robkelk Wrote:Economy:Many Trekkies are consistently frustrated by the simple fact that the rest of the Fen have an economy that has to be, if not respected, at least dealt with. This has not stopped them from implementing UFP Socialism within their dedicated facilities and settlements, but it does mean that they do have to actually handle currency. This is, of course, made all the worse by the fact that they also have to deal with the 'danelaw for certain supplies. This is a major stick in their craw overall, except interestingly those who are in the Terran member-state, since they're the ones that get to see how entrenched the situation is on a daily basis.
"We don't need money!"
"Then you don't need mine."
- Jake Sisko and Nog, Deep Space Nine (anybody remember the episode title? It's the one where Jake wanted to buy an antique for his father)
The majority of the UFP are attempting to implement a socialist society without currency of any sort. A subfaction (mostly original-series Fen who remember how many credits a tribble cost) reject this and continue to use the Solar Credit when doing business with the rest of the Convention.
Edit: After a night's sleep, my brain is working better... It's the Terra member-state that's rejecting the socialist economy, since they still need to deal directly with the 'Danelaw (and, to a lesser extent, stations Clarke County, Genaros, Meetpoint, and Stellvia).
(Not much of a contribution to start with, but I have to log off now...)
This doesn't stop them from trying to (very slowly) convert the rest of the solar system to their ideals. Thankfully, few of those with stridently held beliefs regarding economics have managed to get into places to further "sully" the reputation of the diplomatic arm.
A few others have been working for years to try to create the Replicator as a device, where they can feed anything in and get anything else out, in order to attack the economics problem from the other side. So far, they haven't proven to be successful, as the results wind up so heavily quirked when they do work at all that they don't do most people a lot of good.
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"You know how parents tell you everything's going to fine, but you know they're lying to make you feel better? Everything's going to be fine." - The Doctor