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Get Me Out of Debt!

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unmerged(26044)

unmerged(26044)

Second Lieutenant
Feb 21, 2004
189
0
Hi all, I just started a GC as the USA, and decided to start with a military alliance with Texas. That put me immediately at war with Mexico, and after a short hard war with almost no reserves, I won the historical peace about ten years early. :cool:

Trouble is, I now have $200,000 in debt at 20 percent, and I don't have the population or technology to balance my budget at less than 50 percent tax. My daily shortfall is 100 dollars. :eek:

What's your best advice? Sit tight and wait for pop growth and better tech? Capture Beijing and extract war reparations from China? Conquer bankrupt Asian minors and sell them to the UK? Put some big fat capitalists in every major state? (I've tried all those before with some success.) :p
 
Can you give a break-down of your budget?

Going bancrupt is one solution. Not a good one though...:(
 
To be that far in debt so early in the game is a feat in its self :D

We're going to need more info to break down just where the money is going; maybe a screenie of you budget would save time in typing it all out.
 
Sorry, screenies are too much work for me unless I'm composing a killer AAR. :)

Here's my daily budgie for January 1838, just after the early Mexican War, the earliest point at which I can try something different economically.

Income
Tax Rate 49.2% (all 3)
Poor $29.20
Middle $ 9.30
Rich $ 9.70
Bonds $ 0.00
Total $48.20

Tariff / Subsidy = 0.0%

Expenses
Imports 9.4%
Education $11.70 (max)
Crime $ 0.00
Social Sp. $40.50 (middle)
Defence $ 2.90
Army $ .62
Navy $ .26
Interest $55.20
Total $120.60

Balance -$72.40
Debt $99,400.00 at 20.0%

-Education is max because I thought the best way out of debt long-term would be to invest in education.

-Social spending at midway (the only nonzero one is min. wage at "Low")

-All other expenses as low as sliders will allow.

-Laissez-Faire Democrats in power, so I can expand factories but not build them.
 
Even if you cut education and social spending you still won't get out of debt. You're heading for bankruptcy.:(
You'll have to wait for that, or do something radical along the lines you suggested in the first post.
 
max tariffs, cut educational cost, cut social spending cost, if it is still negative you might consider using an exploit, raise an army, invade a random unciv, and sell the land you obtained to UK/France for some great money.
 
Why on earth do you have any social spending money?

As the USA you never need that until before the civil war, its just a drain on your economy.

The thing to do is sell tech to rich nations, China should offer you some cash for tech, try to get that interest down.

Also, research economic techs and try to get some railroad tech for your capitalists to get busy with.

Or you can just cheat and give yourself a bunch of cash to pay the debt.
 
FFZ said:
Why on earth do you have any social spending money?

As the USA you never need that until before the civil war, its just a drain on your economy.

The thing to do is sell tech to rich nations, China should offer you some cash for tech, try to get that interest down.

Also, research economic techs and try to get some railroad tech for your capitalists to get busy with.

Or you can just cheat and give yourself a bunch of cash to pay the debt.
Click to expand...

Healthcare reforms increase the all important population growth, so they are good to take as soon as you can afford them.

Of course, if you're that in debt you shouldn't be taking them. Its probably inacting several reforms that cost him so much money to begin with. Also, work hour reforms are beyond terrible and reduce your economic output in addition to costing you the upkeep. The OP needs to go back and reload a save and NOT inact any reforms except healthcare. There is no reason to be taking work hour reforms ever, they can reduce your economic output by a huge percentage.
 
Black_Shade said:
Healthcare reforms increase the all important population growth, so they are good to take as soon as you can afford them.

Of course, if you're that in debt you shouldn't be taking them. Its probably inacting several reforms that cost him so much money to begin with. Also, work hour reforms are beyond terrible and reduce your economic output in addition to costing you the upkeep. The OP needs to go back and reload a save and NOT inact any reforms except healthcare. There is no reason to be taking work hour reforms ever, they can reduce your economic output by a huge percentage.
Click to expand...
Even healthcare isn't needed yet, the time to do it DURING the civil war before the US parties change.

You aern't going to see a lot of immigration or growth in the first 24 years, i feel its better to get on sound economic footing first.
 
I prefer to do some conquest in the first 24 years to acquire more territories in the Americas. There is no reason not to do so as USA as:


1. Wasting your bad boy reduction is probably the worst idea.

2. Newly acquired land could provide you soldier POPs to fight the civil war. (Haiti is a good target)

3. You can easily assimilate a lot of people by using internal migrations alone.



Health care reform isn't that significant in terms of POP growth, I think it is around 4% increase. But I think for USA it is affordable if you minimize your social spendings. USA should be generating like 30 dollars per day in 1836 and that is a lot of money.
 
even if you do start making money again, your going to have a boring game paying it off, unless you do something drastic and make war with a rich country for indemnities or wait for a devastating bankruptcy.
So either bite the bullet and reload an earlier save or cheat your debt away. No point in punishing yourself unless you prefer playing with a handicap.
 
FFZ said:
The thing to do is sell tech to rich nations, China should offer you some cash for tech, try to get that interest down.
Click to expand...

Thats a good advice, also lower your social spending to zero and rais your tarrfis to max.
 
Along this same train of thought, how much debt is too much? I remember reading somewhere that you go bankrupt once your maximum possible income can no longer cover interest payments. Is there a simple way to check before you pass the point of no return?
 
your interest rates change as your tech increases, so i'd say they only way to check is to reduce all spending to zero, and increase all taxes and tarrifs to max. The amount of money you earn here, will be how much you need to pay in interest before you are bankrupt afaik so work it out from your current loan size. If you want to speed it up, just do the opposite and buy lots of goods too.
 
FFZ said:
Why on earth do you have any social spending money?
Click to expand...

I didn't touch social reforms, I just left it as the USA starts GC with: Minimum Wage at "Low", all other reforms zero. With the Dems in power, I can cut it to a quarter or so, but not zero.

About selling tech, I find it can be a useful exploit as a minor, but as the USA, I need to invest too many diplomats making pals first, since other countries don't pay much unless they like you.

Since my early Mexican War has the benefit of giving me California for all but two years of my GC game, I was hoping to combine it with finding a way to get the immigrants flooding in as early as possible.
 
Kenaston said:
I didn't touch social reforms, I just left it as the USA starts GC with: Minimum Wage at "Low", all other reforms zero. With the Dems in power, I can cut it to a quarter or so, but not zero.
Click to expand...
Sure you can, change it to 'trinkets' and you will see that 'no minimum wage' option is now there, I just tested it with the democrats.

That should fix a large part of your problem.
 
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