Paradise Burning (The Virtagwalla Series Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page A

not all news is good news,” She sighed, turning another page, “Unemployment escalated globally, meaning there was much less cash for imports like those from Virtagwalla. We have begun to see the demand for our exports slip, and our manufacturing is expected to post record losses next week. Assuming those three economies have all seen shrinkage again this quarter, the globe has officially been ushered into its first macro-recession. Of which Virtagwalla, contrary to popular belief and speculation, has really little or no chance of hiding.”
                  Zhang stirred, glaring at the speaking woman, as the faces of the Minister’s began to melt, “The stress fractures of our economy began to show a little more than two months ago, when the Republic Power Company, suffocating under its own debt, threatened bankruptcy due to its inability to produce solvency. In layman terms, that means they did not have enough cash to keep their doors open. We, as a body, bailed them out, and it has been hailed as a brilliant economic policy move such that we averting a disaster of colossal proportions. Since then, the RPC has raised rates, and is at last review, beginning to see growth of revenues, and hopefully thereby profits. We have no timetable for loan repayment at this time. This raise in rates was, as predicted, felt by everyone, from the individual homeowner, to the small time merchants, all the way to the top of the boardrooms of this island’s largest of firms. This increased cost to companies is then passed onto consumers which has caused prices across the island to rise on all goods and services. This price increase has pinched peoples’ wallets and in turn is causing them to become significantly more frugal. On top of that, the slumping demand for manufactured goods forced many of this island’s factories to close their doors.  I am confident in say that this has lead to a full collapse of our manufacturing sector. I wouldn’t be truly surprised if I found out by the end of this next quarter the last factory on this island was forced to shut down. Demand for our steel has vanished, and all other goods we produce probably can be found cheaper elsewhere and closer to the end consumer. This has pushed our unemployment rate from record lows, to around 11% of the population according to the most recent numbers released last week.”
                  More and more ministers began to sit up, and pay attention. Many of them looked confused, or lost, as Sensado barreled forth, “The rise in unemployment has been felt on the purse of the government. We have, as we all know, one of the most ambitious and generous societal safety nets in the world. It is possible, in fact, that some of these unemployed machinists are making more by being on unemployment, than at their old jobs. We have seen an unprecedented increase of unemployment claims against the trust fund designed to endow this program. The account was never designed to sustain an unemployed populace of more than 10% of the current population. There are fears amongst my colleagues that the pull on this fund could be disastrous if it is not extended, or subsidized. But that’s surely a conversation we will attend to at a later date,” she sighed, again flipping a page.
                  “With the budgetary concerns of the MFS and the University, it is becoming apparent; the Government is the only fiscal hospital in town. We have to this point loaned out a little fewer than seven billion dollars in assistance under the auspice of the Virtagwalla Asset Relief Program. However, we had to sell those bonds at huge discounts, costing us more money than we actually acquired from the VWB. The debt of this government is becoming significantly less and less liquid. And worst yet, if we do in fact have a negative quarter, we could be facing budgetary shortfalls in the upcoming months. We are nearly to the end of the second quarter of the National