The nation is poor. A report from Médecins Sans Frontières has revealed that over a third of Maroza's children are either stunted, wasted or both stunted and wasted due to abject poverty.
The Debate
1. "Children like this are in desperate need of food," says Professor Stephanie Trax gesturing to a twelve-year-old starveling who is four foot tall and weighs twenty kilograms. "Yet everday I see big, fat tourists with their spoilt, asthmatic children. I'm sick of living on the wrong side of global capitalism. We must decentralise and localise the national economy by dismantling all cash-crop farms and give them to subsistence farmers to grow food crops. Everything must be nationalised so profits will flow into Maroza and not foreign shareholders. This will revitalise our economy on a subsistence level and bring everyone to an equal standing. Extreme, some might say, but who cares about these things when our children are going to bed, if they have a bed, hungry?"
2. "What? No! You can't! If we kick out foreign investors and corporations, then trade with other countries will grind to a halt," splutters Treasurer Akira Longfellow. "What I propose are Free Trade Agreements with richer countries. We can give rich countries complete access to our entire infrastructure sectors and natural and mineral resources in return for a reliable supply of food aid and other cheap imports. Hunger will end, probably, though not poverty; and the tax rate will drop. What sane government wouldn't make a dash for this goldmine?"
3. "The reason that so many families in Maroza are living in poverty is because they have too many children," claims controversial eugenecist Samuel Hendrikson. "What's the point of giving them aid if they continue to breed? All social, welfare and food aid benefits are a total waste of money. Let nature takes its course then maybe poor people will learn not to have so many children."
4. "Are you all completely money-obsessed?" asks Lars Winters, an advocate of national welfare programmes. "There is a way to deal with this problem without giving foreigners complete control over our economy! Simply give more funding to welfare and healthcare to help the citizens most in need and maybe we'll get through this! Yes, taxes will rise, but that money could easily come from less deserving causes - let's say the military and the environment? What happened to this country that we put Credits before lives? I can remember when 'Work not for yourself but for the empire.' actually used to mean something! I think you should dwell on that thought."
Basically I accidentally destroyed my economy and right now I am wondering if any of these options will help it recover.
