by Max Barry

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The Meowvellous Wonderful World of
Democratic Socialists

Overview Factbook Dispatches Policies People Government Economy Rank Trend Cards

21

The Valentian Economy in greater detail. Valentian Credits as Currency (1 VC = 3.41 NationStates Dollars).


* 1.00 Valentian Credits = 3.41 NationStates Dollars.

Overall, the Valentian Government more or less has a say in almost every aspect of the economy, though in the more recent decades, especially with colonisation of Mars, Primary and Secondary Industries are the only ones that still got a tight leash, while the Tertiary and Quaternary Industries are left mostly for the private corporations to develop. This is owing to the Valentian philosophy that focuses on development and betterment of everyone - both businesses and people. The Valentian Government’s interference is only towards the size of the companies and their behaviour towards the people and the environment, not on the freedom of information and flow of products. Media and non-tangible related industries are free to dispatch whatever information they please, as long as it’s truthful and non-conspiratorial towards any entity.

In short, Valentine Z works on a mixed economy system - one that still allows capitalism and private ownership to take place, but with a large amount of oversights to prevent the planets and the people from getting botched up with the pursuit of profit. As per definition: A mixed economic system protects private property and allows a level of economic freedom in the use of capital, but also allows for governments to interfere in economic activities in order to achieve social aims.

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More about the specific industries can be found here:


Industry

Percentage of Revenue / Industry Size

Accommodation (NAICS 721)

0.5783 %

Accommodation and Food Services (NAICS 72)

0.5217 %

Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services (NAICS 56)

0.5217 %

Administrative and Support Services (NAICS 561)

0.5348 %

Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting (NAICS 11)

1.5000 %

Air Transportation (NAICS 481)

0.3913 %

Ambulatory Health Care Services (NAICS 621)

0.6957 %

Amusement, Gambling, and Recreation Industries (NAICS 713)

0.0304 %

Animal Production (NAICS 112)

0.5217 %

Apparel Manufacturing (NAICS 315)

0.4783 %

Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation (NAICS 71)

0.8696 %

Beverage and Tobacco Product Manufacturing (NAICS 312)

0.4348 %

Broadcasting (except Internet) (NAICS 515)

0.8696 %

Building Material and Garden Equipment and Supplies Dealers (NAICS 444)

1.3044 %

Chemical Manufacturing (NAICS 325)

1.0870 %

Clothing and Clothing Accessories Stores (NAICS 448)

0.6522 %

Computer and Electronic Product Manufacturing (NAICS 334)

2.5000 %

Construction (NAICS 23)

0.7826 %

Construction of Buildings (NAICS 236)

1.0130 %

Couriers and Messengers (NAICS 492)

1.6000 %

Credit Intermediation and Related Activities (NAICS 522)

0.5652 %

Crop Production (NAICS 111)

4.8137 %

Data Processing, Hosting, and Related Services (NAICS 518)

4.7830 %

Education and Health Services

1.0000 %

Educational Services (NAICS 61)

1.0000 %

Electrical Equipment, Appliance, and Component Manufacturing (NAICS 335)

0.8696 %

Electronics and Appliance Stores (NAICS 443)

1.3044 %

Fabricated Metal Product Manufacturing (NAICS 332)

1.3044 %

Finance and Insurance (NAICS 52)

0.5217 %

Financial Activities

0.5783 %

Fishing, Hunting and Trapping (NAICS 114)

1.4348 %

Food and Beverage Stores (NAICS 445)

1.3043 %

Food Manufacturing (NAICS 311)

3.0437 %

Food Services and Drinking Places (NAICS 722)

4.1525 %

Forestry and Logging (NAICS 113)

0.8696 %

Funds, Trusts, and Other Financial Vehicles (NAICS 525)

0.5652 %

Furniture and Home Furnishings Stores (NAICS 442)

0.9566 %

Furniture and Related Product Manufacturing (NAICS 337)

0.9566 %

Gasoline Stations (NAICS 447)

0.0004 %

General Merchandise Stores (NAICS 452)

0.4348 %

Goods-Producing Industries

3.0437 %

Health and Personal Care Stores (NAICS 446)

1.5437 %

Health Care and Social Assistance (NAICS 62)

0.8696 %

Heavy and Civil Engineering Construction (NAICS 237)

1.0100 %

Hospitals (NAICS 622)

1.5000 %

Information (NAICS 51)

3.0435 %

Insurance Carriers and Related Activities (NAICS 524)

0.0021 %

Internet Publishing and Broadcasting (NAICS 516)

1.3044 %

Leather and Allied Product Manufacturing (NAICS 316)

0.0022 %

Leisure and Hospitality

1.8827 %

Lessors of Nonfinancial Intangible Assets (except Copyrighted Works) (NAICS 533)

0.0005 %

Machinery Manufacturing (NAICS 333)

2.1740 %

Management of Companies and Enterprises (NAICS 55)

0.9900 %

Manufacturing (NAICS 31-33)

1.3044 %

Merchant Wholesalers, Durable Goods (NAICS 423)

0.8696 %

Merchant Wholesalers, Nondurable Goods (NAICS 424)

0.5217 %

Mining (except Oil and Gas) (NAICS 212)

0.2609 %

Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction (NAICS 21)

0.2174 %

Miscellaneous Manufacturing (NAICS 339)

0.6087 %

Miscellaneous Store Retailers (NAICS 453)

0.6957 %

Monetary Authorities - Central Bank (NAICS 521)

0.8696 %

Motion Picture and Sound Recording Industries (NAICS 512)

1.8827 %

Motor Vehicle and Parts Dealers (NAICS 441)

1.8696 %

Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions (NAICS 712)

0.1304 %

Natural Resources and Mining

0.0869 %

Nonmetallic Mineral Product Manufacturing (NAICS 327)

0.8696 %

Nonstore Retailers (NAICS 454)

0.4478 %

Nursing and Residential Care Facilities (NAICS 623)

0.8696 %

Oil and Gas Extraction (NAICS 211)

0.1304 %

Other Information Services (NAICS 519)

1.3044 %

Other Services (except Public Administration) (NAICS 81)

0.8696 %

Paper Manufacturing (NAICS 322)

0.4130 %

Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries (NAICS 711)

0.6087 %

Personal and Laundry Services (NAICS 812)

0.5217 %

Petroleum and Coal Products Manufacturing (NAICS 324)

0.0087 %

Pipeline Transportation (NAICS 486)

0.2174 %

Plastics and Rubber Products Manufacturing (NAICS 326)

0.3478 %

Postal Service (NAICS 491)

0.0087 %

Primary Metal Manufacturing (NAICS 331)

0.4435 %

Printing and Related Support Activities (NAICS 323)

0.4783 %

Private Households (NAICS 814)

0.6522 %

Professional and Business Services

0.6957 %

Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services (NAICS 54)

1.7392 %

Publishing Industries (except Internet) (NAICS 511)

0.3913 %

Rail Transportation (NAICS 482)

0.0217 %

Real Estate (NAICS 531)

0.0087 %

Real Estate and Rental and Leasing (NAICS 53)

0.0087 %

Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations (NAICS 813)

0.4565 %

Rental and Leasing Services (NAICS 532)

0.4913 %

Repair and Maintenance (NAICS 811)

0.4130 %

Retail Trade (NAICS 44-45)

0.2913 %

Scenic and Sightseeing Transportation (NAICS 487)

0.0087 %

Securities, Commodity Contracts, and Other Financial Investments and Related Activities (NAICS 523)

0.4783 %

Service-Providing Industries

0.5304 %

Social Assistance (NAICS 624)

0.8696 %

Specialty Trade Contractors (NAICS 238)

0.3913 %

Sporting Goods, Hobby, Book, and Music Stores (NAICS 451)

0.6522 %

Support Activities for Agriculture and Forestry (NAICS 115)

0.8696 %

Support Activities for Mining (NAICS 213)

0.0087 %

Support Activities for Transportation (NAICS 488)

0.0435 %

Telecommunications (NAICS 517)

1.0870 %

Textile Mills (NAICS 313)

0.8696 %

Textile Product Mills (NAICS 314)

0.7826 %

Trade, Transportation, and Utilities

0.5652 %

Transit and Ground Passenger Transportation (NAICS 485)

0.6087 %

Transportation and Warehousing (NAICS 48-49)

0.6522 %

Transportation Equipment Manufacturing (NAICS 336)

0.7826 %

Truck Transportation (NAICS 484)

0.5783 %

Utilities (NAICS 22)

0.0217 %

Warehousing and Storage (NAICS 493)

0.5652 %

Waste Management and Remediation Services (NAICS 562)

0.8696 %

Water Transportation (NAICS 483)

0.0087 %

Wholesale Electronic Markets and Agents and Brokers (NAICS 425)

0.8696 %

Wholesale Trade (NAICS 42)

0.7826 %

Wood Product Manufacturing (NAICS 321)

0.3655 %

An industry involved in the extraction and collection of natural resources, such as copper and timber, as well as by activities such as farming and fishing. Basically, anything that involves extracting resources from Earth and Mars are in here. A company in a primary industry can also be involved in turning natural resources into products. Primary industry tends to make up a larger portion of the economy of developing countries than they do for developed countries. The primary sector is concerned with the extraction of raw materials. It includes fishing, farming and mining.

It was sufficient to say that farming became much more modernized, using the readily available technology that Valentine Z has to offer, as well as the usage of green and clean sources of energy to grow such food. Chemicals such as pesticides and insecticides are used to a much lesser degree, with DNA strain manipulation becoming much more advanced and making the crops 99% resistant to insects and pests.

A few other industries, while necessary, are designated as “environmentally damaging”, and these include, but not limited to: mining and timber/woodcutting industries. As aforementioned, they are necessary in order for the enjoyment and usage of the Valentians (such as wooden furniture, or mining for rare earth metals), but the industries are highly regulated and since owned by the Valentian Government, they have the full liberty to restrict it to the extent they see fit. A few of the Primary Industry companies operating in Valentine Z are as below:


Agriculture - Sunny Side Farms
"Feeding Generations of Valentians."

Sunny Side Farms is a Valentian Government-owned company that, as the name suggests, deals with agricultural needs and wants for Valentians whether they are on Earth or are on Mars. With the practice as old as time, combined with the futuristic technology and developments from Valentine Z, Sunny Side Farms is able to provide both animal and plant products to the ever-growing dietary needs of the Valentians while keeping the negative environmental impact to its bare minimum. Due to the acceptance and tastiness involved, lab-grown meat have also been grown on a regular basis and are replacing a large percentage of the Valentians' diets.


Fishery - Hopewell Fishery
"Meeting up demands, Sustainability kipper."

Working side by side with Sunny Side Farms is Hopewell Fishery, which like most of the Primary Industries, are also owned by the Valentian government in order to prevent a monopoly and economical abuse from occurring when it comes to providing people with the basic needs. Whether it is for the Valentians that live near the oceans, or for those at Mars that are craving for a little sushi, or for the kitties of Valentine Z that are yearning for tuna, Hopewell Fishery will always be there to provide the much-needed seafood and its derivatives, while also using state-of-the-art technology to ensure that the fish livestocks are never depleted for generations and centuries to come.


Electricity - Solaris Electrical Systems
"Electrifying Life for All."

Despite the name, Solaris Electrical Systems utilises all forms of clean energy, along with the usual fair share of fossil fuels, nuclear energy, and even Antimatter. After all, the Valentians are well-aware that for a populace this big, it is simply near-impossible to reduce their carbon footprint altogether, and they certainly did not want to bother other beings for energy - the desire for unlimited energy right now would have been a greed-filled disaster. For the time being, the energy demands have been met - with most of it coming from solar farms and hydroelectric dams that are managed and integrated into the ecosystem, nuclear waste disposed of properly, and nuclear power plants carefully (Valentine Z / Solaris only has a single minor incident in the year 2032 that saw irradiation of a small patch of land around the power plant due to human error).


Gas - Luminuer Holdings
"A Bright and Vivid Future."

Derived from Luminous and Feuer (Fire, in German), Luminuer Holdings is also yet another Valentian Government-owned company that handles Earth's oil rigs, with little to no business opportunities in Mars just yet. Alongside Solaris, Luminuer Holdings provides the much needed gas and oil for fuels, as well as for any and other oil-derived products. With decades of research and money going into the projects, the Valentians are finding ways to cleanly burn these gases and eventually, in hopes that these will only be used for contingency plans should renewable energy systems falter.


Forestry - Gaia's Limitless Wonders
"Treating Every Tree with Respect."

In the far future, not a lot of people would have thought that we will still have the needs and demands for tree-based products and derivatives. Offices, schools, military, homes - paper still is needed everywhere. Which is why Gaia's Limitless Wonders is the main producer of wood, pulp, and paper, using a combination of renewable sources of tree to even creating synthetic paper in laboratories for various uses. Valentine Z's paper, and those that comes from Gaia's Limitless Wonders, have the absolute guarantee that they are biodegradable from as little as 5 months, to as long as 100 years when longevity is required for special projects that are approved by the government.


Mining and Quarry - Blast Core Ltd
"Minerals Yours; Sustainability Mine."

Prevalent on both Earth and on Mars, Blast Core has been the primary company with subsidies below it to provide the Valentians with the rocks and minerals that they need. In the first half of the 21st century, the Valentians agree that mining is perhaps the most unsightly work of all to happen, destroying the environment and producing hideous eyesores. Over the years, with more perfected techniques and technology, as well as making recycling mandatory towards the minerals that have been dug out, Blast Core has managed to keep their footprint minimal.


Water - Crystal Glaciers Ltd
"Simply Potable."

Simple motto, simple product, and yet, produced with the utmost care and complexity, Crystal Glaciers is yet another one of the Valentian Government's companies that emphasises on providing the world population - both on Earth and Mars - with the water that they need or want. The amount of water, so far, is not a problem on both planets - it is the lack of fresh water. Which is why as of 2090, Crystal Glaciers have produced 13 trillion cubic meters of fresh water a year for every Valentian and visitors to enjoy. Fresh water is available for everyone's enjoyment through the water fountains, with bottled mineral water unheard of.

This sector generally takes the output of the primary sector and manufactures finished goods or where they are suitable for use by other businesses, for export, or sale to domestic consumers. This sector is often divided into light industry and heavy industry. Many of these industries consume large quantities of energy and require factories and machinery to convert raw materials into goods and products. They also produce waste materials and waste heat that may cause environmental problems or cause pollution, which in turn are processed heavily to minimise their harmfulness before being discharged back into the environment. The secondary sector supports both the primary and tertiary sector. As a planetary power, manufacturing is existent in Valentine Z and while most of them are owned by the Valentian Government, a select few of them are owned by private firms.

Indeed, there are countless number of manufacturing plants dotted across the entire world of Valentine Z, but the production rates are rather low. This is due to the expensive nature of raw materials such as wood, rare metals, metals, and so on, while the cost of producing new materials such as plastic and Styrofoam are raised to rather extreme levels. All of this was intentional by the Valentian Government, opting and encouraging people and businesses alike to practice the 3Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle) as much as possible. Of important note is that even the Valentian Government is aware of the fact that some of the items are non-recyclable for hygienic or other reasons and as a result, they urge the companies to make them as biodegradable as possible.

Technological devices such as smartphones, TVs, game consoles, among many others, are also created with the Valentian Technological Institution (VTI) keeping a keen and close eye on the industry. The companies creating new devices must ensure two things:

  • That the devices absolutely do not have planned obsolesce in mind, i.e. they must not be designed so that they are easily disposable or are outdated when a newer device with better features hit the market. A RL counterexample would be the smartphones from the famous brands that are released on an annual basis, with some people switching phones as soon as the new one hits the scene.

  • The devices must be able to withstand at least an IP68 worth of abuse and damage, to be built like a military device would. This is to ensure the longevity of the devices, as well as prevent companies from asking exorbitant prices for device repairs, and the implication that a fragile device is easily replaced soon when a new device is released into the market (see above point).

  • The devices are modular, and the modules are easily replaceable, recyclable, or processable. Similar to modular phones and devices that have been seen and observed in the RL world, this means that the devices will never become obsolete as long as there are software updates, coupled with modules that users can simply tack on to their devices to add or improve the current features. For example, CPU and GPU on laptops are easily replaceable with a much better one instead of buying a new one, and the old parts are easily recyclable (i.e. they can be disassembled, plastic parts repurposed or built for something else, and the precious metals melted easily.)

As a result of these points, Valentian technology is known to be rather bulky and at some points, becoming unwieldy or unappealing to look at, but users praise it for the very fact that they are built to last an eternity, e.g. an average smartphone’s lifespan used to be 2-4 years old, but for the Valentian devices, they can easily last 30-40 years with upgrades.

The Valentian Environment Agency (VEA), a branch created by Chief Senator Shannon, is the leading body for this, ensuring that the products created by the industries and companies adhere to the standards as much as possible.


Audio - Vox Systems
"Music - Soul of Civilizations."

Owned partially by the Valentian government and the private stakeholders, Vox Systems provides both the secondary and tertiary industry services for the Valentians on the musical front, though it would mostly on the secondary front of making the musical instruments, with musical software from other companies all over Valentine Z. Elegant, clean, soothing, reliable and durable, Vox Systems have produced some of the finest musical instruments for the classical settings, as well as for the contemporary ones.


Automobile - Intermediate Tunings
"Balancing Reliability with Performance."

For most of the Valentians, despite their physical stature and sizes, they are not the one to be bombastic with their vehicles. Perhaps this can be contradicted by their love for motorsports, but the Valentians are not to be persuaded by loud and big vehicles (at least for their relative size). Which is why Intermediate Tunings was so popular in doing what it does - producing and manufacturing cheap but reliable vehicles that are modest and yet underrated in their performance when they really does shy. Coexisting with the extended public network transportation systems, along with a few more other exotic car companies, Intermediate Tunings have served and made 600 million cars for both Earth and Mars.


Apparel - The Orange Paw
"Colorful Clothes - Colorful Life."

Established by Head Secretary Jamie and an agglomeration of some of the most prominent fashion figures and celebrities of Valentine Z, alongside common men and businessmen alike, The Orange Paw seeks to redefine the fashion trend of Valentine Z not by designing and putting up the most outlandish outfits with questionable animal ethics*, but rather to make every kind of outfits and dresses unbounded by social status, race, and any other demographic barriers. Alongside Valentine Z's inclusive attitude on almost everything imaginable, The Orange Paw defies the norms and lets people express themselves as they see fit, as well as proving that 16 feet tall (on average) Valentians can still flaunt their fabulousness. * That is, The Orange Paw does not use animal products.


Cameras - Hyperzicht Optics
"Memories are meant to be forever."

From the worlds that they have toured and visited, the Valentians always showed a little bit of concern and discomfort towards those that simply stores vacation photos in their underpowered smartphone cameras. The days of DSLR have been numbered for some of them, at least in terms of popularity. For Valentine Z, the DSLR revolution happened in part to the people's passion for photography and videography, but also because Hyperzicht has been producing some of the best cameras to date for the Valentians. Their latest high-end camera is a DVZ-500X, which can produce stunning 10 GP (Gigapixels) photos at a stunning 400 shots per second.

The service sector consists of the production of services instead of end products. Services (also known as "intangible goods") include attention, advice, access, experience, and affective labor. The production of information has long been regarded as a service, but some economists now attribute it to a fourth sector, the quaternary sector.

The tertiary sector of industry involves the provision of services to other businesses as well as final consumers. Services may involve the transport, distribution and sale of goods from producer to a consumer, as may happen in wholesaling and retailing, pest control or entertainment. The goods may be transformed in the process of providing the service, as happens in the restaurant industry. However, the focus is on people interacting with people and serving the customer rather than transforming physical goods.

Such examples of Tertiary Industry include telecommunication, tourism, healthcare, waste disposal, information technology, education, financial services, retail, amongst many others. The tertiary industry more or less is shared between the Valentian government and private firms, depending on the industries. Services that are considered “essential to the progression and development of Valentians as a whole”, such as healthcare, waste disposal, education, and telecommunication, are 100% controlled by the Valentian government, with the funding coming from the taxation that it receives from its people.

Other industries such as retail and information technology are more or less controlled by the private firms and corporations, though as with other industries and agreements, the Valentian government looks over them and protects both the consumers and the companies themselves in case of a slip-up.

The quaternary sector of the economy is a way to describe a knowledge-based part of the economy, which typically includes knowledge-oriented economic sectors such as information technology, media, research and development; information-based services such as information-generation and information-sharing; and knowledge-based services such as consultation, education, financial planning, blogging, and designing. The quaternary sector is based on knowledge and skill. It consists of intellectual industries providing information services, such as computing and ICT (information and communication technologies), consultancy (offering advice to businesses) and R&D (research, particularly in scientific fields). According to some definitions, the quaternary sector includes other pure services, such as the entertainment industry, and the term has been used to describe media, culture, and government. "Quaternary sector" is a further delineation of the three-sector hypothesis of industry in the sense that the quaternary sector refers to a part of the third or tertiary sector along with the quinary economic sector. Intellectual services are sometimes regarded as distinct enough to warrant a separate sector and not be considered merely as a part of the tertiary sector. This sector evolves in well-developed countries where the primary and secondary sectors are a minority of the economy, and requires a highly educated workforce.

Due to the intangible nature of it, most of the quaternary industry is controlled by the private firms and corporations (~80% of the profit and revenue comes from them), while the Valentian government only interferes when necessary and generally leaves them alone to provide, as defined, “a censorship-free media without any interference from the government”.

OOC Disclaimer: While designed by myself in Photoshop, many credits go to the original creators, as well as producers of the art pieces/games/characters/etc. These notes are for fictional purpose only, and are NOT legal tender for RL use.

The 1st Generation Notes, while still legal tender, are now superseded by the 2nd Generation. The 1st Generation is to be quietly discontinued due to a slight graphical overhaul, as well as errors in the values and names. Some of the notes are more ceremonial or to celebrate a jubilee, or anything else. For example, 14 VC is produced to commemorate the significant event of Valentina making her way into the Valentian World.























































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