience.

Harkbank may also sometimes insert a "Property of Harkbank" stamp or "property of xy" (if xy purchased a post on an auction) in reply to some of your posts.

Though I'm planning to change the tos to something more reasonable.

[Oscalantine]

-snip-
[[insert awesome civilization type here]]

Okay… that’s worse. Since we are talking about normal economy, we are talking about FT. So we have to take into account resource management of migratory fleet.

I am not going to say that your government is bad or anything: everyone is equal. But you are talking about a migratory fleet similar to Mass Effect’s Quarians, right? Give or take the size to consider, you are actually suffering from MORE unexpected disasters than ever. Migratory fleet is like Gypsies with badass fleet. EVERYONE hates them. It would take a real effort to make sure that you can stay in the planet to reside in. I mean… as you said, you leave when there is a crisis. So you exploit the planet for resources and leave when there is a problem that you need to take responsibility for. Irresponsibility like that will create a galactic hatred towards the fleet. It won’t matter if you settle only in barren planets: that’s one less planet by galactic civilization that they cannot colonize because of your exploitation.

I understand that tax and economy is not an issue for you: you have a different economic system than what I explained. BUT if you use logic, taxation won’t cover your costs. I mean… your population depends on exploiting planets that you land on, so income and total spending power of your population will be completely dependent on the current situation of the exploitation of the planet you are attached to at this time. That kind of fluxuation is even WORSE for your suggested monthly budgeting. In short… how can you tax your population more if they don’t have much to begin with? I am not saying that your nation is poor in general, but what you are saying is that your civilization has very uncertain tax revenue potential. 20% from a population with average spending power of 10,000 NS$ would be different from 14~16% from a population with a whopping 1,000,000 NS$.

In other words,,, you are even MORE reliant on foreign investors… MORE than other civilizations… if you wish to stay green. I would naturally assume that your military is spectacular, and that your people prides themselves of patriotism. Since your defense budget needs to be high (naturally since you need to protect your moving civilization when everyone hates your coming), naturally you will need fixed monthly and even annual budgets. And… as I mentioned, civilians do not have fixed economic standards especially because of migratory style… that leaves you with asking for loans from big international firms.

… namely? The Harkbank International, THE biggest, baddest bank in the Multiverse. Problem solved.

[Oscalantine]

[[needs your attention XDDD]]

When will you be opening the bank vault? It is still closed to public view.

if someone going by navitas has been bothering you with access... that's me ^^

[Excidium Planetis]

@ Reloria

Owning stuff is really just about bragging rights. For instance, If someone was to buy all the posts on all the forums, he could say that "I own all of NS", which is I think a really satisfying experience.

Harkbank may also sometimes insert a "Property of Harkbank" stamp or "property of xy" (if xy purchased a post on an auction) in reply to some of your posts.

Though I'm planning to change the tos to something more reasonable.

OOC:
Could you please make the "Bank Vault" easier to access? I need to log in with my Google account (I don't like doing that because I prefer to remain anonymous), and then I also apparently need permission.
Plus, some people don't have Google accounts. What are they going to do?

Can you make an NS dispatch or thread or something?

[Harkback Union]

[[needs your attention XDDD]]

When will you be opening the bank vault? It is still closed to public view.

if someone going by navitas has been bothering you with access... that's me ^^

oooops.
I'll do that right away.

Also, I changed the TOS to make sense for II.

1. By accepting the terms of service, you allow Harkbank to confiscate your nation's publicly and privately owned land, infrastructure, vehicles, satellites, gold, fiat currencies, woodchip reserves and ice cream, should you be overdue with payments. Your most valuable resource deposits, historical architecture and jet bombers can be sold by Harkbank at auctions across NS until enough ][ are raised to cover your debt, though you may also choose to sell WA votes to Harkbank International or fight wars for Harkbank International to have a portion of your debt ereased.

[Harkback Union]

Vault Link updated.
Also, If you don't have a google account, you can just order transactions on this very thread.