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New Prosperity Plan

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New Prosperity Plan

A Martino poster promoting the New Prosperity Plan.
Location
Type National economic program
Cause
Organized by
Outcome
  • Economic reforms
  • Large national civil works prgram
  • Large defense works program
  • Social security and solidarity programs

The New Prosperity Plan is a series of plans and policies created by the administration of President of the Government Alejandro Campos and the Coalition for Federal Progress to address the immediate social, political, economic, and military needs of the nascent Alduro-Wechua Federation, which later became the Federation of Nouvelle Alexandrie. These plans and policies were often government-funded programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and new regulations enacted by the Council of State or by law from the Federal Constituent Assembly.

The New Prosperity Plan was designed by the Council of State, with advice from local governments, scientists, legislators, and from the Wechua Planning Commission. The Wechua Planning Commission served as a significant well of experience and knowledge for the development of the Plan, having prepared the Wechua Five-Year Plans in 1673 AN, 1679 AN, and 1685 AN. Most of the Plan was established in accordance with many policy plans and ideas that form part of the Coalition for Federal Progress agenda of governance. In order to secure and control shared broad support among labor and business, the government implemented a wide array of subsidies to business and labor through both direct and indirect methods, to spur investment, expansion, hiring, and more economic development. These programs are set to last for five years, from 1685 AN to 1694 AN.

Some of the largest programs implemented at the federal level were the Banking Act, the Minimum Wage Act, the Social Security Act, the Finance Act, the National Youth Corps (NYC), the Infrastructure Development Bank (IDB), the Food Security Administration (FSA), the Urban Development Agency (UDA), the National Environmental Corps (NEC), the National Development Administration (NDA), and the Federal Housing Agency (FHA). Many of these programs and agencies provided support for young and old, farmers, the unemployed, and the disabled. Financial reforms stemming from both landmark legislation and Orders-in-Council led to the separation of commercial and investment banking, national bank deposit insurance, regulation of secondary trading of securities, and the establishment of the national financial system.

Economic programs

Legislation or Program Year Purpose Notes
National Economy Act 1685 Establish proper agencies and regulations for the economy; create the Federal Bank of Alduria-Wechua;
establish the Cardenas Stock Exchange; Alduro-Wechua Écu as national currency; among others.
Banking Act 1685 Establish regulations on banking; establish national bank deposit insurance; separate commercial
banking from investment banking; codify standards for sale and purchase of stock, required awareness of
investments to be accurately disclosed; among others.
National Labor Act 1685 Establish a national minimum wage; guarantee the right of private-sector employees to organize
into trade unions, engage in collective bargaining, and take collective action such as strikes;
ban on company unions; among others.
Social Security Act 1685 Create the Social Solidarity program to provide benefits to the unemployed, elderly, disabled, poor,
and widowed; among others.
Finance Act 1685 Establish a national system of taxation; create the Federal Revenue Authority (FRA); create a system of
special tax courts; provide for Regional and local taxation; among others.
Regional and Local Government Framework Act 1685 Establish the system of local governance; outline federal, regional, and local responsibilities; outline
shared responsibilities; regulate the form of regional and local governments; among others.
National Youth Corps 1685 Provide work, education, and skills development for citizens between the ages of 16 and 25; provide
funding for the development of youth art and culture projects of national, local, and regional
significance; among others.
Infrastructure Development Bank 1685 Provide long and medium-term funding for large public and private key infrastructure projects, including
in the areas of transportation, housing, energy, information and communications technology,
water, and sanitation; among others.
Federal Social Security Authority 1865 Administer the Social Solidarity program, a social insurance program consisting of retirement,
disability, and survivor benefits; administer the unemployment insurance program; among others.
Import-Export Bank of Alduria-Wechua 1686 Aid in financing and to facilitate exports and imports and the exchange of commodities between
the Federation and other nations or their agencies or nationals; among others.
Food Security Administration 1686 Combat rural poverty; provide loans and grants to Alduro-Wechua companies and citizens for agriculture;
protect public health through the control and supervision of food safety, tobacco products, dietary
supplements, medications, vaccines, biopharmaceuticals, blood transfusions, medical devices, cosmetics,
animal foods & feed, and veterinary products; among others.
Urban Development Agency 1685 Set standards for city governance and finances; foster economic growth and community revitalization by
assisting existing cities and towns to develop local urban renewal plans; fund the construction, repair,
and upgrade of crucial urban infrastructure; among others.
Federal Housing Agency 1685 Set standards for housing construction; improve national housing standards and conditions; provide
underwriting and insurance to loans made by banks and other private lenders for home building;
to provide an adequate home financing system through insurance of mortgage loans, and to stabilize the
mortgage market; among others.
Civil Defense Corps 1685 Mobilize the civilian population in response to threats to the Federation; educate the civilian population
about self-sufficiency and disaster relief; among others.
National Environmental Corps 1686 Voluntary program to provide unemployed and unmarried men and women ages 18–28 with
jobs related to the conservation and development of natural resources in rural lands owned by federal,
regional, and local governments; among others.
National Development Administration 1685 Build large public works projects throughout the Federation only using private Alduro-Wechua contractors;
create infrastructure that generates national and local pride; promote national connectedness; and
other purposes.
Industrial Development Act 1686 Develop industry and technology in Alduria-Wechua; stimulate and encourage investment in industrial
undertakings from within or outside of the Federation; and other purposes.
Arts and Culture Commission 1686 Provide support for the development of the national arts and culture; launch cultural and artistic
preservation projects throughout the Federation; employment of artists, musicians, actors, and
writers for national education and public relations campaigns; among others.
National Electrification Authority 1685 Modernize and expand the national electric grid; build new power plants; modernize remote and
agrarian areas by connecting them to the national electric grid; among others.
National Science Administration 1686 Support fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering;
administer the Alduro-Wechua civilian space program; conduct civilian aeronautics and space research;
among others.
National Health Institute 1686 Support fundamental research and education in all medical fields of science and engineering; conduct civilian
medical and biological research; among others.
Federal Resettlement Administration 1686 Resettle those acquiring Alduro-Wechua citizenship through the "Law of Graces"; fund large emergency
housing, transport, and education projects; among others.

Infrastructure projects

Most of the largest civil works and infrastructure projects that came out of the New Prosperity Plan were channeled through the Infrastructure Development Bank, the National Development Administration, the Urban Development Agency, and the Federal Resettlement Administration. Other programs that engaged in similar, but more focused (military, civil defense, or environmental related) work were the National Environmental Corps and the Civil Defense Corps.

As the program started up, the federal government worked with regional and local governments to expand opportunities for private-public partnerships and maintain a priority in hiring native contractors. However, by 1686 AN, the government had become involved in hiring unemployed persons directly to build some of the larger projects. This first began in remote or rural areas where local contractors were hard to find, but later extended to some urban centers as well, especially the construction of the national capital in Cardenas from scratch. Many of these persons were staffed in projects where they built needed schools, clinics, hospitals, federal and municipal buildings. They also participated in building waterworks, sewers, streets, public venues, monuments, and parks according to local specifications. Special care was given to staff people in projects near or in their local communities whenever possible, in an effort to instill local pride and inspire its care. Some projects, such as new military bases and airfields, were managed by the military, with army officers often directing the work. Special projects in the fields of ecology and environmental protection were handled directly by the National Environmental Corps. The NEC was entirely directed by federal army officers, who were paid and supported by funding from the projects' budgets.

The National Development Administration put millions to work into achieving the New Prosperity Plan on a wide range of government-financed public works projects, which included bridges, airports, dams, post offices, hospitals, schools, and hundreds of thousands of miles of new roads and highways. With rural areas in both Alduria and the Wechua Nation sunk in poverty, special projects designed to help spur the development of agriculture, improve access, and connectivity, and secure a sustainable national food supply proliferated. Among the purpose of these rural projects were to expand electrification (with the National Electrification Authority), build new schools and clinics, open roads into remote areas, reforestation, and purchase protected lands to establish the first national parks.

The Urban Development Agency and the Federal Housing Agency sought to stimulate the private home building industry and increase the number of citizens who owned homes or property. The National Development Administration undertook many large public housing projects in cities and rural areas alike, but it was the Federal Housing Agency that set policies and regulations on national housing construction standards, public or private.

Prominent projects

National System of Parks

Defence programmes

Territorial expansions

Expansion Map Settlement Company (Royal Charter) Appropriated Spent Notes
Orange Sea Expansion OrangeSea.png New Luthoria Settlement Company €212 billion €98 billion
Captive Sea Expansion CaputianResettlement.png Caputian Resettlement Authority €211 billion €104 billion
Lyrican Expansion LyricanExpanish69.png Lyrican Settlement Company €583 billion €176 billion
Talamthom Expansion NorthLyrica2.PNG Palmas Settlement & Construction Company €391 billion €98 billion
Keltian Expansion I NAXKeltiaExpansion1.png Wechua-Santanderian East Keltian Company €248 billion €20 billion

Orange Sea Expansion

Captive Sea Expansion

Lyrican Expansion

Talamthom Expansion

Expansions in East Keltia

New Prosperity Bonds

A poster promoting New Prosperity Bonds.

The New Prosperity Bonds are commonly known as the infrastructure bonds issued by the Infrastructure Development Bank, the largest underwriter of debt securities issued by the federal government of Alduria-Wechua for infrastructure projects to help finance the New Prosperity Plan's largest civil works projects. The sale of New Prosperity Bonds is global in scope, being sold in many Raspur Pact countries through both commercial banks and the Infrastructure Development Bank. The Infrastructure Development Bank operates an eCommerce site to facilitate foreign investment in Alduria-Wechua in partnership with the Import-Export Bank of Alduria-Wechua. Since the initial United Federation Issue was offered in 1685 AN, sales of bonds have climbed to WAE€240 billion, with WAE€112 billion attributed to domestic bond sales.

These New Prosperity Bonds have a maturity period of 10 to 15 years. After say 5 years one can use the option of buyback or he can always enjoy the interest annually or compounded interest at the end of the period. While the buy-back facility for the 10-year bonds is after 5 years, for the 15-year option it comes after 7 years. The bonds usually carry interest rates of about 8% to 10%. Bonds can be sold or traded at the Cárdenas Stock Exchange.

As the Federation expanded its territory and embarked on aggressive colonization policies, the Infrastructure Development Bank started issuing bonds and selling stock in the chartered settlement companies legally tasked with the establishment of the new region and its settlement.

Public-private partnerships

In an attempt to incentivize economic growth, wherever possible the New Prosperity Plan engaged private local and international firms in the design, construction, and operation of many of the projects that form part of the plan.

Some of them are:

Statistics

1685 1686 1687 1688 1689 1690 1691 1692 1693 1694 1695
Gross National Product €2.982 trillion €3.181 trillion €3.435 trillion €3.778 trillion €4.042 trillion
Consumer Price Index
Industrial Production Index
Exports (In billions of écu, €)
Unemployment 16.2% 14.8% 11.3% 10.4% 9.7%

National cultural development

The Arts and Culture Commission (colloquially known as “the ArtCo”) has been granted a sizeable budget from the New Prosperity Plan to directly employ or subsidize artists, painters, writers, sculptors, and architects across the Federation. The arts programs are required to promote trust in the new federal institutions, promote and honor all cultures in the Federation, and depict “the unstoppable collective power of free and prosperous individuals”, according to 1686 AN directive from ArtCo. Themes often centered around inclusion, cosmopolitanism, justice, and personal triumph.

Programs to fund regional and local education programs to teach artistic and cultural skills elsewhere in the New Prosperity Plan often serve as “feeder programs” to many of these projects, giving opportunities to new or emerging artists to earn an income and develop experience.

Project Alpha

The largest of the projects that the ArtCo will undertake is Project Alpha. Project Alpha hires commercial artists to do market-priced commissions to design and create monuments, parks, statues, and fountains for the Federation; add murals to urban and rural spaces, and install sculptures or other art in public spaces and buildings. Project Bravo deals with the development of television and radio content to help educate children, promote the Federation and the national unity, promote literacy, and ensure the free flow of information and news.

Project Charlie

Project Charlie deals with writers, novelists, journalists, and other traditional artists of the written word. Additional funding for the development of journalism allowed great latitude to journalists to document and report on the state of the Federation and its people. The hardship of poverty in rural and remote areas of the Federation is an oft-repeated theme in many journalistic works from Project Charlie.

Project Delta

Project Delta is also known as the National Theatre Project. The project employs artists, writers, directors, and theater workers to create relevant art, encouraged to experiment in new forms, genres, and techniques. Special consideration has been given to the Special Wechua Theatre Project, which aims to restore the bustling theatre scene that Parap had before it was lost to the Wechua Sorrow.

Project Echo

Project Echo employs musicians, conductors, producers, and composers across the Federation. Professional musicians from all over the country to perform as instrumentalists, singers, and concert actors. The project also includes inspiring music appreciation by enabling access to live performances and by introducing music instruction into classrooms across the Federation. The project has also undertaken to document, study, and promote musical activity in Alduria-Wechua.

Criticisms

  • Large increase of the federal debt;
  • Fostered bureaucracy and administrative inefficiency;
  • Enlarged powers of the federal government;
  • Infringed upon free enterprise;
  • Raised issue of how far economic regulation could be extended without sacrificing liberties of the people.

Accomplishments

Five-Year Plans

First Plan (1685-1690)

  • In order to secure and control shared broad support among labor and business, the government implemented subsidies to business and labor through both direct and indirect methods to spur investment, expansion, hiring, and more development. These programs are set to last for five years, from 1685 AN to 1690 AN.
  • Jirishanca-Cardenas Railway Project

Second Plan (1691-1696)

  • Home Defence Citadel Chain (East)
  • Home Defence Citadel Chain (West)

Third Plan (1696-1701)

  • Regionalisation - the Federal Humanist Party, beginning in 1700 AN began to move to scale back the bureaucratic aspects of the New Prosperity Plan and transfer responsibilities to the Regions of the Federation.

See also