The Republic of California had only recently gained independence in 2066. The region was completely controlled by capital and was mockingly called the Blue Free Golden Country, or even the California Mega-Corporation.
It was less a country than a Super Commercial Alliance.
They used every kind of currency, from RMB to U.S. dollars and their own new banknotes. Any legal banknote could be used there.
The depression and reconstruction after the war had allowed capital to completely erode the region.
Every department in the country was controlled by one or more corporations. The military was entirely managed by arms dealers and security companies, which handled every military contract, including national defense and weapons research.
The Energy Department was, without question, controlled by power-generating conglomerates, while land resources were planned by real-estate companies.
In fact, the country's departments were divided even more finely. They were entirely contracted out as individual subsidiaries, ultimately forming a massive conglomerate that was also the nation's governing body.
Aside from national taxes, nothing was state-owned. Private property was protected to the extreme.
Corporations that fully contracted out the country's public services were called National Merchants. There were 142 of them, collectively responsible for the country's fifty departments, large and small.
The nation's orders were their orders, and the nation's projects were their projects.
Of course, they could also distribute national orders among other companies that were not National Merchants.
These chaebols had exchanged shares for huge numbers of votes from the people. Almost every civilian enjoyed dividends from one or more National Merchants. In return, however, if they caused civilians too great an economic loss, they would also lose huge numbers of votes, and their power would then be replaced by other corporations.
This was a country that openly exchanged money for votes.
Even the national