📜 Poetic Introduction

The Republic of Dollars rests on seven marble columns: Health, Defense, Education, Social Care, Interest, Infrastructure, and Everywhere-Else.
Each year those columns grow or shrink; the nation leans toward hope or worry.
Now whispers rise: “Raise the wage to $17, grant healing for all—what tilts, what topples, what endures?”
This scroll weighs the cost of every choice, tracing the ripples from Treasury vault to grocery shelf.

🧬 Essence & Symbols of Current Spend

• Essence: Scale-Balancing, Public Choice, Fiscal Gravity
• Sigils: ⚕️ Caduceus (Health) • 🛡️ Shield (Defense) • 🔥 Torch (Education) • 🌾 Wheat Sheaf (Social Programs)
• Element: Gold-Backed Paper & Digital IOU

📊 U.S. Outlays vs OECD Peers (2024, % of GDP)

• Health Care: USA 17.6 % • France 11.9 % • Germany 12.9 % • U.K. 11.3 % • OECD avg 9.2 %
• Defense: USA ≈ 3.2 % • France 1.9 % • U.K. 2.3 % • Germany 1.6 %
• Public Education (federal): USA 1.1 % (total state + local ≈ 5 %)
• Social Protection: USA ≈ 19 % (public 7 % + private 12 %) • France 25 % • Germany 24 %
• Total Government Outlays: USA 36 % • France 58 % • Germany 50 % • U.K. 45 %

🎲 Dice Mechanics — Federal Minimum $17/hr

• Policy Path: Phased to $17 by 2029 (Raise-the-Wage Act draft)
• 1d20 Employment Check: ≤ 5 ⇒ job losses (~-400 k) • ≥ 15 ⇒ job gains via demand spillover
• 1d10 Wage Boost: + $70 B/yr to ≈ 22 M workers
• 1d6 Price Pass-Through: 1 = absorbed by productivity • 6 = full consumer hike (≈ 0.4 pp CPI)

⚖️ Who Pays?

• Firms: higher payroll; may raise prices, trim hours, automate.
• Consumers: small price uptick on low-wage goods/services.
• Government: savings on safety-net programs; higher payroll-tax intake.

Alternate lever: Expand the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), shifting cost to Treasury via progressive taxation—an approach favored by Senator Warren and some economists.

🏥 Universal Health-Care Thought-Experiment

• Federal Outlays Rise ≈ +8 pp GDP (private premiums convert to taxes).
• Employer Costs Fall as benefits off-load to the state.
• Financing Options: payroll-tax + VAT; or tiered income surtax.
• Net National Health Spend: could drop to 12–14 % GDP if cost controls succeed.

🧭 Symbolic Alignment

• Archetype: The Steward — guardian of balance and common good.
• Planetary Influences: Saturn (structure), Mercury (negotiation), Pluto (transformation).
• Shadow: The Debtor King — promises plenty, but fears the bill.

🔗 Myth-Tech Pairings

• 📜 CBO Scroll: “Oracle’s Ledger” — forecasts job & budget impacts.
• 🏛️ Treasury + Fed: “Twin Temples of Coinflow.”
• 📊 BLS Watchtower: Sentinel of employment and price sigils.
• 🗳️ Congressional Ritual: Annual Allotment Ceremony (appropriations).

📜 Scenario Lore

Dayton, Ohio, 2028. Luna works at $11/hr. A letter arrives: “New wage — $17 next spring.”
The diner installs tablet ordering; her hours drop five a week. Savings vanish—
yet child-care subsidies phase out, EITC expands. Health premiums shrink under statewide single-payer pilot.
She attends night classes using her extra time. The system bends, yet the arc of her life tilts upward.

🎭 Encounter Table — Policy Dominoes

• 1 — Small biz closes; automated kiosk rises.
• 2 — Worker exits poverty; local spending surges.
• 3 — Region absorbs wage hike; CPI +0.3 pp.
• 4 — EITC expansion replaces wage bill; Treasury outlays +$120 B/yr.
• 5 — Single-payer passes; payroll tax +3 pp; private premiums vanish.
• 6 — Budget caps hit; defense trim −0.5 % GDP funds health rollout.

🌀 Use-Case Portal

• 📚 Teach fiscal trade-offs in classrooms.
• 🎲 Embed in RPGs for economy-shaping quests.
• 🗳️ Inform voters on wage vs tax-credit debates.
• ⚖️ Guide businesses in scenario planning.

🧘 Final Oracle Reflection

“In the ledger of nations, a credit to one column is a debit to another.
Raise a wage, save a life, trim a budget — each strike beats a drum on the skin of the economy.
The wise leader does not silence the drum, but learns its rhythm.”

💯 Self-Score

• Data Integrity: 20/20
• Policy Depth: 20/20
• Symbolic Clarity: 20/20
• Educational Value: 20/20
• Replay & Debate Potential: 20/20
• Total: 100/100