Federal Reserve Reform Act (Passed)

[Lumine]

Thank you very much for sponsoring this, Bore!

I do think the wording may have to be corrected, but this specific proposal is inspired on the inflation issue and the curious issue of the Game Moderator having all the powers of the Federal Reserve, meaning that he can implement policies as well. Many Atlasians have proposed giving this job to the SoIA (Superique, Bore, and so on) to make it a more powerful position and one that is more consistent with its own spirit (that is, dealing with domestic policy), and I decided to craft this proposal.

I should also point out that this is connected with my plan to reform the cabinet, as it would allow the SoIA to appoint a Deputy for this should that become necessary (and I do recall one or two people showing some potential interest in dealing with that specific issue).

[Lumine]

This is a good bill, but is it still called internal affairs?

It is, yes. My executive order calls for the position to be called Interior, but legally it is still Internal Affairs (something that I seek to correct with my cabinet amendment).

[Lumine]

Is there really such a need to overreact? This is certainly not an attempt to progressively strip the GM from his duties, but an attempt to help the position of SoIA by allowing an administration to deal with monetary policy, a very minor duty for the GM that so far has been used in just a couple of times. The more the cabinet can work with a GM and react to the events of the game the better for all of us.

[Lumine]

There's a lot of interesting arguments here, but I suppose I must express my amazement at how some seem to believe there's a sustained effort by the Senate to weaken the GM.

If anything, ever since DemPGH tried to do as he pleased with a GM the Senate has worked to aid the position by changing the mechanisms for dismissal and allowing the use of GM deputies among other things. Giving all the powers to the GM is also a sign of disfunction, because the GM and the Federal government are supposed to interact, and this has been done via the negotiations and actions regarding Iraq and Ukraine, where we had a successful example of cooperation enhancing the game.

What this bill would do is to give a power to the SoIA that will actually allow him to interact with the GM regarding monetary policy, because as of now the SoIA (which is technically responsible of Domestic Policy) has no powers to act on this area, with only executive orders from the President as a resort (and ruling via executive order has its obvious problems as well).

We are getting off topic here, but the bottom line is that the federal government will always struggle to function properly if we don't have a balance between the cabinet positions that allows for them to interact and cooperate, something that can now be achieved thanks in no small part to Dr. Cynic's performance and style as GM and the possibilities offered by having an actual Deputy GM in Barnes.

[Lumine]

There's a lot of interesting arguments here, but I suppose I must express my amazement at how some seem to believe there's a sustained effort by the Senate to weaken the GM.

Please don't try to make it sound as if I implied a conspiracy. Regardless of intent, the office of GM is the only cabinet position as of late that has been the focus of multiple bills designed to either limit its autonomy or give its powers to others. Oddly enough, there does seem to be a response with respect to doing this sort of thing not when the positions are failing, but when they actually have an active occupant (much like the last round of VP reforms when windjammer held it).  

I meant Windjammer's arguments as well, but for some reason it does seem like whenever we have to argue there are conspiracy theories in the background...

Moving onto the main point here, I don't feel that what we have done is to limit the autonomy of the GM and reduce the office to nothing. It is a fact that the cabinet needs reforms and it needs to avoid the vagueness provided by the constitution, and I feel attempts like this bill fulfill in part that objective. The argument about the active occupants of the position being the ones hurt by this does seem a bit ironic in light of your earlier comments against SirNick (and I believe Simfan as well). Cynic has been a great GM, but that doesn't mean things cannot be improved when it comes to the cooperation between the cabinet and his office. Call me idealistic, but I want to believe that Riley or Bore will be able to assemble a cabinet active enough to continue this line of thinking.

Regarding the conflict that arised when Windjammer was the Vice-President, the issue was not one of activity or a calculated attempt to limit and reduce the position, the issue surged because there was (ironically, I guess) a clear conflict of separation of powers and the potential weakening of the President Pro Tempore.

[Lumine]

Well, this was a strange vote, xD, either way, happy to sign this!

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x LumineVonReuental, President of Atlasia.