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Message no. 1
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Rand Ratinac)
Subject: Various Questions
Date: Tue Jun 26 21:40:00 2001
Me again, with more questions...:)

Okay, guys, this time I need to speak with people who
know about:

1. the US police force and how they operate as far as
training and recruitment goes (the NYPD to be
specific);

2. the US college system;

3. international finance, esp. governmental,
international banking and govt. debt management.

These are not going to be simple questions, guys...at
least, I don't think they are. So if you don't know
the answer, but can point me in the direction of
people who might, please do.

I'm demanding, ain't I? :)

====Doc'
(aka Mr. Freaky Big, Super-Dynamic Troll of Tomorrow, aka Doc'booner, aka Doc' Vader)

.sig Sauer

If you SMELL what THE DOC' is COOKIN'!!!

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Message no. 2
From: shadowrn@*********.com (shadowrn@*********.com)
Subject: Various Questions
Date: Wed Jun 27 03:05:01 2001
On Wed, 27 Jun 2001 02:47:20 +0100 (BST) Rand
Ratinac?<docwagon101@*****.com> writes:
> Me again, with more questions...:)
>
> Okay, guys, this time I need to speak with people who
> know about:
<SNIP>
> 2. the US college system;
<SNIP>

Depending on the question, the answer may vary from state to state. Got a
state in mind? I can tell you a bit about Texas.

> These are not going to be simple questions, guys...at
> least, I don't think they are. So if you don't know
> the answer, but can point me in the direction of
> people who might, please do.

Will do... Uhm ... what /are/ the questions? ;)

> I'm demanding, ain't I? :)

Demanding is such a polite word ... I prefer whiny. ;)

--
D. Ghost
Profanity is the one language all programmers know best
- Troutman's 6th programming postulate.
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Message no. 3
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Valeu John EMFA)
Subject: Various Questions
Date: Wed Jun 27 03:45:02 2001
> Me again, with more questions...:)
>
> Okay, guys, this time I need to speak with people who
> know about:
>
> 1. the US police force and how they operate as far as
> training and recruitment goes (the NYPD to be
> specific);
>
> 2. the US college system;
>
> 3. international finance, esp. governmental,
> international banking and govt. debt management.
>
> These are not going to be simple questions, guys...at
> least, I don't think they are. So if you don't know
> the answer, but can point me in the direction of
> people who might, please do.
>
> I'm demanding, ain't I? :)
>
[Valeu John EMFA]

To answer Question 1:
Most recruitment is similar to that of the military, volunteer. For
training, I suggest watching the first Police Academy (not the 14 or so
sequels), and ignore most of the jokes. Or are you talking about SWAT and
such?

For Question 2:
You need to be a tad more specific on this one. Which kind of
college? City college? University? Ivy League? Granted there are a lot
of simularities between them, but they do have some major differences.

Finally Question 3:
Someone at a college would have a better library then I currently
have access to. Most likely, you'll find the answer in an Economics study
or text book.
Message no. 4
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Bai Shen)
Subject: Various Questions
Date: Wed Jun 27 12:25:00 2001
> Me again, with more questions...:)

What are these all for?

> 2. the US college system;

What 'bout it?

Bai Shen
Message no. 5
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Bryan Pow)
Subject: Various Questions
Date: Wed Jun 27 19:25:01 2001
>3. international finance, esp. governmental,
>international banking and govt. debt management.

Now while I don't personally know much about this (being a Biochemist) I
do know who to talk to about it, mainly because I sat in on a tutorial of a
friend, that was covering exactly this subject (Actually it was about the
effects of IMF funding of poor and unstable african nations). So I would
suggest talking to a politics student since they do papers based soley on
this sort of thing. As far as I know there are many banks that can lend
money to nations, but once those nations borrow over a certain amount the
"bank" can then imposing demands on how the country is run.
Message no. 6
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Richard Tomasso)
Subject: Various Questions
Date: Thu Jun 28 10:15:01 2001
>From: Rand Ratinac <docwagon101@*****.com>
>
>Okay, guys, this time I need to speak with people who
>know about:
>
>3. international finance, esp. governmental,
>international banking and govt. debt management.

Well, the system will be more open and more flexible than it is
today. Corporate Shadowfiles had some info on this. Check out how
the system works in the EU now or how it all used to work at the
turn of the century.

Gov't debt management is probably the same as it is now. The various
Treasuries and Cental Banks auction off debt (T-bills, bonds) which
sets the interest rate for the market. Debt is usually auctioned off
twice a year, tho sometimes quarterly. Once the big brokerages and
banks buy their million-dollar lots, they sell it to their customers
for a very slight markup and down the line.


My guess as to how things progressed:
Organizations like the World Bank and IMF died off when the US
pulled out during their isolationist phase. Whether this made the
third world better off or worse off is up to you.
Regulations separating banks, insurance and brokerages in the US
dwindled and finally went away. The creation of Extra-Territoriality
made cross-border transactions not much different from domestic.
This rise in power of business interests eased off any pressures
of groups like the FATF to raise taxes or impose even more
reporting regulations. Eventually this dropping of the fight against
off-shore and anonymous accounts leads to the creation of the
certified credstick account.
I've long suspected that the nuyen is a hard currency (ie, backed
by real assets like gold or platinum), which would lend a great deal
of stability to the world currency market and probably bolstered
the case for the nuyen becoming the new world standard over the dollar. It
would also explain the lack of price fluxuations which
would occur if it were based on the current yen.

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Message no. 7
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Gurth)
Subject: Various Questions
Date: Thu Jun 28 14:06:03 2001
According to Richard Tomasso, on Thu, 28 Jun 2001 the word on the street
was...

> Check out how the system works in the EU now or how it all used to work
> at the turn of the century.

What, six months ago? :)

--
Gurth@******.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
A bad day fishing is still better than a good day dying.
-> NAGEE Editor * ShadowRN GridSec * Triangle Virtuoso <-
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Incubated into the First Church of the Sqooshy Ball, 21-05-1998
Message no. 8
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Richard Tomasso)
Subject: Various Questions
Date: Fri Jun 29 10:10:01 2001
>From: Rand Ratinac <docwagon101@*****.com>
>
> > >3. international finance, esp. governmental,
> > >international banking and govt. debt management.
>
>Richard, you seem to know something about this. If
>you've got the time, could you look at this hypothetical situation?
>
>====>Point 3...this is where it gets tricky. Now, I know
>that every country in the world is in debt (I think).

Most of the bigger ones.

>I also think that those debts are to OTHER countries,
>rather than to private institutions like banks.

Both actually. Foreign investors buy a lot of bonds. Other gov'ts
may hold debt of another nation, I don't have any numbers on hand.
Plenty do hold foreign-currency reserves also.


>What I'm trying to determine, though, is how governments
>and banks relate to each other.

It varies greatly from country to country. Some have gov't insurance
some don't. Some require every depositor to be known, others don't.
Some are taxed heavily, others not. There are currency-exchange
restrictions, foreign ownership rules, reporting requirements, etc.


>I'm trying to see if a private concern (a HUGE private concern) could
>'buy out' a country, by a) buying up its debts,

All that would do is transfer the interest payments to the private
interest. Probably not the best investment, given the rate of return.
I don't believe gov't debt can be "called in" early by the holder,
which may be what you're getting at.

It could screw up the bond market tho since it would have such a
huge market share. There was talk of Japan doing something like
this to us in the late 80's since they own like $800B in US debt.

They'd essentially sell back all the debt, which would create a glut
in the market and send interest rates way up.


>b) buying up just about every bank out there,

Then you get into a monopoly situation. Most countries would not
let this happen. And the ones that would probably aren't large enough
to be of any real interest. Of course, it's easier to call in
privately-held debts, so some of the investment could be recouped
along the way. But holding onto the notes could also be useful.


>c) not allowing the government to borrow from the banks, or transfer
>money through them

I assume they'd do this after they took them over? If they told the
gov't to go to hell, then the gov't would not use the bank for any
transaction. Which would hurt the bank. No one could deposit a gov't
paycheck or tax refund. No treasury bonds could be owned or turned in
at the bank. The gov't might cancel any FDIC-like insurance on
accounts with the bank.


>and d) taking any other necessary actions (although what those
>actions are, I wouldn't know).

>The idea is to force the country towards bankruptcy, by only allowing
>them access to whatever reserves they have on hand and only relenting
>if they agree to hand over power.

Technically, most countries are bankrupt now. What you're describing
is how the US operated, more or less, before the Federal Reserve
System (a private interest, not a gov't agency, BTW) was created in
1913. It's what happens when a nation uses hard currency rather than
fiat currency. There is very little long-term debt or inflation.


>Other countries would be prevented from assisting the targeted
>country because they'd also be targeted by the same tactics at the
>same time (not every country in the world, of course - it'd start
>with the big, important, wealthy ones, and then move on down the
>chain - and yes, this is an ENORMOUS private concern :) ).

Not enough money in the world to do this chummer. Not for a nation
with any significant economy. And with the way the world is wired
in 206x, it's easy enough to go around this private interest for
quite some time. The country could all pull a Euro-stunt and simply
issue new currency and not honor the old stuff.


>I know, it's beyond the bounds of reality...but if it
>were possible, would this be the way to go about it?
>Or is there a better way?

Get seat(s) on the central bank (ie, Federal Reserve). You then
control the banking system and more or less have a license to print
money.

Go Extra-national and pretty much ignore any gov't.

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Message no. 9
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Strago)
Subject: Various questions
Date: Sun Jul 1 10:00:01 2001
1) I wear a baseball cap wherever I go and I wondered if it could be
made as armor. I was thinking the hat could be made out of a kevlar
weave, just like the armor vest, and a rigid plate could be stuck in
the middle, though this would mean the hat would have to be fitted to
each person, and in the brim. Is this feasible? Or would the hat be
very thick?

2) After rereading the SR3 rules (finally got a game today!) I noticed
that there's no initiative phase 0. So if someone rolls, say, a 20, he
goes at 20, and at 10, but not again?

3) In "The Guns of the South" by Harry Turtledove, some time-traveling
schmuck sells the Confederacy 100,000 AK-47s (during the American
Civil War). General Lee visits the South's leading chemist (who was
manufacturing black powder) and asks him to analyze the smokeless
powder the AK uses. Later he visits him again and the chemist
identifies nitrocellulose and a glycerine compound (nitroglycerine).
So is that in smokeless powder? And what else is there?

--
--Strago

All Hail Apathy! Or don't. Whatever. -abortion_engine

Down with the Moral Majority
-Green Day
Message no. 10
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Lars Wagner Hansen)
Subject: Various questions
Date: Sun Jul 1 10:50:01 2001
From: "Strago" <strago@***.com>
> 2) After rereading the SR3 rules (finally got a game today!) I noticed
> that there's no initiative phase 0. So if someone rolls, say, a 20, he
> goes at 20, and at 10, but not again?

Correct.

Lars
--
Lars Wagner Hansen, Jagtvej 11, 4180 Sorø
l-hansen@*****.tele.dk http://home4.inet.tele.dk/l-hansen
Message no. 11
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Gurth)
Subject: Various questions
Date: Sun Jul 1 13:05:01 2001
According to Strago, on Sun, 01 Jul 2001 the word on the street was...

> 1) I wear a baseball cap wherever I go and I wondered if it could be
> made as armor. I was thinking the hat could be made out of a kevlar
> weave, just like the armor vest, and a rigid plate could be stuck in
> the middle, though this would mean the hat would have to be fitted to
> each person, and in the brim. Is this feasible? Or would the hat be
> very thick?

A single layer of Kevlar woudln't help you very much; in terms of the
protection it provides, it'd probably be equivalent to maybe two or three
layers of nylon, and nobody I know will claim a nylon baseball cap is
bulletproof (not seriously, anyway :) You're going to need quite a few
layers of material, preferably spaced some distance away from your head, so
that it can bend inward when struck by a bullet without making a dent in
your skull. The plate in the front of the cap is probably the best
solution if you want some protection from a simple cap, though you still
have that denting problem.

> 2) After rereading the SR3 rules (finally got a game today!) I noticed
> that there's no initiative phase 0. So if someone rolls, say, a 20, he
> goes at 20, and at 10, but not again?

Yep. You need to roll 21 or more to get three actions (it's _so_ irritating
to roll 41 for initiative and then having to subtract 1 for having a Light
wound... :)

> 3) In "The Guns of the South" by Harry Turtledove, some time-traveling
> schmuck sells the Confederacy 100,000 AK-47s (during the American
> Civil War). General Lee visits the South's leading chemist (who was
> manufacturing black powder) and asks him to analyze the smokeless
> powder the AK uses. Later he visits him again and the chemist
> identifies nitrocellulose and a glycerine compound (nitroglycerine).
> So is that in smokeless powder? And what else is there?

Those sorts of things, yes. Modern explosives are mostly these kinds of
nitrates because those are reasonably stable, but not so much that they
won't explode when they need to, and also provide their own oxygen.

--
Gurth@******.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
A bad day fishing is still better than a good day dying.
-> NAGEE Editor * ShadowRN GridSec * Triangle Virtuoso <-
-> The Plastic Warriors Page: http://plastic.dumpshock.com <-

GC3.12: GAT/! d-(dpu) s:- !a>? C+@ UL P L++ E W-(++) N o? K w+(--) O V?
PS+ PE(-)(+) Y PGP- t@ 5++ X(+) R+++(-)>$ tv+ b++@ DI- D+ G+ e h! !r y?
Incubated into the First Church of the Sqooshy Ball, 21-05-1998
Message no. 12
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Sebastian Wiers)
Subject: Various questions
Date: Sun Jul 1 15:00:01 2001
>1) I wear a baseball cap wherever I go and I wondered if it could be
>made as armor. I was thinking the hat could be made out of a kevlar
>weave, just like the armor vest, and a rigid plate could be stuck in
>the middle, though this would mean the hat would have to be fitted to
>each person, and in the brim. Is this feasible? Or would the hat be
>very thick?

I think it could be done, since todays SOTA bullet proof materials are
actually quite thin. The bulk of newer bullet proof vests (if they are
bulky) comes from padding to diperse the pressure. The actual layer that
stops the bullet is thin enough to make a ball cap out of, easily.
Which is not really good news for anybody hit in the head while wearing such
a ballcap. The bullet might not enter the skull, but the pressure on the
skull would be the same as if you were getting whacked with a ball peen
hammer. Fracture city, with edemic concusion. Actual combat helmets are
made of ridgid "kevlar" (or whatever), but are NOT fitted to the wearers
head, for just this reason. Instead, the webbing that supports them absorbs
and distributes the shock.

>2) After rereading the SR3 rules (finally got a game today!) I noticed
>that there's no initiative phase 0. So if someone rolls, say, a 20, he
>goes at 20, and at 10, but not again?

Yep. AFAIK, it always was that way.

3) <snip q on smokeless poweder>

Hell if I know, but I'd hope you aren't trying to make it...

-Mongoose
Message no. 13
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Rand Ratinac)
Subject: Various Questions
Date: Mon Jul 2 01:00:00 2001
> Both actually. Foreign investors buy a lot of bonds.
Other gov'ts may hold debt of another nation, I don't
have any numbers on hand. Plenty do hold
foreign-currency reserves also.
>
> It varies greatly from country to country. Some have
gov't insurance some don't. Some require every
depositor to be known, others don't. Some are taxed
heavily, others not. There are currency-exchange
restrictions, foreign ownership rules, reporting
requirements, etc.
>
> All that would do is transfer the interest payments
to the private interest. Probably not the best
investment, given the rate of return. I don't believe
gov't debt can be "called in" early by the holder,
which may be what you're getting at.

It was, actually. Bum.

> It could screw up the bond market tho since it would
have such a huge market share. There was talk of Japan
doing something like this to us in the late 80's since
they own like $800B in US debt.
>
> They'd essentially sell back all the debt, which
would create a glut in the market and send interest
rates way up.

Alas, this wouldn't quite have the desired effect.

> >b) buying up just about every bank out there,
>
> Then you get into a monopoly situation. Most
countries would not let this happen. And the ones that
would probably aren't large enough to be of any real
interest. Of course, it's easier to call in
privately-held debts, so some of the investment could
be recouped along the way. But holding onto the notes
could also be useful.

The idea here was that we have an enormous
organisation (virtually Corporate Court power and
money level), but made up of heaps of different
smaller entities - it'd be difficult, if not virtually
impossible, to prove that one overall organisation is
buying up all the banks.

> I assume they'd do this after they took them over?
If they told the gov't to go to hell, then the gov't
would not use the bank for any transaction. Which
would hurt the bank. No one could deposit a gov't
paycheck or tax refund. No treasury bonds could be
owned or turned in at the bank. The gov't might cancel
any FDIC-like insurance on accounts with the bank.

Yeah, right...well, if there aren't ANY banks (besides
the government owned one/s) doing business with the
government, and the 'coup' side has enough money
coming and going through other channels to last for
some time, who do you think would have to fold first?

> Technically, most countries are bankrupt now. What
you're describing is how the US operated, more or
less, before the Federal Reserve System (a private
interest, not a gov't agency, BTW) was created in
1913. It's what happens when a nation uses hard
currency rather than fiat currency. There is very
little long-term debt or inflation.
>
> Not enough money in the world to do this chummer.
Not for a nation with any significant economy. And
with the way the world is wired in 206x, it's easy
enough to go around this private interest for quite
some time. The country could all pull a Euro-stunt and
simply issue new currency and not honor the old stuff.

Ahhh...hmmm...so, basically, my original idea wouldn't
work. Alas. :)

> Get seat(s) on the central bank (ie, Federal
Reserve). You then control the banking system and more
or less have a license to print money.

How would you go about doing this?

> Go Extra-national and pretty much ignore any gov't.

Not really an option - we're already talking an
extraterritorial organisation here - they want to OWN
the world, though. :)

====Doc'
(aka Mr. Freaky Big, Super-Dynamic Troll of Tomorrow, aka Doc'booner, aka Doc' Vader)

.sig Sauer

If you SMELL what THE DOC' is COOKIN'!!!

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Message no. 14
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Richard Tomasso)
Subject: Various Questions
Date: Mon Jul 2 09:25:01 2001
>From: Rand Ratinac <docwagon101@*****.com>
>
> > >b) buying up just about every bank out there,
>
>The idea here was that we have an enormous
>organisation (virtually Corporate Court power and
>money level), but made up of heaps of different
>smaller entities - it'd be difficult, if not virtually
>impossible, to prove that one overall organisation is
>buying up all the banks.

It would have to be a very complex structure then. Some of the
craziest setups today can be unraveled. It may get easier if some
of the OECD and FATF reco's get through. Tho in SR, corp influence
did get stronger sooner than it has here, so it's possible there's
avenues of true financial privacy left.

Now, if the nation has a totally private banking system (not something
I'm betting on seeing again), this does have some possibility.


> > I assume they'd do this after they took them over?
>>If they told the gov't to go to hell, then the gov't
>>would not use the bank for any transaction. Which
>>would hurt the bank. No one could deposit a gov't
>>paycheck or tax refund. No treasury bonds could be
>>owned or turned in at the bank. The gov't might cancel
>>any FDIC-like insurance on accounts with the bank.
>
>Yeah, right...well, if there aren't ANY banks (besides
>the government owned one/s) doing business with the
>government, and the 'coup' side has enough money
>coming and going through other channels to last for
>some time, who do you think would have to fold first?

The private interest. Gov'ts can always print more money, or switch
the currency, as I mentioned. They can also shut a bank down, or
seize assets, or tax transactions heavily, or prevent money from
being offshore or coming onshore.


> > Get seat(s) on the central bank (ie, Federal
>>Reserve). You then control the banking system and more
>>or less have a license to print money.
>
>How would you go about doing this?

If it's a politically-appointed position, start making friends in
high places and get public exposure. Europe tends to hire more from
"within" the system. The US will appoint from outside (like Greenspan).

Buy an election and have your man/woman appoint your people to the
central bank's board.


> > Go Extra-national and pretty much ignore any gov't.
>
>Not really an option - we're already talking an
>extraterritorial organisation here - they want to OWN
>the world, though. :)

They're going to have a few other ET's standing in their way.

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