More about Children

There's a little more to the matter of having children in Cyberia. What about poor people, you might ask? Well, you probably didn't, not being a poor person. So I will ask for you.

But first, I have to explain the Cyberian system of currency. The basic unit is the Mine. 100 mines equals 1 Gimmee. To relate to Ordinarian currency, you can consider that 1 Gimmee equals $1. That's not exactly the case, but it's good enough for satirical work.

At the present time, the damage deposit to have a child is 25,000 Gimmees. However, the Cyberian government will loan the damage deposit to a young poor couple or is it poor young couple who have a child. The do, however, charge interest on the loan.

If the fines come to less than 25% of the damage deposit by the time the child reaches 18, the interest is waived and the usual bonus is paid. However, if the fines are greater than 25% and the parents are unable to pay the deposit, the amount is sent to Collection.

As we've noted, taxes are quite low in Cyberia. However, if you owe the Cyberian government money, they are quite serious about collecting it.

Remember that felons are used for government workers. Some effort is made to assign felons to government tasks they are suited for. In the case of Collections, felons who worked for the Mafia are assigned to the task. There are some arguments among scholars as to whether the government workers in Ordinaria (known as IRS agents) or the Mafia workers in Cyberia are more effective.

However, people sent to Collection in either land don't seem to have much to say on the topic, so the subject is considered rather academic, and is only studied by very junior scholars who don't have much else to do.