☀️ Arselia and Akonia

In what sense... I hope not in the sense I thought of...
There are few new faces, I was hoping to find more for my journal, alas. In general, you won't just meet Klin in the city, and even that's not a given.
-- Thank you for giving me the floor, ladies and gentlemen, -- I suppose, Ayko has already introduced herself before the meeting began. -- This is actually a rather complex issue.
"And it just so happens to be in my field of expertise, hmm-hmm!"

-- Any market consists of two parts: free and regulated. The free part of the market is our usual trading relationships, a huge number of people striving to act rationally, in order to live well, and so that those to whom they feel empathy also live well, they try to find a higher-paying job, distribute goods according to the principles of "where there is more demand, there the goods are needed," and find a use for their talents, whatever craft they may be in. It would seem that this is enough, but in reality, the ideal free market is an unattainable utopia, because people are only trying to act rationally, but the problem is that they are not acting... It is surprising that this is still the case in our enlightened year 975, but it is undeniable: even now, for too many, theft is a rather tempting activity, even though it carries huge risks and is hardly worth it; how many petty thieves live in poverty, even though they could avoid it by finding at least the simplest and lowest-paying job? And is it rational that the same thief breaks the display case of the store he is robbing, breaks everything, all in order to get to the modest cash register, for which he will most likely be put behind bars? He not only harms those around him, and society as a whole, but also harms himself.

-- That is, firstly, with this example, I want to say that people in a free market, left to their own devices, will not come to an agreement, or there will be enough people who will not come to an agreement, but will behave in a non-market way. Police and the army will be needed against such people, but then these structures will themselves require supervision, in other words, authority and taxes... Since we have already agreed that people are irrational, and if we do not make contributions mandatory, then many will simply not agree with this arrangement, will not pay anything, and in the end it will again be harmful to society.

-- Secondly, the irrationality of people also leads to the impossibility of investing "in the long term," that is, to carry out the necessary activities with a large and very large payback period. It takes less than a year between sowing a field of wheat and harvesting the crop; it takes much more time between discovering deposits of solid resources and their development and sale to the consumer further down the chain; and how long will it take, for example, to build an entire port city? I assure you, no one will ever undertake such an incredibly expensive and complex project, simply according to some oral, non-binding agreement, and yet it can bring prosperity to entire peoples, a huge number of ships from this port will one day sail to different parts of the world to trade there in amazing curiosities and essential goods. And, of course, this is just an extreme, but far from the only example.

-- Excessive taxes, of course, are an obvious evil, they hit small businesses hard, preventing them from making an initial profit before scaling up and going bankrupt, but reasonable taxes are necessary. It is good, of course, when the state is a smart manager and solves its problems with minimal losses, without wasting too much, although it must be admitted that some minimum level of prestige must also be maintained for the stability of the entire system... As you know, people love advertising, and it is also difficult to do anything about it.

-- Regarding support for the poor, I agree with Mr. Creon. From a moral point of view, each of us probably wants that in the event of unforeseen circumstances, someone will support or help us, and perhaps we will wait for this help, since the world is not without good people, -- but having insurance in the form of the state is useful. The state is not always rational in such matters, but the fact that it has centralization makes it a more reliable agent than simple human luck.