munroburton wrote:cthia wrote:Oh, it's almost a given the fees were raised countless times before. That fact makes it even more unfathomable that they wouldn't be raised NOW. After the most incredulous losses ever incurred by the system? Which, quite frankly, has left the MBS quite vulnerable. More vulnerable than it has ever been in a long long hands of hands. All while under threat from perhaps their biggest foe of all time.
Sure, the Havenites are throwing in with them. But what if something happens to that bank and they can no longer borrow from the Havenites? That doesn't necessarily mean the Peeps will turn coat again, but they can be attacked and taken out too. And Bolthole as well. It is imperative that the MBS is rebuilt as quickly as possible.
Besides, is it unreasonable to temporarily raise fees while informing everyone concerned that it is only temporary, then making everyone happy when they are reduced?
Besides, who in the galaxy wouldn't even expect it? Considering all what was lost.
I'm sure by now, the galaxy has had long experiences of "temporary" taxes which turn out to be anything but. Until they actually do go away, the better assumption is that they're permanent. High Ridge can be thanked for recently stringing out that "temporary" tax from the first war until a second one started.
The main problem with raising fees at this point is that much of the junction's traffic stopped due to the Solarian war. Whatever the fees were, they couldn't pay them and transit. So all those ships went to do something else and it will take time to reset.
Keeping the fees lower arguably encourages them to return sooner rather than later.
If the rest of the galaxy expects raised fees, so much the better. Good PR and improved relations on the interstellar stage are very important to Manticore. They can't look like they're using their newfound naval dominance to push fees where they've never been.
Yes, but High Ridge was a Manticoran oddity who was born with a brain defect. The Manticoran government has sewn good seeds in the galaxy, and nobody would have had reason to doubt their promise. Besides, if a shipping line is operating so close to the red line that a junction increase would kill them, they're dead already. Most shipping lines make far too much money to throw in the towel. Besides, junction charges are part of overall shipping costs and the extra costs will be passed on to the consumer across the board.