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[Taken from Yol Ja Ruud’s notes. RBB]
Hmethux was not a nice planet at all, even for those of us who regularly participated in diplomatic missions. It only goes to show how each person has their own favourable view of their own home, whether that be house, village, town, city, country or world.
One of the problems was that during the visit we had to wear exoskeletons to move about and walk. Gravity was almost twice that of Earth so if you’d like to imagine what it felt like, just double your own weight and think about how walking around carrying that much bulk would feel. Prime Minister Channarong found it all too much for him and had to return to the ship where he spent the day in a gravity lounge set to a single G. I was able to give him the video feed from a shoulder camera, so he saw and heard whatever I did. That way he did not miss too much, I suppose, other than the gravity; it was not unpleasant to sit and enjoy time passing, but the effort of moving around, even with the exoskeletons made it less than enjoyable.
In the morning, during the visit to the industrial section of the city of Plicmit the weather was quite brilliant. The sun, further away, but twice the size of Earth’s Sol was hot.
Once more the party saw the total mechanisation of all manufacturing and food production. The visit included time at a recycling centre where almost all items were recyclable, the remainder going to be broken down to then be used in energy furnaces. This gave us the opportunity to show the Earth party how energy production is geared to ensuring no climate change, the bulk of power coming from wind, wave, geothermal, solar, and nuclear. Of course, all energy production has its own cost to the environment, but when monitored as part of a global climate strategy, it was perfectly acceptable. The Earth had a long way to go in controlling its effect on the climate. The Federation would be able to assist in the process. Coal, gas, and oil for energy had been outlawed by most civilisations. Once that was out of the way, the tiny effect of other methods of energy generation on climate was negligible.
In the afternoon, which was somewhat more overcast, the party visited residential areas of the town of Ezs and it quickly became apparent to the visitors that the Hmethuxians truly loved their own world and were just as happy living on it as the rest of the party were living on their own planets.
With Ya Lindron, I had set up a special social gathering for the visitors with local citizens, to allow the leaders to talk to them about their lives and activities.
To give Prime Minister Channarong some consistency, I stayed with Prime Minister Grange, President Spence, and President Toscano; Ya Lindron looking after the others. Their questions to the citizens were, I believe, quite enlightening for them, as they still had a suspicion of the Federation’s economic model and citizens’ rights within it, particularly Jack Spence.
‘Are you all happy with your income?’ asked Melanie Grange of a group of Hmethuxians sitting around a table.
The answers were a unanimous yes.
‘But wouldn’t you like to have more afeds by doing more work or developing a business idea?’ asked President Spence.
Several tried to answer at once, so I asked them to speak one at a time.
‘I don’t have a need for any more afeds,’ said the first. ‘If it took away more of my spare time it wouldn’t have any overall benefit.’
‘Yol Djsot is right. I spend all of my time on my own interests and my volunteer work is in a care home where my elderly grandfather is now resident. What would I do with more income?’ said the second.
‘You could buy more possessions or better health treatment for you and your family. A better car or more comfortable furniture,’ said President Spence.
A third citizen laughed. ‘But none of that is really important. I have exactly the furniture, beds, appliances, and car that I need. I have always loved farming and I have a small area where I keep rare breed animals.’
‘And you sell them for extra income?’ asked President Spence.
‘No. They go into the general farming stock for food production. I keep them for fun and I have a genetic interest in them, improving the breed, producing interesting colours. That is all the reward I need.’
The second one jumped back in. ‘Back to what you asked earlier, we have universal health care which is free to all. My grandfather does not pay for his nursing care, nor do I for any of the family’s illnesses. If we get ill, we are immediately cared for by the system. Is that not how it works on Eargh?’
‘Earth,’ I corrected.
‘In our country,’ said President Spence, ‘we pay for basic health needs and emergencies, but each person and company contributes to health insurance for themselves and their families.’
‘Well that is the same thing then. Why would we need extra afeds if it is all covered?’ asked the second citizen.
‘If you want something special, like an early operation or to be checked more thoroughly or more regularly, that is what you pay for,’ said President Spence.
‘It isn’t all covered on your world, then. If I need an operation it is scheduled and takes place at the first opportunity. Priority is set on the basis of the urgency of need.’
‘Well, paying would make it happen quicker,’ said President Spence.
‘Why should the quality of your health depend on the extent of your wealth. We are all equally wealthy and equally healthy here.’
‘Or we would say you are equally poor,’ said Yol Spence, folding his arms defensively.
‘Explain. What do you think I don’t have that more afeds could give me?’ said a fifth local person in quite an angry manner.
‘Opportunity to travel and to be educated in the best universities and to have the most luxurious possessions, to move to a more desirable location and so on,’ said the President.
‘Sir, I can live wherever I wish, and I went to the best university for which I was qualified. Money should have nothing to do with education. That’s daft!’
‘There must be a better house you know of somewhere else where you’d prefer to live!’
‘Perhaps so, but why would I want to give away my spare time to get the extra afeds to buy that house. It is time which is a living being’s most precious resource. Is time not important to Earth people? We spend it doing whatever we wish, not just to earn more afeds.’
‘I think we’ll need to differ on this,’ said the President and he walked away from his table muttering, ‘They’re all a bunch of commies,’ under his breath.
‘Where have you all been this year? Travelling, I mean,’ asked President Toscano.
‘We’ve had four weeks in Csohjvup just a short while ago and are going to Arlucian, the capital of the Federation, for two weeks to see some of the famous shows, later in the year. That’s enough for me in a year without disrupting the children’s education. I would miss my hobbies if I was away longer,’ said the citizen called Yol Djsot.
The second citizen said, ‘I like being at home and teaching the children. They are only young for so few years. It is lovely to live through it with them and we’ll do our travelling when they’re older.’
‘Same with me,’ said a third, ‘but we did go to Orbit Seven earlier in the year for some zero-gravity fun.’
‘That must be very special for you after living in this heavy gravity,’ said Prime Minister Grange.
‘Well, this gravity is normal for us, I suppose. We don’t feel heavy when we’re at home, but zero-gravity is fun for all people, I think.’
‘I’ve reached the age where I no longer have to carry out community service, so we go for holidays several times each year,’ said an older woman.
‘Tell me,’ said President Toscano, ‘how do you feel about having your surplus afeds taxed and removed by government each year?’
A fourth citizen said, ‘Most of us tend to ensure we’ve bought anything special we’ve needed so that the surplus is minimal, and you can keep up to A5,000. It is part of our system though and helps ensure good roads, infrastructure, health and education. No one begrudges it and you can get dispensation to keep the surplus if you have a special project or trip planned in the next few years.’
‘How often do the annual number of afeds you receive change?’ asked Melanie Grange.
‘Most years there is a balancing exercise raising or lowering the income by a few percent. It is usually an increase and is above inflation.’
‘And the age for retiring from community service gets shorter too, which opens up more opportunity to travel.’
‘What proportion of your life is subject to community service?’ asked Melanie Grange.
‘About a third.’
‘To put that in Earth terms, Ya Grange,’ I said, ‘currently you’d retire at age forty-five. It drops by a year about each decade. One day it will be gone forever and no one will need to do any community service.’
‘That’s amazing,’ said Prime Minister Grange. ‘So, from that point on in your life you just live off your income and contribute nothing?’
‘Except the end of year balancing exercise, no,’ I said.
One of the group said, ‘There was that period of five or six years when I was younger, about twelve years ago. Income went down by quite a chunk the first year and by a small amount the five years which followed.’
‘What caused that?’ asked President Toscano.
‘Wasn’t that the Rostern Empire thing?’ one of them said, rhetorically.
‘A war?’ asked President Spence, who had eventually returned to the conversation, but always seemed to have a negative slant to his queries.
‘Oh no. Nothing like that. What was it all about?’
An older citizen spoke, ‘Yes, it was the Rostarn Empire. Fourteen years ago.’
‘But what caused the downturn?’ asked President Spence, seemingly glad that there was something which had failed in the system.
The older person continued, ‘The Fed found an empire on the northern boundary and they decided to join us. Their planets were much poorer, and it cost the Federation a lot to bring them up to our standard.’
‘How big was the empire?’ asked Prime Minister Grange.
‘Oh, I don’t know,’ said the old person, ‘lots of planets.’
I decided to cut in to the conversation, ‘The Rosteran, not Rostarn, Empire comprised nearly a thousand worlds and it was a severe drain on the Federation, incorporating them into our economic system.’
‘So, old man, how do you feel about having to pay for those people to help them become as wealthy as you, but at a considerable cost to yourselves and everyone else in the Federation?’ asked President Spence, as if he was winning a major point.
‘We are all people. I am only too happy to help them. Because it was spread over everyone in the entire Federation, it was only a tiny percentage really and soon forgotten. It had no real effect on our family’s lifestyle. We didn’t want for anything and it meant there were new planets to visit,’ he said.
‘We also gained a lot of technology from them,’ I said, ‘and we used it regularly to travel at extraordinary speeds within atmospheres without causing disruption to weather and winds. Some of you have experienced that on Earth using our shuttles. That was Rosteran technology.’
‘And are they all now earning the same as here?’ asked President Spence.
‘Yes,’ I said, ‘but they are still providing fifteen per cent of their time on community service, about twenty hours per week, because some planets still needed a lot of mechanisation. Earth will be a similar drain on the Federation, but we’ll hardly notice the cost of a single new planet joining. A thousand planets, however, well, yes, that did hurt. I believe they’ll be down to the usual ten per cent within a decade and it is reducing each year.’
‘Why didn’t you just help them technologically to improve in their own time?’ asked the US President.
‘At a small cost to everyone over a few years, we were able to help them reach our standards far more quickly. The Federation always puts the citizen before anything else,’ I replied.
The questions went on most of the afternoon and were mainly on the same theme. President Spence either kept quiet or asked very negative questions, so much so that I felt it needed special mention in my report. The following is a page of the report I sent to Yol Slindo Merofort for the Ambassador that evening.
[I felt it was better to show a segment of the actual report rather than incorporate it into the storyline. It becomes relevant at a later time. RBB]
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and I’ll send each of those as attachments.
I’m becoming increasingly concerned that Yol Jack Spence has a very negative approach to everything to do with the Federation, particularly the economic system and the health, education, and other benefits to our citizens.
Being careful how I have phrased the questions, I have discovered from the other leaders with us that there is a political system called Communism and another, less radical, called Socialism. Both are anathema to the United States of America, and this is pretty clear from Yol Spence’s questions and statements. Our economic system has similarities.
I understand the Capitalist system which operates on the Earth, but his principles seem to be from a very severe wing of that economic model. I feel that he would rather someone be hurt than to try to help them to improve themselves. He also looks with disdain at people’s enjoyment of their time with their families and hobbies,
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almost as if he wants to punish them into working on things in which they have no interest. As if working up to fifty per cent of their time on something boring has merit because it allows them to get the benefits quicker, which would be freely given by our system over perhaps a longer period. Apparently working fifty per cent of the time is not unheard of on Earth – eighty hours per week! Many work into their seventies too.
I think the bulk of this arises from the lack of mechanised production on Earth. While human beings are having to work in factories and in the fields of farms to produce sufficient goods for the system, they cannot be enjoying the benefits of mechanisation.
Kind regards,
Ja Ruud