Economic Game Mechanics: Part 1
DISCLAIMER
This is in no way, shape or form, fluid and function, an analytical, qualitative or intelligent compte rendu. The function of this essay is the maddening diatribe of a curious author, and how this one manages micro- and macro-economic data for a critical investigation into the micro- and macro-economic world. This text is not suitable for direct consumption, and should never be used as a primary or secondary source. The contents of this text are often illogical and offensive, and great care should be given to the reader's personal qualifications and senses. This text is delivered on TradingView, where the userbase is expected to have a level of financial and investigative understanding that would enable them to query appropriate thoughts and abdicate nonsense to the void. May whatever sovereign and omnipotent being you believe in, guide you through this.
Important note: There are many, many figures here. Please pay attention very carefully to the axes and trends, not specifics. Real data is only as real as the reader allows.
Thesis
Settlers of Catan is the greatest game. For those unfamiliar, it is a relatively simple randomly generated board of resources where players act as independent nations, working towards building their settlements, roads, and armies. Players have limited inhibitory actions against each other, but may trade freely. Points are tallied by performance and landmarks, such as longest road and largest army. While high-brow journals might be more focused on old-civilization games like Go, Settlers of Catan is far more interesting as an old civilization-building game. Monopoly is a game of chance, Risk-meditated chaos,Sorry-a delightful spar of sadism and masochism. In most games, the player that forms the strongest plan of attack with the best risk management wins. The player could set out clear objectives, focus on their dominance in these aspects, measure the points carefully to ensure their success. Rarely does a game so reward the dancer as Settlers. A game of limited outcomes, plans are easily delineated, and the appropriate hindrance dropped fortuitously can crush moves many turns in the making. Randomly-generated resource placement poses possible geographic dilemmas for players, forcing a social relevance to the landscape. A player focused on combative, competitive behaviours could find themselves without the commodities they need. The nation that remains fluid to the situation, with a dynamic plan and clear focus on the only thing that matters: victory. The nation focused on forward progress rather than one specific path will fare the surest chance. The nation conscious of resources it needs now, and in the future, will be the surest to flourish. The nation empathic to it's peers, that learns to use cooperation to win the competition, will be the surest to embiggen. Settlers of Catan is the greatest game.
Dichotomy is engrained into the laws of the universe; always opposing forces that balance to create and destroy along ordered fractals parallel. This dichotomy is reflected in nature, both the natural order around humanity, and the natural order humanity attempts to create. Yin and Yang, life and death, darkness and light. Where each person defines the rules of their own life, this author rests with the rules of Thermodynamics that beautifully states, "Energy can be neither created nor destroyed, only altered in form." This law unites dichotomy, not as similar forces, but as two hands of the same beast; evolution. Each side must be preserved and accounted for, one without the other is a stress on disequilibrium, the longer and more extensive the pull from balance, the greater the shock. In nature, this is found by the cyclical expansion of predator and prey populations. Russia's price-shocks after the fall of the Soviet empire poses a more relevant example for economics. As the USSR maintained price-controls at the expense of trade opportunities, industry diversification, and sovereign indebtedness.
Economies are equal parts substance and confidence. That is to say, the richest economy in resources struggle in wealth on the international scale. Africa has long been the land of ravaged, with many European countries cutting through the populace and geography, accentuating deforestation and desertification, ripping the people from their homes and building their own countries on the backbone of a new serfdom. Arguing history is as forlorn as arguing data, Africa is a commodity rich land that has been scraping by on the charity of their Western peers. Afghanistan, presently war-torn, as opposed to the historically war-torn, is one of the most interesting modern cases of the resource wealth versus economic wealth. The country has rare mineral and metal pockets scattered through the landscape at an estimate of trillions in pre-COVID prices, and with commodity inflation what it is, those trillions grow. So too does the international interest, with China's recent spotlight stake on investing in Afghanistan. China has one of the most phenomenal programs of imperialism, mimicking the US' and Europe's own program of massive credit and debt leverage extension to the banks and corporations integrating into developing countries and controlling large parts of their development. On the flip-side, America's own invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, to their withdrawal in 2021, went astoundingly well for the country. One final glimpse at Russia's own predicament outlines the shades of grey; from resource to commodity, what is the sovereign state worth? Afghanistan's lack of confidence erodes substance, the inability to unite a diverse population with a common goal, limited their ability to thrive on such resource-rich land. An inability to tap into those resources via commercial mining operations and international trade, or intranational refinement, development and technological maturation. Russia's self-destruction of confidence languishes in substance, international trade destruction an obvious outcome of continued aggression, and a last-ditch effort and pulling forward the iron curtain once more.
America: the universal center of finance and trade, the epitome of a developed nation, the unipolar superpower upon which the rest of the world exists a derivative of, with a significant lack of substance. Economies are a confidence game, because trade is built upon a single principle, Supply and Demand. Influencing either side can be done via substance, or confidence. Trading goods and services for goods and services is inefficient, impractical, and impossible for the developed world. Sovereign state citizens must have confidence in their ability to trade their own goods and services for an intermediary, and that intermediary being stable and acceptable to procure other's goods and services. That Sovereign state must erect a system to ensure that confidence is not eroded inter- and intra-nationally. The form of that confidence growth is multi-faceted, implicating more active economic participants making goods and services, selling, buying and using those goods and services. The form of that erosion is a decrease in the relative economic strength to competing sovereign states, because in Capitalism, there are no non-competing sovereign states.
America's ability to tame the world, to unite the many states and offer them a platform for more efficient growth and trade, has established it as that center. The confidence is well deserved; global lifespans are increasing, education, progress, development, medicine and technology have all seen such accelerating growth over the last 80 years when compared to the entirety of human history. Avoiding the obvious ethical dilemmas in proclaiming a complete victory, Bretton Woods has been wildly successful for the world. But, as the confidence in the foundation of Bretton Woods being fair to all current major economic superpowers erodes, a new balance will be sought. China's ability to create a second pole, not just a second superpower, is critical to the relative strength of the dollar. Playing World Reserve Currency may seem a simple trick to the crypto-enthusiast, but it is a destructive battle of balance. As the US strengthens, there must be a congruent weakening. As the US weakens, there must be congruent strengthening. How this interaction behaves in a system is up to the balancing members, with an explicit focus on the key world reserve currency central bank. When a senator of the United States congratulates the president of the Federal Reserve on becoming the most powerful man in the world, again, there should be no laughter. Leaving some algorithmic response, a mathematical god to balance the great international abacus of trade, is a harsh solution to a harsher reality. The Federal Reserve's job is to buffer these changes, to control chaos and infect it with order on the grand monetary board, because the system's most important part is the future participant, because the system must be self-propagating, it must continue. If America fails to present to the world a convincing thesis to maintain the global monetary form of confidence, then it must be backed by substance. Even when the world government's meet to discuss a new Bretton Woods or Desert, America's strength at the table will be on based on confidence and substance. A brief tour of American international relations plays as a horror-show of karmic entrants across a landscape of emerging markets. America will require substance.
CONTINUE TO PART 2
This is in no way, shape or form, fluid and function, an analytical, qualitative or intelligent compte rendu. The function of this essay is the maddening diatribe of a curious author, and how this one manages micro- and macro-economic data for a critical investigation into the micro- and macro-economic world. This text is not suitable for direct consumption, and should never be used as a primary or secondary source. The contents of this text are often illogical and offensive, and great care should be given to the reader's personal qualifications and senses. This text is delivered on TradingView, where the userbase is expected to have a level of financial and investigative understanding that would enable them to query appropriate thoughts and abdicate nonsense to the void. May whatever sovereign and omnipotent being you believe in, guide you through this.
Important note: There are many, many figures here. Please pay attention very carefully to the axes and trends, not specifics. Real data is only as real as the reader allows.
Thesis
Settlers of Catan is the greatest game. For those unfamiliar, it is a relatively simple randomly generated board of resources where players act as independent nations, working towards building their settlements, roads, and armies. Players have limited inhibitory actions against each other, but may trade freely. Points are tallied by performance and landmarks, such as longest road and largest army. While high-brow journals might be more focused on old-civilization games like Go, Settlers of Catan is far more interesting as an old civilization-building game. Monopoly is a game of chance, Risk-meditated chaos,Sorry-a delightful spar of sadism and masochism. In most games, the player that forms the strongest plan of attack with the best risk management wins. The player could set out clear objectives, focus on their dominance in these aspects, measure the points carefully to ensure their success. Rarely does a game so reward the dancer as Settlers. A game of limited outcomes, plans are easily delineated, and the appropriate hindrance dropped fortuitously can crush moves many turns in the making. Randomly-generated resource placement poses possible geographic dilemmas for players, forcing a social relevance to the landscape. A player focused on combative, competitive behaviours could find themselves without the commodities they need. The nation that remains fluid to the situation, with a dynamic plan and clear focus on the only thing that matters: victory. The nation focused on forward progress rather than one specific path will fare the surest chance. The nation conscious of resources it needs now, and in the future, will be the surest to flourish. The nation empathic to it's peers, that learns to use cooperation to win the competition, will be the surest to embiggen. Settlers of Catan is the greatest game.
Dichotomy is engrained into the laws of the universe; always opposing forces that balance to create and destroy along ordered fractals parallel. This dichotomy is reflected in nature, both the natural order around humanity, and the natural order humanity attempts to create. Yin and Yang, life and death, darkness and light. Where each person defines the rules of their own life, this author rests with the rules of Thermodynamics that beautifully states, "Energy can be neither created nor destroyed, only altered in form." This law unites dichotomy, not as similar forces, but as two hands of the same beast; evolution. Each side must be preserved and accounted for, one without the other is a stress on disequilibrium, the longer and more extensive the pull from balance, the greater the shock. In nature, this is found by the cyclical expansion of predator and prey populations. Russia's price-shocks after the fall of the Soviet empire poses a more relevant example for economics. As the USSR maintained price-controls at the expense of trade opportunities, industry diversification, and sovereign indebtedness.
Economies are equal parts substance and confidence. That is to say, the richest economy in resources struggle in wealth on the international scale. Africa has long been the land of ravaged, with many European countries cutting through the populace and geography, accentuating deforestation and desertification, ripping the people from their homes and building their own countries on the backbone of a new serfdom. Arguing history is as forlorn as arguing data, Africa is a commodity rich land that has been scraping by on the charity of their Western peers. Afghanistan, presently war-torn, as opposed to the historically war-torn, is one of the most interesting modern cases of the resource wealth versus economic wealth. The country has rare mineral and metal pockets scattered through the landscape at an estimate of trillions in pre-COVID prices, and with commodity inflation what it is, those trillions grow. So too does the international interest, with China's recent spotlight stake on investing in Afghanistan. China has one of the most phenomenal programs of imperialism, mimicking the US' and Europe's own program of massive credit and debt leverage extension to the banks and corporations integrating into developing countries and controlling large parts of their development. On the flip-side, America's own invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, to their withdrawal in 2021, went astoundingly well for the country. One final glimpse at Russia's own predicament outlines the shades of grey; from resource to commodity, what is the sovereign state worth? Afghanistan's lack of confidence erodes substance, the inability to unite a diverse population with a common goal, limited their ability to thrive on such resource-rich land. An inability to tap into those resources via commercial mining operations and international trade, or intranational refinement, development and technological maturation. Russia's self-destruction of confidence languishes in substance, international trade destruction an obvious outcome of continued aggression, and a last-ditch effort and pulling forward the iron curtain once more.
America: the universal center of finance and trade, the epitome of a developed nation, the unipolar superpower upon which the rest of the world exists a derivative of, with a significant lack of substance. Economies are a confidence game, because trade is built upon a single principle, Supply and Demand. Influencing either side can be done via substance, or confidence. Trading goods and services for goods and services is inefficient, impractical, and impossible for the developed world. Sovereign state citizens must have confidence in their ability to trade their own goods and services for an intermediary, and that intermediary being stable and acceptable to procure other's goods and services. That Sovereign state must erect a system to ensure that confidence is not eroded inter- and intra-nationally. The form of that confidence growth is multi-faceted, implicating more active economic participants making goods and services, selling, buying and using those goods and services. The form of that erosion is a decrease in the relative economic strength to competing sovereign states, because in Capitalism, there are no non-competing sovereign states.
America's ability to tame the world, to unite the many states and offer them a platform for more efficient growth and trade, has established it as that center. The confidence is well deserved; global lifespans are increasing, education, progress, development, medicine and technology have all seen such accelerating growth over the last 80 years when compared to the entirety of human history. Avoiding the obvious ethical dilemmas in proclaiming a complete victory, Bretton Woods has been wildly successful for the world. But, as the confidence in the foundation of Bretton Woods being fair to all current major economic superpowers erodes, a new balance will be sought. China's ability to create a second pole, not just a second superpower, is critical to the relative strength of the dollar. Playing World Reserve Currency may seem a simple trick to the crypto-enthusiast, but it is a destructive battle of balance. As the US strengthens, there must be a congruent weakening. As the US weakens, there must be congruent strengthening. How this interaction behaves in a system is up to the balancing members, with an explicit focus on the key world reserve currency central bank. When a senator of the United States congratulates the president of the Federal Reserve on becoming the most powerful man in the world, again, there should be no laughter. Leaving some algorithmic response, a mathematical god to balance the great international abacus of trade, is a harsh solution to a harsher reality. The Federal Reserve's job is to buffer these changes, to control chaos and infect it with order on the grand monetary board, because the system's most important part is the future participant, because the system must be self-propagating, it must continue. If America fails to present to the world a convincing thesis to maintain the global monetary form of confidence, then it must be backed by substance. Even when the world government's meet to discuss a new Bretton Woods or Desert, America's strength at the table will be on based on confidence and substance. A brief tour of American international relations plays as a horror-show of karmic entrants across a landscape of emerging markets. America will require substance.
CONTINUE TO PART 2
