[LAST CALL] Salty

[Minskiev]

[title] Salty
[description] The nation of Savoiia, whose currency is salt, is upset with @@NAME@@ after a few of your citizens have been buying salt, purchasing expensive goods with it in Savoiia, and selling it in @@NAME@@ for a massive profit. But there's more - Savoiia has banned emigration.
[validity] has emigration

[option1] "Our Great Parent forbids you and your unholy people from flooding our economy with salt!" exclaims @@RANDOMNAME@@, the Savoiian Ambassador to @@NAME@@, pointing @@HIS@@ finger at you. Do you know how difficult it is to obtain salt using our methods? But They require it, so alas. You must stop this underhanded nonsense! We specifically banned our people from leaving for this reason, and you must respect that!" He waves his hands around menacingly.
[effect1] the salt trade has died again

[option2] "@@LEADER@@, you can't let this happen!" yells the CEO of @@ANIMAL@@ Salt Mining Co. @@RANDOMNAME@@, who appears to have salt peppered around @@HIS@@ face. "This would be detrimental to the @@DEMONYMADJECTIVE@@ economy - this business is worth billions! Besides, I could call it a day, and you can have food spoil nationwide." @@HE@@ pours salt from a shaker in @@HIS@@ pocket directly into @@HIS@@ mouth.
[effect2] @@DEMONYMPLURAL@@ flock to Savoiia every week

[option3] A merchant behind you speaks up. "Wait just a minute here, I like all these customers. Although I agree that salt's becoming less valuable because of this. What we need to do is limit the amount of salt people can carry in. That way, we merchants can start to get competitive again, salt will still have value to it, and business will be good!" They glare across the street at the merchant running the Lorenzo's Lasagna stall.
[effect3] pretzel smuggling was rated among the top 5 highest-earning jobs in @@NAME@@

[Tinhampton]

Savoiia, whose currency is salt...

Playing on the IRL origin of the salary?

...is upset with @@NAME@@ after a few of your citizens have been buying salt, purchasing expensive goods with it, and selling it in @@NAME@@ for a massive profit.

So if the salt was being bought so that it could be used in Savoiia, and the salt was then both spent on "expensive goods" and "s[old] in @@NAME@@..." then what was the point in buying the salt? Why should the Savoiians be concerned? Are Savoiians supposed to be artificially poor?

[The Python]

*Sprinkles Sodium Chloride on Got Issues*

[Minskiev]

Savoiia, whose currency is salt...

Playing on the IRL origin of the salary?

Yes!

...is upset with @@NAME@@ after a few of your citizens have been buying salt, purchasing expensive goods with it, and selling it in @@NAME@@ for a massive profit.

So if the salt was being bought so that it could be used in Savoiia, and the salt was then both spent on "expensive goods" and "s[old] in @@NAME@@..." then what was the point in buying the salt? Why should the Savoiians be concerned? Are Savoiians supposed to be artificially poor?

You buy the salt in @@NAME@@, say for 3 currencies. You bring it to Savoiia and buy something worth 30 currencies with the salt. You bring it home and sell it for 30 currencies. Although I need to clarify, thanks for pointing that out.

[USS Monitor]

If you want to buy something that costs $30, then you need $30 worth of salt. This is probably why we don't use salt as a currency now that it is so plentiful, because it would be awkward to carry such a large quantity of salt to the store. Imagine buying something really expensive like a car.

[Jutsa]

If you want to buy something that costs $30, then you need $30 worth of salt. This is probably why we don't use salt as a currency now that it is so plentiful, because it would be awkward to carry such a large quantity of salt to the store. Imagine buying something really expensive like a car.

Eh, if it's using something like currency backed by salt (like how dollars were backed with gold) then I'm sure you could get away with it, even if it's an odd thing to back up a currency with.

[Minskiev]

Bump

[Verdant Haven]

In terms of your bump, I think it's rather important to look at what Monitor was saying above.

If there is easy access to the international market like this, such that random foreign citizens are able to casually get rich on arbitrage, than any citizen of Savoiia could do the same. The fault here is with the Savoiiards monetizing an easily-accessible resource, maintaining no currency controls at their borders, and apparently having merchants who are either ignorant of market mechanics or are limited by government price controls that are based in a similar ignorance.

Alternately, one could look at this as a question of what is the problem? If the Savoiian merchants are selling their goods at full asking price and are being paid in the manner they desire, why do they care what happens down the line? They're setting the price, so they get the same amount if they sell it to a tourist planning to flip it or directly to an end consumer. It is they who are responsible for leaving money on the table.

Successful monetization requires scarcity of some kind. You do a good job introducing just about the only premise I can imagine that could believably result in ignoring that (intense religious belief), but that doesn't shift the responsibility for avoiding those obvious pitfalls onto others. There's no evidence here of wrongdoing, compulsion, or exploitation - just a nation that is full of people with no grasp on basic economics, and who think they're being hurt despite getting exactly what they asked for.

[Minskiev]

In terms of your bump, I think it's rather important to look at what Monitor was saying above.

If there is easy access to the international market like this, such that random foreign citizens are able to casually get rich on arbitrage, than any citizen of Savoiia could do the same. The fault here is with the Savoiiards monetizing an easily-accessible resource, maintaining no currency controls at their borders, and apparently having merchants who are either ignorant of market mechanics or are limited by government price controls that are based in a similar ignorance.

Alternately, one could look at this as a question of what is the problem? If the Savoiian merchants are selling their goods at full asking price and are being paid in the manner they desire, why do they care what happens down the line? They're setting the price, so they get the same amount if they sell it to a tourist planning to flip it or directly to an end consumer. It is they who are responsible for leaving money on the table.

Successful monetization requires scarcity of some kind. You do a good job introducing just about the only premise I can imagine that could believably result in ignoring that (intense religious belief), but that doesn't shift the responsibility for avoiding those obvious pitfalls onto others. There's no evidence here of wrongdoing, compulsion, or exploitation - just a nation that is full of people with no grasp on basic economics, and who think they're being hurt despite getting exactly what they asked for.

I think I'd need to imply that Savoiians can't leave their country so that they'd just bring back salt. Although there'd have to be a reason for them to allow people to come in - tourism is profitable. A little too profitable maybe. And I'm not sure if the merchants would care - after all, they're just a single merchant.

Thanks for this though, I might redirect this issue based on this comment.

[Minskiev]

Bump.

[Minskiev]

bump again i suppose

[Minskiev]

Bump, might submit, might change draft more...

[Minskiev]

Putting on last call, then.

[Verdant Haven]

Swinging by to take another look here, I continue not to see how this is Leader's problem or what they are supposed to do about it. Another nation has a policy, and is not doing what they need to to make it work.

Option 1 is another nation saying "we banned our people from leaving" and asks you to "respect that." Respect what? You don't control what their citizens do, and if they don't want your citizens to visit, they are responsible for prohibiting entry.

Option 2 is your own salt CEO saying it would be detrimental to your economy to... do what? Are they claiming that your salt industry is majorly reliant on "a few of your citizens" buying salt for arbitrage? That doesn't match the premise presented. The threat being made doesn't make sense either - salt hasn't been a major means of food preservation since the advent of the refrigerator.

Option 3 is a merchant from another country asking you to make a decision about policy in that other country. You do not have any control or authority over policies elsewhere, and those wouldn't be pitched to you.

[Enzonar]

I honestly do not like how this goes. It doesn't seem too NS'y imo.