Thanks for the support everyone. Unfortunately, I don't have a full update ready but here are a few trends I wanted to highlight... Though I will say the next update will really bring space into the focus of the TL.
[Post-War Trends]
[Monetary Unification and Privatization]
This was not a phenomenon unique to the post-war era, but after the Final War, national currencies were almost meaningless. For all the framing of the Final War as a struggle between nationalists and unificationists, money literally told a different story. Although the fervent patriotism of Americans was one of the defining features of the war, the American dollar itself had regained its status as a truly international currency. Most of the other nations of the PAC and its associates had adopted it in all but name. The Eastern Standard Yuan was the currency of choice from Berlin to Beijing, while the African Rand was the dominant currency south of the equator on the continent.
Despite this trend, private currencies were gaining increasing popularity. The resurgence in trans-bloc electronic commerce had brought with it the use of net currencies as stores of value. The chaotic nature of the post-war years had also brought about MNC and bank backed private currencies, effectively neutral and in many cases secured against inflation, especially in the case of commodity-backed currencies. The more financially astute citizens of frontline nations exchanged what they feared would be worthless fiat currencies for these funds, though this eventually became a self-fulfilling prophecy. On the eve of major offensives, in some frontline countries the fiat currency often collapsed completely due to fears for the longevity of its use.
[The future of ETO]
The Eastern Trade Organization faced an internal debate on its role in the world stage. The core members were focused on power projection and economic expansion, along with the new members in Central Asia. However, peripheral states such as the Philippines, Australia, and New Zealand worried that economic-bloc competition between the ETO and the PAC could result in major economic and political damage for their economies, which still had significant commercial and cultural ties to the West. These nations adamantly opposed a more unified ETO foreign policy or anything they thought might lead to a cold war with another economic bloc. In addition, the action in Scotland had alienated the two English-speaking members who now worried their national resources and militaries might be called to roll back any PAC expansion in Europe or elsewhere. Though PAC and ETO were not hostile, there was much speculation the changing balance of power could lead to conflict.
[Post-War Trends]
[Monetary Unification and Privatization]
This was not a phenomenon unique to the post-war era, but after the Final War, national currencies were almost meaningless. For all the framing of the Final War as a struggle between nationalists and unificationists, money literally told a different story. Although the fervent patriotism of Americans was one of the defining features of the war, the American dollar itself had regained its status as a truly international currency. Most of the other nations of the PAC and its associates had adopted it in all but name. The Eastern Standard Yuan was the currency of choice from Berlin to Beijing, while the African Rand was the dominant currency south of the equator on the continent.
Despite this trend, private currencies were gaining increasing popularity. The resurgence in trans-bloc electronic commerce had brought with it the use of net currencies as stores of value. The chaotic nature of the post-war years had also brought about MNC and bank backed private currencies, effectively neutral and in many cases secured against inflation, especially in the case of commodity-backed currencies. The more financially astute citizens of frontline nations exchanged what they feared would be worthless fiat currencies for these funds, though this eventually became a self-fulfilling prophecy. On the eve of major offensives, in some frontline countries the fiat currency often collapsed completely due to fears for the longevity of its use.
[The future of ETO]
The Eastern Trade Organization faced an internal debate on its role in the world stage. The core members were focused on power projection and economic expansion, along with the new members in Central Asia. However, peripheral states such as the Philippines, Australia, and New Zealand worried that economic-bloc competition between the ETO and the PAC could result in major economic and political damage for their economies, which still had significant commercial and cultural ties to the West. These nations adamantly opposed a more unified ETO foreign policy or anything they thought might lead to a cold war with another economic bloc. In addition, the action in Scotland had alienated the two English-speaking members who now worried their national resources and militaries might be called to roll back any PAC expansion in Europe or elsewhere. Though PAC and ETO were not hostile, there was much speculation the changing balance of power could lead to conflict.
