Office of the Game Moderator

[Mr. Reactionary]

This thread is intended to be used to handle day to day business, such as:

- requests for budget data
- requests for advisory opinions
- signups for Atlasians interested in GM created potential fantasy Supreme Court cases
- signups for Atlasians interested in being quoted as part of weekly news stories
- signups for Atlasians interested in working for the GM office
- any other non-private request for information
- memoranda issued by the GM

[Mr. Reactionary]

I believe the current request list is:

Budget data for Congress
Scoring of Pericles Child Tax Credit
Scoring of Revenue Enhancement bill
Budget data for Fremont
Unemployment data/economic performance data for each Region
Ongoing Chinese treaty negotiations

I will work on putting this together when I can.

I have a schedule mapped out through June, with 7 stories (4 domestic, 3 international) planned each week, but some stories may be dropped or moved depending on my irl schedule. This week I am only publishing 4 stories to try and acclimate.

[Mr. Reactionary]

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[Mr. Reactionary]

So given the sheer number of duties the Game Engine is responsible for, the current backlog of requests, and the need for an active game engine to make Atlasia more interactive (and also my suffocating real life schedule), I aim to subdivide the duties amongst a few deputies so as to maximize efficiency. While ultimately being responsible for overseeing everything, I think we can really hit a groove with 3 deputies: 1 for writing weekly stories, 1 for doing numbers like budgets, unemployment, GDP, and bill scoring, and 1 for outreach/participation activities. I thank the Senate for being very close to confirming Deputy # 1. For my next step:

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I aim to begin coordinating with Encke prior to confirmation on purely PUBLIC data right now for the budget to try and start chipping away at the backlog. OSRs audit the government bill allows for coordination with 3rd parties on budget matters, so im fairly certain this is lawful as we will only be sharing public numbers until post-confirmarion. This will Hopefully speed up how quickly we can get completed budget numbers for Atlasia, then I think maybe Fremont is next.

Once I have found an outreach deputy I will post again.

[Mr. Reactionary]

I figured I'd announce here too that I just bought a new laptop I pick up tomorrow which should make it easier to do more GM wise. My old one crapped out a few weeks back so I've largely been confined to my phone.

[Mr. Reactionary]

So some initial Budget Estimates:

- As of now, adjustments made during 2018 led to a $97.645 Billion reduction in the deficit
- The single biggest adjustment was the reduction of foreign military bases by 20% which realized a net budgetary impact of $33.4 Billion
- The single biggest increase in the deficit was $22 Billion in hurricane disaster relief
- The 2018 deficit was - $873.23 Billion
- While GDP/Employment are up for the year and will result in higher revenues coming in that last year (once calculated), the budget deficit remains around $775.5 Billion without that adjustment
- $65.491 Billion in cost reductions; $34.275 Billion in new revenues; - $25.239 Billion in new spending

2019 Budget Adjustments
Eliminated Agricultural Marketing Programs   800,000,000
Eliminated Maritime Subsidies   240,000,000
Eliminated Small Shipyard Grants   18,500,000
Eliminated Catfish Inspection Office   8,000,000
Eliminated Fishing Vessel Buyback Programs   55,000,000
Eliminated Fishing Capital Construction Grants   170,000,000
Eliminated Abandoned Mine Lands Programs   240,000,000
Eliminated Davis-Bacon Contracting Rules   11,000,000,000
Eliminated Minority Contracting Rules   25,000,000
Eliminated Penny   620,000,000
Eliminated Employee Drug Tests   14,000,000
Cuts to Maritime Loan Program   25,000,000
Cap on certain student loans   12,537,000
Digitized prisoner X-Rays   1,300,000
EAJA Reforms   5,000,000
Flood Insurance Reforms   640,000,000
Government Efficiency Act Savings   13,200,000,000
Mining bureaucracy consolidation   3,600,000
Reduced criminal justice costs   432,600,000
VA Privatization   148,850,000
Military Base Reductions   33,400,000,000
Nuclear Weapons Reductions   4,432,000,000
PMN user fee increases   18,432,000
PBGC user fee increases   115,000,000
Immigration user fee increases   221,300,000
New Superfund Taxes   3,791,562,524
New Tar Sands Oil Tax   100,000,000
New NFA Firearms Registrations   50,000,000
Eliminated Royalty Relief Waivers    1,383,800,000
Eliminated Ethanol Blending Rules   7,000,000
FERS Pension Contribution changes   4,200,000,000
Grazing Fee Increase   16,500,000
New Postal Shipping    115,000,000
Commemorative Stamp Program   50,000,000
New Mining Claims subject to royalties   801,250,000
Estate Tax Increase   23,394,000,000
Black Lung Tax Increase   12,000,000
Asset Forefeiture Reform   -119,700,000
Buy-Atlasian Contracting Rules   -2,000,000,000
Mandatory Tampons in federal bathrooms   -2,000,000
Bankruptcy Reforms to Student Loans   -15,000,000
New Immigration Judges   -3,000,000
Tipped Wage Tax Exemption   -1,100,000,000
Hurricane Emergency Funding   -22,000,000,000

[Mr. Reactionary]

Just a heads up that I am working on the audit too.

[Mr. Reactionary]

Last summer the GM Office was tasked with conducting an audit of the federal government and identify waste, duplication, and other recommendations to help save money. I will be releasing the audit results Subdepartment by Subdepartment as I find the time to do so. You will find below the results of the GM review of the Subdepartment of Agriculture.

Methodology-wise I have been reviewing the short version (only 500 pages) of the 2017 real life federal budget broken down by Departments. When I finished I checked the real life totals with the vague budget numbers in Atlas from last year. There were noticeable discrepancies:  

Farm Income Stabilization - IRL 2017: $30.804 Billion vs. Atlasia 2018: $16.010 (48% Cut)
Agricultural Research and Services - IRL 2017 $6.339 Billion vs. Atlasia 2018: $4.300 (32% Cut)
Food and Nutrition Assistance - IRL 2017 $106.848 Billion vs. Atlasia 2018: $99.440 Billion (7%)
Conservation and Land Management – IRL 2017 $** vs. Atlasia 2018: $11.780 Billion

So while I would have loved to zero out funding for programs here I hate, the only fair way to apply the necessary adjustments was evenly across all programs. So basically funding for all farm subsidy programs got cut almost in half, general agricultural services got cut almost a third, and food stamps and WIC were cut 7%.

There are a ton of programs here, many of which are probably unknown to everyone but me. If you have any questions about what specific programs are then feel free to ask below. Also ask for specifics on why recommendations were made. This was a lot and is probably going to take 2 posts so I didnt bother with individual reasoning for space and time reasons.

Subdepartment of Agriculture
- Office of Civil Rights - $20 Million
     Recommendation: Eliminate (Savings $20 Million)

-Economic Research Service - $63 Million
     Recommendation: Eliminate (Savings $63 Million)
     Recommendation: Reduce funding by half (Savings $32 Million)
     Recommendation: Reduce funding by a quarter (Savings $16 Million)
     Recommendation: Transfer to National Institute for Food and Agriculture (Savings $2 Million)

- Agricultural Statistics Service - $123 Million
     Recommendation: Reduce funding by half (Savings $61 Million)
     Recommendation: Reduce funding by a quarter (Savings $31 Million)
     Recommendation: Transfer to New Subdepartment of Science (Savings $6 Million)

- Agricultural Research Service - $917 Million
     Recommendation: Reduce funding by half (Savings $458 Million)
     Recommendation: Reduce funding by a quarter (Savings $229 Million)
     Recommendation: Transfer to New Subdepartment of Science (Savings $22 Million)

- Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service - $864 Million
     Recommendation: Transfer to Food and Drug Administration (Savings $24 Million)

- National Institute for Food and Agriculture- $1.152 Billion
   . Ethanol Research - $3 Million
   . Food and Nutrition Research - $526 Million
   . Food and Nutrition Education - $292 Million
   . Agriculture Extension Services - $331 Million
   Recommendation: Eliminate Ethanol Research (Savings $3 Million)
   Recommendation: Reduce Education funding by a tenth (Savings $29 Million)
   Recommendation: Reduce Extension Services funding by a tenth (Savings $33 Million)
   Recommendation: Transfer to New Subdepartment of Science (Savings $4 Million)

- Food Safety and Inspection Service - $677 Million
     Recommendation: Transfer to Food and Drug Administration (Savings $15 Million)

- Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration - $30 Million
     Recommendation: Transfer to Food and Drug Administration (Savings $3 Million)

- Agricultural Marketing Service - $486 Million
   . Perishable Agricultural Commodities Fund - $8 Million
   . Voluntary labels and Grading services - $116 Million
   . Section 32 “Surplus” Purchases - $362 Million
     Recommendation: Eliminate (Savings $486 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate Perishable Agricultural Commodities Program (Savings $8 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate voluntary label and grading services (Savings $116 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate Section 32 “surplus” purchases (Savings $362 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate Section 32 program but transfer 95% of funding to SNAP (Savings $18 Million)
     Recommendation: Transfer voluntary label and grading services to Food and Drug Administration (Savings $7 Million)
     Recommendation: Transfer Perishable Agricultural Commodities Program to National Mediation Board (Savings $1 Million)

- Risk Management Agency - $3.983 Billion
     Recommendation: Increase shallow-loss price decrease coverage to annual average price fluctuations of 5.1% or greater (Costs $1.481 Billion)
     Recommendation: Cap annual per-customer payouts at $250,000 (Savings $142 Million)
     Recommendation: Means test premium support for farmers with income exceeding $1 million annually (Savings $13 Million)
     Recommendation: Transfer to Subdepartment of Commerce - $4 Million

- Farm Service Agency - $8.471 Billion
   . State mediation grants - $2 Million
   . Supplemental assistance program - $1 Million
   . Reforestation grants - $0.5 Million
   . Emergency conservation program - $12 Million
   . Grassroots source water protection program - $4 Million
   . Export loan programs - $220 Million
   . Grain silo loans - $13 Million
   . Cotton subsidies - $9 Million
   . Wool subsidies - $16 Million
   . Commodity Credit Corporation loans - $1.038 Billion
   . Agriculture Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage programs - $6.726 Billion
     Recommendation: Eliminate (Savings $8.471 Billion)
     Recommendation: Eliminate State mediation grants (Savings $2 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate Supplemental assistance program (Savings $1 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate Reforestation grants (Savings $0.5 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate Emergency conservation program (Savings $12 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate Grassroots source water protection program (Savings $4 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate Export loan programs (Savings $220 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate Grain Silo loans (Savings $13 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate Cotton Subsidies (Savings $9 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate Wool Subsidies (Savings $16 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate Commodity Credit Corporation loans (Savings $1.038 Billion)
     Recommendation: Eliminate Agriculture Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage programs (Savings $6.726 Billion)
     Recommendation: Prohibit farmers from participating in both federal crop insurance and ARC or PLC programs (Savings $3.578 Billion)
     Recommendation: Means test Emergency Conservation Program payments for incomes above $1 Million (Savings $6 Million)
     Recommendation: Cap Emergency Conservation Program payments at $200,000 annually (Savings $8 Million)
     Recommendation: Reduce Emergency Conservation Program funding by half (Savings $216 Million)
     Recommendation: Reduce Emergency Conservation Program funding by a quarter (Savings $108 Million)
     Recommendation: Transfer Farm Service Agency to Subdepartment of Commerce (Savings $14 Million)

- Natural Resources Conservation Service - $2.728 Billion
   . Private Land Conservation programs - $984 Million
   . Farm security and rural investment programs - $1.584 Billion
   . Flood mitigation activities - $101 Million
   . Watershed rehabilitation grants - $55 Million
   . Waterbank program - $2 Million
     Recommendation: Eliminate (Savings $2.728 Billion)
     Recommendation: Eliminate Private Land Conservation programs (Savings $984 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate security and rural investment programs (Savings $1.584 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate Flood mitigation activities (Savings $101 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate Watershed rehabilitation grants (Savings $55 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate Waterbank program (Savings $2 Million)
     Recommendation: Means test Private Land Conservation Program payments for incomes above $1 Million (Savings $47 Million)
     Recommendation: Cap Private Land Conservation Program payments at $200,000 annually (Savings $45 Million)
     Recommendation: Reduce Private Land Conservation Program funding by half (Savings $492 Million)
     Recommendation: Reduce Private Land Conservation Program funding by a quarter (Savings $246 Million)
     Recommendation: Transfer to Subdepartment of Interior (Savings $26 Million)

- Office of Rural Development - $372 Million
     Recommendation: Eliminate (Savings $372 Million)
     Recommendation: Reduce funding by half (Savings $186 Million)
     Recommendation: Transfer to Subdepartment of Commerce (Savings $7 Million)

- Rural Housing Service - $857 Million
   . Housing Assistance Grants - $17 Million
   . Multifamily housing program - $22 Million
   . Mutual Housing Grants - $18 Million
   . Rural Community Facilities Program - $22 Million
   . Rural Housing Insurance Fund - $775 Million
     Recommendation: Eliminate (Savings $857 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate Housing Assistance Grants (Savings $17 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate Multifamily housing program (Savings $22 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate Mutual Housing Grants (Savings $18 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate Rural Community Facilities Program (Savings $22 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate Rural Housing Insurance Fund (Savings $775 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate programs but transfer 95% of funds to Subdepartment of Housing and Urban Development (Savings: $43 Million)
     Recommendation: Transfer to Subdepartment of Housing and Urban Development (Savings $18 Million)

- Rural Business Cooperative Service - $211 Million
   . Energy Assistance Payments - $10 Million
   . Rural Cooperative Development grants - $27 Million
   . Rural Economic Development Grants - $12 Million
   . Microenterprise investment program - $2 Million
   .  Rural Business Program - $46 Million
   . Intermediary Relending Program - $5 Million
   . Rural Economic Development Loan Program - $0.5 Million
   . Rural Business Investment Program - $2 Million
   . Rural Energy for America Program - $36 Million
   . Biorefinery Assistance Program - $70 Million
   . Rural Development Loan Program - $1 Million
     Recommendation: Eliminate (Savings $211 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate Energy Assistance Payments (Savings $10 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate Rural Cooperative Development grants (Savings $27 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate Rural Economic Development Grants (Savings $12 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate Microenterprise investment program (Savings $2 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate Rural Business Program (Savings $46 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate Intermediary Relending Program (Savings $5 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate Rural Economic Development Loan Program (Savings $0.5 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate Rural Business Investment Program (Savings $2 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate Rural Energy for America Program (Savings $36 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate Biorefinery Assistance Program (Savings $70 Million)
     Recommendation: Rural Development Loan Program (Savings $1 Million)
     Recommendation: Reduce funding by half (Savings $106 Million)
     Recommendation: Reduce funding by a quarter (Savings $53 Million)
     Recommendation: Transfer to Subdepartment of Commerce (Savings $4 Million)
- Rural Utility Service - $1.296 Billion
   . High Energy Cost Grants - $6 Million
   . Rural Water and Waste Disposal Program - $256 Million
   . Rural Electrification and Telecommunication Loan Program - $25 Million
   . Rural Telephone Bank Program - $2 Million
   . Distance Learning, Telemedicine, and Broadband Program - $27 Million
   . Rural Electrification and Telecommunications Program - $979 Million
     Recommendation: Eliminate (Savings $1.296 Billion)
     Recommendation: Eliminate High Energy Cost Grants (Savings $6 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate Rural Water and Waste Disposal Program (Savings $256 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate Rural Electrification and Telecommunication Loan Program (Savings $25 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate Rural Telephone Bank Program (Savings $2 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate Distance Learning, Telemedicine, and Broadband Program (Savings $27 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate Rural Electrification and Telecommunications Program (Savings $979 Million)
     Recommendation: Transfer to Subdepartment of Commerce (Savings $ 11 Million)

- Foreign Agriculture Service- $864 Million
   . Market Access Program - $118 Million
   . McGovern-Dole Food program - $97 Million
   . Food for Peace Program - $641 Million
   . PL480 Credits - $8 Million
     Recommendation: Eliminate (Savings $864 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate Market Access Program (Savings $118 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate McGovern-Dole Food program (Savings $97 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate Food for Peace Program (Savings $641 Billion)
     Recommendation: Eliminate PL480 Credits (Savings $8 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate programs but transfer 95% of funds to Agency for International Development (Savings $41 Million)
     Recommendation: Transfer food aid programs to Agency for International Development (Savings $24 Million)

- Food and Nutrition Service - $99.370 Billion
   . Administrative costs - $170 Million
   . WIC - $5.896 Billion
   . SNAP - $71.356 Billion
   . 11 Miscellaneous food programs - $21.639 Billion  
   . Commodity Assistance Program - $307 Million
     Recommendation: Eliminate Commodity Assistance Program (Savings $307 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate 11 redundant food programs but transfer 100% of benefit funds to SNAP (Savings $57 Million)
     Recommendation: Require SNAP households that receive lottery winnings exceeding $2,500 in any year to report such winnings as income within 15 days (Savings $6 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate SNAP eligibility on the basis of receiving heating assistance (Savings $1.766 Billion)
     Recommendation: Eliminate SNAP eligibility for unemployed college students (Savings $19 Million)
     Recommendation: Expunge unspent SNAP funds at the beginning of a new benefit period (Savings $9 Million)
     Recommendation: Increase SNAP eligibility from 130% of the poverty line to 150% (Costs $329 Million)
     Recommendation: Increase SNAP eligibility from persons with less than $2,250 in assets to $5,000 in assets (Costs $844 Million)
     Recommendation: Expand SNAP eligibility to felons (Costs $21 Million)
     Recommendation: Cap SNAP households from receiving more than $20 per month in revenue from returned bottles or cans (Savings $2 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate SNAP media and enrollment campaign funding (Savings $73 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate SNAP Performance Bonus Program (Savings $39 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate SNAP Employment and Training Program (Savings $28 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate SNAP Nutrition Education Program (Savings $287 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate SNAP Outreach Grant Program (Savings $23 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate WIC Farmer’s Market Nutrition Program (Savings $18 Million)
     Recommendation: Transfer to Subdepartment of Health and Human Services (Savings $74 Million)

- Forestry Service -$6.77 Billion
   . National Forest System Administration - $1.588 Billion
   . Forest and Rangeland Research - $385 Million
   . State and Private grants - $360 Million
   . Wildfire Management - $3.433 Billion
   . Range Betterment Program - $2 Million
   . Land acquisition - $123 Million
   . Conservation program - $94 Million
   . Recreation program - $70 Million
   . PILT Transfers to States - $303 Million
   . International Programs - $576 Million
   . Timber Sales - $180 Million in revenue
     Recommendation: Eliminate Forest and Rangeland Research (Savings $385 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate State and Private grants (Savings $360 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate Range Betterment Program (Savings $2 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate Conservation program (Savings $94 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate International Programs (Savings $576 Million)
     Recommendation: Reduce land acquisition by half (Savings $62 Million)
     Recommendation: Reduce land acquisition by a quarter (Savings $31 Million)
     Recommendation: Reduce recreation spending by a quarter (Savings $18 Million)
     Recommendation: Reduce recreation spending by a tenth (Savings $7 Million)
     Recommendation: Increase timber sales by a tenth (Savings $18 Million)
     Recommendation: Transfer to Subdepartment of Interior (Savings $23 Million)

[Mr. Reactionary]

If all of the most ambitious recommendations are adopted, this will save $20.431 Billion. If the recommendations for spending increases are also adopted, this will increase spending by $2.675 Billion for a net effect of $17.756 Billion in savings.

[Mr. Reactionary]

Sorry, been sick and offline for a few days.

I will look for the specific study I used. As far as methodology, I can say because I believe Pericles had been waiting an uncomfortable amount of time to have his bill scored for paygo I just went ahead and relied on a study projecting the revenues from an increase of the estate tax from 35% to 45% using real life numbers. The study was not that old but may have been 2016 or 2017. But I can definitely say the methodology considered real life rather than in game numbers, since we are basically just getting good numbers and while I prefer these new testable numbers to pure bs numbers at the time I felt the need to at least ballpark the estate tax change.

Like i said, I will search for the exact study I relied upon. It was one of those studies of a bunch of different proposals for deficit reduction.

[Mr. Reactionary]

Also, to continue with the data dump, the 2019 tax receipts were based off of the in-game GDP.  The in-game calculated value for GDP fell at $18.87 trillion, which compares slightly above real life GDP which is 18.67 trillion for Q3 of 2018.

Current Unemployment Numbers

- Fremont: 4.21% (-0.35% from 7/18)

- Lincoln: 5.01%(-1.15% from 7/18)

- South: 3.99% (-2.23% from 7/18)

-Atlasia: 4.37% (-1.28% from 7/18)

[Mr. Reactionary]

Oh and real quick just to add some context to the numbers, I had intended for full stories relating to these factoids, but with the steady decrease in unemployment, Christmas spending was way up including at brick and mortar stores due to chinese blockade related shortages. Domestic Christmas tree sales were the highest seen due to related shortages of imported artificial trees; environmental tariffs made the artificial trees cost more as well.

[Mr. Reactionary]

I, Mr. Reactionary, by the authority vested in me by the Laws of the Republic of Atlasia as Game Moderator, first officer of the game engine thereof, here remove Fhtagn (R.I.P.) from the Office of Deputy Game Moderator and hereby nominate and submit the candidacy of Scott for Deputy Game Moderator for Stories.

- R

[Mr. Reactionary]

Audit Update: Here is the Subdepartment of Commerce audit. Education and Energy are close. I then intend to move on to HUD and Labor. As far as grand visions, I recommend Commerce be kept to house all agencies responsible for regulating federal commerce rather than the current hodgepodge of agencies. I recommend most of the existing agencies within Commerce be eliminated or transferred to a different Subdepartment to maximize on efficiencies.

As far as the dollar amounts, I conducted the audit using real life data and then adjust it against the funding amounts set in the last Budget CR that specified funding levels. The only listed appropriation I believe covers this is "other advancement of commerce" which is funded at $7.7 Billion. The real life Commerce budget is $13.769 Billion so we are operating at 56% program funding compared to real life. I dont have the power to decide which programs get defunded so I applied the 0.56 multiplier against the real life numbers to reach the audit results. Congress may want to restore some of the cuts.

Subdepartment of Commerce
Recommendation: Eliminate 4 undersecretary positions (Savings $3 Million)

Economic Development Administration - $192 Million
. Administrative – $21 Million
. Public Works Grant Program – $56 million
. Economic Adjustment Revolving Loan Program – $20 million*
. Planning Grant Program – $18 Million
. Coal Community Grant Program – $17 Million
. Regional Innovation Strategies Program – $10 million
     . i6 Challenge – $6 Million
     . Fund Support Grant competition – $4 Million
. Trade Adjustment Assistance Centers – $7 Million
. Research and National Technical Assistance program – $6 Million
. Disaster Aid Program – $17 million
     Recommendation: Eliminate (Savings $192 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate Public Works Grant Program (Savings $56 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate Economic Adjustment Revolving Loan Program (Savings $20 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate Planning Grant Program – (Savings $18 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate Coal Community Grant Program (Savings $17 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate Regional Innovation Strategies Program (Savings $10 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate Trade Adjustment Assistance Centers (Savings $7 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate National Technical Assistance research program (Savings $6 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate Disaster Aid Program (Savings $17 Million)

     
Minority Business Development Agency - $10 Million
     Recommendation: Eliminate (Savings $10 Million)


National Telecommunications and Information Administration -  $702 Million
. Salaries – $22 Million
. Broadband Opportunities Program – $12 Million
. State and Local Implementation Grant Program – $14 million
. Network Construction Fund – $658 Million
     Recommendation: Transfer duties to FCC (Savings $3 million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate Broadband Opportunities Program (Savings $12 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate State and Local Implementation Grant Program (Savings $14 Million)
     Recommendation: Auction off more spectrum under NTIA control (Savings $???)


National Institute of Standards and Technology – $500 Million
. Scientific and Technical Research Services – $407 Million
. Industrial Technology Services – $85 Million
   . Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership Program - $71 Million
   . Baldridge Performance Excellence Program - $0
   . ManufacturingUSA Program - $14 Million
. Wireless Innovation Fund – $22 Million
     Recommendation: Transfer to Subdeparment of Science (Savings $13 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate Wireless Innovation Fund (Savings $22 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate Industrial Technology Services (Savings $85 Million)


National Technical Information Service - $0
     Recommendation: Transfer to Subdeparment of Science (Savings N/A)


Economics and Statistics Administration - $0
     Recommendation: Eliminate (Savings N/A)


Bureau of Economic Analysis – $55 Million
     Recommendation: Transfer to Subdeparment of Science (Savings $4 Million)


Bureau of the Census - $821 Million
     Recommendation: Transfer to Subdeparment of Science (Savings $5 Million)
     Recommendation: Restore lost funding (Costs $679 Million)


Patent and Trademark Office - +$111 Million
     Recommendation: Direct surplus revenue towards restoring funding cuts within these programs (Savings $111 Million)


 International Trade Administration – $265 Million
Recommendation: Transfer to Department of State (Savings $7 Million)


Bureau of Industry and Security – $67 Million
Recommendation: Transfer to Subdepartment of Homeland Security (Savings $6 Million)
Recommendation: Restore funding (Costs $52 Million)


National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration – $5.698 Billion
. Administration – $1.898 Billion
. New purchases – $493 Million
. National Marine Fisheries Service - $574 Million
   . Gulf Coast Recovery monitoring – $4 Million
   . Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery – $30 Million
   . Fisheries Disaster Assistance – $6 Million
   . Fisheries Finance Program - $17 Million*
   . Fisheries Promotion – $7 Million
   . Misc. fish restoration and science – $493 Million
. National Weather Service – $640 Million
. National Ocean Service - $315 Million
. National Environmental and Satellite Data Information Service - $1.315 Billion
. Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research - $274 Million
   . National Sea Grant College - $41 Million
. Office of Marine and Aviation Operations - $189 Million
   . National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Corps – N/A
     Recommendation: Transfer all except NMFS to Subdepartment of Science (Savings $23 Million)
     Recommendation: Transfer Marine Fisheries Service to Subdepartment of Interior (Savings $10 million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Program (Savings $30 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate Fisheries Disaster Assistance Program (Savings $6 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate Fisheries Finance Program (Savings $17 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate Fisheries Promotion Program (Savings $73 Million)
     Recommendation: Eliminate National Sea Grant College (Savings $41 Million)
     Recommendations: Restore National Weather Service Funding (Costs $500 Million)

[Mr. Reactionary]

The big hit from the multiplier sort of eats up the savings here. If all the recommendations are adopted including using the patent money towards restoring some cuts i think we get $687 million in savings. Unfortunately $1.231 billion is recommended restored, so if all the recommendations are adopted congress will need to find $544 million more to restore funding to census, weather service, and National security export control enforcement.

[Mr. Reactionary]

Was this bill's costs and revenues officially estimated? If not, can you guys please do it.

https://uselectionatlas.org/AFEWIKI/index.php/Cheaper_Energy_Helps_All_Act

Net $2.048 Billion in savings

Ninja has the specific breakdown.

[Mr. Reactionary]

A Few Words on the Southern Budget

I apologize for taking so long to get this done. I have been very busy over the past few weeks and to add to that, the Southern budgets and budget threads for the past two years were very obscure and lacking in detail.

First, a few notes about the Southern budgetary process. Apparently, a 'base value' is calculated by summing the revenues and spending of each of the South's constituent states. According to old threads from 2015-16, these base values are calculated using data from the sites http://usgovernmentspending.com and https://www.usgovernmentrevenue.com, with the basic categories maintained. A few quick run-throughs of the data demonstrate that the values used in past budgets ignored local spending/revenues, and only factored in state spending/revenues into the baseline. This has been maintained in the below image, which contains calculated baseline values with economic multipliers (since Southern unemployment overall is actually higher than it is in real life, this actually decreases the baseline revenue).

There are a few issues and discrepancies between these numbers and those in previous budgets. For one, it seems that whoever did the 2017 and 2018 budgets never went back and updated the spending baselines, which were first calculated in 2016. As such, the baselines have been identical for all three years, even as economic conditions and population have changed. This is a bit annoying, because it means that prior budgets have been playing with the baselines in ways that don't accurately reflect the 'up-to-date' state numbers; for instance, in S 18.3-9 (Amendment to the Southern Budget), the education budget was increased to 120 billion. This is smaller than the 'correct' 2019 (or even the 2018) baseline of 136.77 billion. Likewise, many other categories in the budget are actually underfunded right now, using the 2018 budget as a guide; revenues baselines were updated in 2018, but not spending baselines.

Secondly, I noticed that there was a huge discrepancy between my income tax numbers and the income tax numbers that were reported in the 2017 and 2018 budgets. By my calculation, state income tax revenues should total 110.18 billion dollars; however, in 2017 and 2018, the income tax section listed only $13.6 billion dollars in revenues. A glance at the 2016 budget made me realize the issue: in 2016, the income tax numbers were broken down into personal and corporate categories, with the first of these totaling 81 billion and the second totaling 13.6 billion. In the 2017 budget, whoever did the numbers apparently eliminated the income tax section, perhaps due to the Southern repeal of the personal income tax; however, this should not have been done, since the baselines are state figures, not regional ones. So, the South has been underreporting its income tax revenues for the past two years.

Thirdly, there are discrepancies in the Social Insurance baseline category that can't be explained away so simply. My calculations show 73.68 billion in revenues in this category, while the 2016 and 2017 budgets listed this category as 197.9 billion dollars. This is a bit bizarre and resulted in a rather high total revenue estimate of 708.5 billion in the 2016 budget, higher than either the 2017 or 2018 budgets (due to their exclusion of the state income tax baseline). I would appreciate any comments from those who did work on the 2016 budget.

In general I feel like the budgetary process for the last two years has been on autopilot, with little concern for how numbers were calculated or what they meant. Apparently, the Southern region is absorbing all revenues collected by the states, as well as all spending. Meanwhile, the revenues are still dependent on state income tax rates. So the South is essentially letting the states set their own rates, and then collecting all of their revenues (meanwhile, local government revenues have not been absorbed by the region for some reason). Thus, the 'baselines' that provide the bulk of the South's revenue are actually dependent on factors that are controlled by the states, which are NPCs. This seems a bit odd to me and it seems like it is worth discussing in more detail. In particular, the South is changing their spending numbers at will (e.g. the alteration of 'other spending' to 20 billion dollars in S 18.3-9, against a prior baseline of 25 billion), so they are basically taking the states' revenues and then slashing spending in areas that were supposed to be bare-minimum spending transfers to begin with. A rather egregious example of this is S 18.4-27 (Hurricane Relief Act), which takes 22 billion from the 'Other Spending' category. The Other Spending category should NOT be for discretionary spending, people! If you want discretionary spending, make another category for it!

Alterations to revenue numbers from last year will be discussed (overall, changes to spending and revenue are minor) in a separate post.

Oof. Good work cracking the code as always.

[Mr. Reactionary]

K. Southern budget stuff is done.

K. Here is a list of (hopefully complete) budget changes (both spending and revenue) that I have calculated. Some of the numbers are rather rough, but really make no difference because new spending is dominated by the 8 billion naval infrastructure bill.

Bill	Title	Cost	Notes
S 18.1-25	Naval Infrastructure Spending Act	8,000,000,000	One-time
S 18.1-17	Rough Bulldog Act	8,000	One-time
S 18.1-10	Development of Foreign Language Programs in Schools Act	10,000,000	One-time
S 18.1-12	Prison Reform Act	170,000,000	One-time
S 18.1-12	Prison Reform Act	-22,000,000	Annual savings
S 18.1-11	Animal Welfare Act (commemorative tokens)	-360,000	One-time
S 18.1-11	Animal Welfare Act (commemorative tokens)	-360,000	One-time
S 18.3-23	Raccoon Resistance Act	20,000,000	One-time
S 18.4-40	Jeb Stuart Medical Research Gift Act	500,000	One-time
S 18.4-27	Hurricane Relief Act	22,000,000,000	One-time; factored into discretionary
S 18.22	Southern Young Athlets Assistance Act	5,000,000	Annual
S 17.5-16	Celebrating Our Southern Region Act	-3,200,000	One-time
S 18.18	Sales Tax Exemption Act	7,450,000	Annual
S 18.1-22	School is Cool Act	5,000,000	Tax
S 18.1-30	Opiate Overdose Prevention Act	2,000,000	One-time
S 18.1-30	Opiate Overdose Prevention Act	-829,000,000	Tax
S 19.1-8	Protecting the Health and Safety of Babies and Women	-13,219,000	Tax
S 18.1-13	Real ID Compliance Act	14,000,000	One-time
S 18.1-13	Real ID Compliance Act	-20,000,000	Apply to RL state numbers
S 18.3-7	Inmate Resources Act	165,000,000	depends on incarceration
S 19-1.14	Online Lottery Act	-310,000,000	Annual
S 18.3-16	Southern Tax Relief Act	860,265,114	Annual Tax Credit
S 19.1-17	Southern Gambling Act	-505,484,070	BASE (annual)
S 19.1-17	Southern Gambling Act	-1,342,332,000	5% for online+casinos (subject to increase as more casinos built)
S 18.4-21	Tax-Exempt HSAs Act	19,000,000	Apply to Alabama RL numbers
S 18.3-25	Teaching Incentives Act	76,231,200	Yearly dependent on education majors
S 18.4-13	Better Skools Act	-18,000,000	Apply to RL state numbers
S 18.4-11	Go South Young Man Act	735,504,000	FY2019 Only
S 18.1-20	Hunting and Fishing Act	0	Tied to inflation; check back in 3 years
S 18.1-33	More Obsolete Crimes Deletion Act	30,000,000	Apply to WV revenue numbers
S 18-4.17	Ban Ban Act	-21,477,000	Yearly dependent on uranium sales
S 17.5-5	More Doctors and Hospitals Act (surcharge)	3,684,000	Apply to state revenue numbers
S 17.5-5	More Doctors and Hospitals Act (prop. tax)	145,000,000	Apply to ad-valorem
S 17.5-17	Asset Seizure Reform Act	310,725,000	Apply to state revenue numbers
S 19.1-22	Everglades Environmental Protection Act	10,000,000	to FL
S 18-4.16	Fast Act Amendments Act	3,000,000	one-time
S 18.1-19	One More Year Act	-8,000,000	net
TOTAL SPENDING INCREASE		$7,498,935,244

Beautiful dude.

[Mr. Reactionary]

I, Mr. Reactionary, by the authority vested in me by the Laws of the Republic of Atlasia as Game Moderator, first officer of the game engine thereof, hereby nominate and submit the candidacy of JK2020 for Deputy Game Moderator to assist Scott with stories.

- R

[Mr. Reactionary]

As Scott agreed to swap with Sestak once Sestak was confirmed:

I, Mr. Reactionary, by the authority vested in me by the Laws of the Republic of Atlasia as Game Moderator, first officer of the game engine thereof, hereby relieve and dismiss Scott from his position of Deputy Game Moderator and thank him for his service and assistance to the game engine.

- R

[Mr. Reactionary]

Preliminary Analysis of Pyro's Tax Plan

The following contains some analysis of Pyro's tax plan, which he suggested to me via Discord a little over a week ago. The plan contained:

[1] corporate tax brackets of 5% (100K-1M), 10% (1M-10M), and 15% (10M+),
[2] a 30% cap on itemized deductions for households making over $250,000,
[3] equivalent treatment of capital gains and income,
[4] estate tax brackets of 15% (10M-50M) and 20% (50M+),
[5] a 2% tax on alcohol and tobacco products,
[6] a carbon tax akin to Fremont's (already passed in the legislature),
[7] a 1% financial transactions tax on all stock trades,
[8] a 5% tax on covered liabilities for institutions with 50B+ in total assets
[9] a 10% increase to the luxury tax (previously at 15%)
[10] a 1% wealth tax levied on the top 0.1%

Combined, items 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9 and 10 generate roughly 171.9 billion dollars in revenue (for reference, the Lincoln deficit is currently around 244 billion). Items 7 and 8 are much, much harder to quantify without more details about the nature of these proposals (which should probably have their own detailed bills). In particular, the suggested 1% FFT seems rather high. Sweden's famous FFT was of similar magnitude, had the result of pushing most trading overseas, and generated less than 5% of initial revenue estimates in any given year.

For #8, we imposed a similar tax on "Too Big To Fail" banks in the revenue Enhancement act. Ill check for the data I used to score that.

[Mr. Reactionary]

Update: So we've done some digging on this line item:

"a 5% tax on covered liabilities for institutions with 50B+ in total assets"

We've hit a bit of a snag. In trying to measure what is being requested in the above line item, the above phraseology "covered liabilities", "institutions", and "$50 Billion in assets" suggests we are dealing specifically with financial institutions and that the covered liabilities refers to under Dodd-Frank  those liabilities that would be insured by the FDIC in the event that there was ever a failure by a non-commercial financial institution of the requisite size. The FDIC only insures commercial banks and "Too Big To Fail" banks and financial institutions.

In Atlasia, as per the DRRA IX "16. The regulation designating financial institutions with $50 Billion in assets “systemically important” shall be increased to $250 Billion. 12 USC § 5511 et seq. shall be amended accordingly." So under federal law the covered liability of a financial institution with less than $250 Billion in assets is $0.

It gets worse though. Im having preemption concerns that Dodd-Frank would likely preempt at this point as this seems more like a risk fee designed to coerce behavior rather than a pure tax. I am also having concerns over jurisdictional scope. If the idea is to tax the value of bank assets that are insured by the FDIC, The government of Lincoln only has the power to tax things within their territorial jurisdiction. That means the proposed tax needs to be on something tangential to Lincoln. You can tax income derived in Lincoln or tax income earned by citizens of Lincoln or tax the value of assets physically located in Lincoln, but you cant assess a global tax on liabilities external to Lincoln.

I believe a bank tax can still be done if the proposal is reworded by the legislators slightly to only cover income generated within the Region.

[Mr. Reactionary]

I, Mr. Reactionary, by the authority vested in me by the Laws of the Republic of Atlasia as Game Moderator, first officer of the game engine thereof, hereby nominate Tmthforu94 for the position of Deputy Game Moderator.

- R

[Mr. Reactionary]

I, Mr. Reactionary, by the authority vested in me by the Laws of the Republic of Atlasia as Game Moderator, first officer of the game engine thereof, hereby nominate AustralianSwingVoter for the position of Deputy Game Moderator. Tmthforu94 and JK2020 are hereby relieved of their duties and thanked for their service.

- R