OOC: What do those with more experience at writing good NES stories think of my use of quotes? I'm a little worried it makes it seem too much like a history essay and not enough like an objective account or a history book.
The New Economic Growth Program
"The war is irrelevant, as the colonies are irrelevant. But a war makes the perfect excuse for what must be done." - Henri Castoriadis
"A socialist economic program- working?" - Chevènement
By October 2052, it had been apparent to most objective observers that Napoleon IX was going to keep the Premiership for himself permanently. Despite this, Guesde was still under the impression that the continuing claims that the decision was a 'war measure' were accurate.
Under normal circumstances, Napoleon would want to keep all his Cabinet members on a tight leash- from about June of 2052, however, his focus was too much on the war effort to be able to adress domestic politics. As he would put it, "I can't make myself Minister of War- but I will be Minister." (Incidentally, not even Guesede was suprised that Fillion's influence was dropping dramatically) Because of this, the easily-manipulable Guesde (who was in his post for just that reason) became the puppet of the Secretary of the Department of Industry, Henri Castoriadis.
Castoriadis was not a self-professed socialist, but his views may as well have been- he defended this with the mostly true claim that to him France came first. By his calculations, the Guineas war was going to last until 2055- a window in which the government could justify spending levels that would otherwise be unprecedented and the Emperor could be marginalised to a greater degree.
Putting the case that such a policy would be optimal to Guesede, Castoriadis argued that he could outdo Conde and Chevenment (feeding the delusion that Napoleon would not be Premier forever) and take the Premiership for himself. He was not Minister for the Economy, but he was Minister for Industry and of the Civil Service- thus he could within limits create his own economic program. The 'Castoriadis Doctrine', as it became known, consisted of:
-Creation of massive numbers of government-owned factories, creating goods for the war but easily convertable to peacetime manufacturing (and, as a last resort from Castoriadis's perspective, privatisable)
-A massive expansion of the Civil Service- Napoleon effectively vetoed a rationing policy, but an expansion of the number of staff avaliable to the Department of Infrastructure and the Department of Health was allowed. (Chevenment struggled to stop a doubling of the Department of Education staff, and narrowly suceeded)
-Merit-based pay for all civil servants linked to objective measures of sucess- deductions if a road broke down or a patient died etc, increases for encouraging economic growth or a reputation for justice.
-As a direct form of economic stimulation, the minimum wage was doubled and unemployment benefits 'suspended' - Castoriadis took pains to ensure that there were more then enough jobs avaliable for all those able to work, and the factories were instructed to accept everybody who could.
Napoleon saw the policy as "Guesde's stupidity", although Guesde wouldn't learn that until it was too late. Chevenment saw it as "crypto-socialism", which was very close to the truth. But, despite Chevenment's tax cuts, he was in no position to do anything about it- the Department of the Civil Service was legally capable both of lending money and going into debt. Napoleon was too busy to fight a policy he saw as 'entrenched like the Magniot line' (one suspects Napoleon IX didn't know his history...), and let it be.
The ASP
OOC: An excuse to use the term IC if necessary...
'A unit of spending for the future'- Castoriadis
'What stupidity is this?'- Chevenment
Another sign of the growth of Castoriadis's influence in the new government (and a sign which caused Napoleon IX to briefly consider abolishing Ministers alltogether) was the use of his terminology, quickly spreading due to Castoriadis's friends in the Department of Foreign Affairs into the French diplomatic service. This term was known as the 'ASP', and became famous to due the desire of Castoriadis (spoken much of in private and in social gatherings, little in public), to increase the French government budget by '1 ASP a year'.
For some reason, it has been difficult to find out the precisie figure of the ASP- probably because as the term spread contradictory figures within approximately the right 'ballpark' were given by different sources. Despite this, the term became a known slang word- even Napoleon IX used it once (before correcting himself).
