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by Higara. . 10 reads.

The Birth of the Beneluxian Utopia

EDUCATION

The Benelux runs an education system where the basis of their grades is how much work and the quality of it they do for each subject. Students do six years of elementary school, three years of junior high, and three years of senior high school. After this they have the choice of attending a tertiary education institution for free.. Students are required by law to attend school until the end of senior high. The government provides a very large budget for education, which is a consequence of a left wing, educated populace who values education as a key element in building a utopia. Educational methods in the country are very libertarian, not abiding by traditional methods and instead focusing on the comfort of the students and the quality of the experience. This focus allows for more motivated students, making them learn much more effectively. This was proven by Beneluxian results in the Universe BE-VA-CR International Academic Standards Test, scoring an average of 87 in math, 85 in language arts, 91 in science and 83 in social studies per student Compared to the American Corrispectives of 65, 82, 76 and 74 . The focus is for the class to learn what they want and at their pace, creating a population much more diverse in knowledge.

HEALTHCARE

The Benelux runs a universal healthcare program that is accessible to all citizens. This system does not require them to have any kind of health insurance, it is payed for through state and government owned companies. Treatment is also available to all homeless people with a citizenship in order to help rehabilitate them provided they do end up homeless. Funding is provided by the federal government and distributed by provincial governments. Thanks to highly advanced technology and high funding, medical treatments and methods are very effective, as proven with Beneluxian average life expectancy of 93 years old. Even this is an understatement because the Beneluxian healthcare program focuses on health span rather than lifespan, having one of 83 years old, respectively. Thanks to advances in biotechnology and genetic engineering, the happiness decline with age is much lower than one would normally see in a nation, mainly as a cause of consistent physical integrity throughout their lifetimes. Private healthcare is not a thing, with all possible treatments being provided by the state for free.

METROPOLITAN

Most of the inhabited territory within Beneluxian borders is urban, creating much more ease of access and equality in the distribution of services. This also allows a much more developed transport network, using the big buildings to their advantage when planning out the locations of roads. Most surfaces are used as green space to increase air quality and beauty, despite having extremely low pollution technologies. This fact is mainly because of the very high infrastructural density in these urban areas, leading to a low amount of available surface area.

INFRASTRUCTURE

The country's signature physical characteristic is the architecture and infrastructure beyond anything else in Europe and the world. It's home to one of the most elegant mixtures of nature and futuristic architecture ever seen, attracting hordes of tourists and rich retirees. The Benelux has struggled to maintain a young enough population due to high immigration from rich foreigners, usually old, mostly thanks to the extensive and beautiful infrastructure unique to the nation. Heavy automation allows cheaper construction of more complex structures, a fact the Benelux has taken full advantage of. The raw materials used for construction of new infrastructure are usually imported from BnL tamaku at controlled prices. The money gained from it is invested back into the economy as subsidies or public projects.

ENERGY

Energy is provided fully from renewable low-mantainance sources, which therefore allow for the fulfillment of the internal needs and for further exports, which would allow the Beneluxian economy to be in a trade positive, exporting more than importing, and therefore increasing the overall wealth.

TRANSPORTATION

The Benelux has very developed transportation infrastructure, its personal transportation vehicles are both cheap and efficient. Vehicles are self-driven and connected to a network of them used to coordinate in an efficient manner. These appliances are cheap because they are as minimal as possible, being powered and moved by tracks that they connect to. Tracks are placed underground or insides of buildings. Large scale merchandise transportation is done via an elaborate system of underground trains, which are reserved exclusively to commercial products. Cities and major urban centres are connected by hyperloop lines which ease demand for road connections and provide a quicker alternative.

SECURITY

The country is universally considered one of the safest places in the world, mainly due to low crime rates and extensive general precautions. There is also an immigration problem with foreign wealth. The generally high density of Beneluxian cities also discourages crime since criminals can't easily escape the scene without being noticed and tracked. Although standard crime rates are very low, violent crime in particular is inconceivably non-existent. With the few criminals left shifting to "Intellectual crimes" such as fraud, tax evasion and hacking.

LAW ENFORCEMENT

Law enforcement is minimal as a consequence of an educated populace in the mindset that only through cooperation can they succeed. The Benelux does not implement prisons, preferring to rehabilitate its criminals and keep them under close supervision. Drugs are completely illegal. No law enforcement is required for road misconduct as vehicles are self-driven. The police force does not require many staff members because it is extremely well funded . Police units are considered a somewhat rare sight in the Benelux, mostly because demand for them is simply low.

ECONOMY

The beneluxian economy is hyper-efficient as a consequence of widespread automation. The economy is broadly diversified, although centered around safer industries such as spacecraft manufacturing, research and development and renewable resources exports, such as food, electricity and commodities. The government owns the economy and as a result is able to allocate fundings more efficently and to provide high wages to citiziens while maximizing productivity. The economic structure is very stable and functional, with most economists agreeing that a recession would simply force it to redistribute resources and lose efficiency but still stay completely afloat. State-owned industry accounts for over 95% of the economy, allowing extremely high spending without accumulation of debt. Economic growth is a steady 4%, driven by population growth, scientific advancement and a still expanding industrial base as well as exports.. Inflation is a steady 2%. The Benelux is both a paradise for the working class and small startups, while large corporations are viewed less favourably by the populace and government.

ARTIFICIAL INTELIGENCE EFFECT ON THE ECONOMY

Most of the Benelux's productivity comes from government owned automated industry, something which allows them to keep taxes fairly low and still maintain high spending without accumulating debt. Automation technology is widely used to efficiently perform organized tasks lacking the requirement of human logic as to free up the jobs requiring the skills of the population]. A good example of this would be farming. Food production is done exclusively via vertical farming, making the job perfectly in line with the ideas of organized and low skill work while lacking the need for complex intelligence. The nation's spacecraft manufacturing industry is almost entirely controlled by state-owned manufacturers. The benelux has claimed a spot as one of the universe's leading book publishers and a powerhouse in many other industries using its cheap, quick, and advanced mechanized factories, competing with the United states quality, and Tamaku's prices.

WELFARE

Because of the takeover of the Beneluxian economy by automation, so little is made from jobs that the government had to put in place three fundamental welfare programs in order to stop the biological economy’s fall. The first program is a universal basic income, all citizens receive 2000 Euros of untaxed basic income every month in order to keep the economy in a functional state and to drastically reduce homelessness. This program has very few disadvantages, the only major one being inflation issues, The money used to fund these programs comes from the export of products made by government owned industry. The third program is free public housing for all citiziens which now currently account for 56% of the housings, still on the rise . These homes are of 40 m^2 per family member but not particularly cheap, made to provide a good quality of life to citiziens Standard welfare is widely available and requires little bureaucracy so it can be acquired during the small average gap between periods of employment. Unemployment rate is 0.7%

Higara

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