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Revision as of 22:59, November 12, 2012
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[[Important People of World War Z|Arthur Sinclair Jr.]] was appointed the Director of the newly-formed Department of Strategic Resourses, or "DeStRes", and Sinclair faced a monumental task ahead of him. West of the Rocky Mountains was heavily damaged during [[the Great Panic]], as a result there were too few places to house the millions of refugees. Famine, restlessness, disease and homelessness were rampant, and industry, transportation and trade had evaporated, compounded by zombies attacking the defensive line in the Rockies and outbreaks in the safe zone.
[[Important People of World War Z|Arthur Sinclair Jr.]] was appointed the Director of the newly-formed Department of Strategic Resourses, or "DeStRes", and Sinclair faced a monumental task ahead of him. West of the Rocky Mountains was heavily damaged during [[the Great Panic]], as a result there were too few places to house the millions of refugees. Famine, restlessness, disease and homelessness were rampant, and industry, transportation and trade had evaporated, compounded by zombies attacking the defensive line in the Rockies and outbreaks in the safe zone.
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The plan was to get the people fed, housed, clothed, and back to work as soon as possible, thus the creation of DeStRes. Sinclair spent the first few months getting America's bearings and learning everything he possibly could on economics. Sinclair tried to find and use "Tools and Talent", the skills of the workforce and the means by which they could those skills. Skilled tradesmen like machinists, gunsmiths, metalworkers, masons, carpenters, and engineers were at an all-time shortage, as most of the refugees were businessmen, accountants, executives, lawyers, representatives, and consultants who all lacked the simple know-how to fix a cracked window. Over 65% percent of the potential workforce was classified as F6, or those with no valued vocation. This required a massive work retraining program, the most radical since WWII. A big challenge to this was transportation mostly due to lack of fuel, which saw a massive comeback of horses and bicycles.
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The plan was to get the people fed, housed, clothed, and back to work as soon as possible, thus the creation of DeStRes. Sinclair spent the first few months getting America's bearings and learning everything he possibly could on economics. Sinclair tried to find and use "Tools and Talent", the skills of the workforce and the means by which they could those skills. Skilled artisans and tradesmen like machinists, gunsmiths, metalworkers, masons, carpenters, and engineers were at an all-time shortage, as most of the refugees were businessmen, accountants, executives, lawyers, representatives, and consultants who all lacked the simple know-how to fix a cracked window. Over 65% percent of the potential workforce was classified as F6, or those with no valued vocation. This required a massive work retraining program, the most radical since WWII. A big challenge to this was transportation mostly due to lack of fuel, which saw a massive comeback of horses and bicycles.
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The first problem was to drain the hundreds of refugee camps before they drained the Government's resources. Anyone classified F6 and physically able was used as unskilled labor, i.e. clearing rubble, harvesting crops and digging the numerous graves that winter. Those classified A1, those with war-appropriate skills, became part of the Community Self-Sufficiency Program (CSSP) under the National Reeducation Act, designed to instruct those without vocational skills. This became vitally successful: in the first few months there was a significant drop in requests for government aid.
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The first problem was to drain the hundreds of refugee camps before they drained the Government's resources. Anyone classified F6 and physically able was used as unskilled labor, i.e. clearing rubble, harvesting crops and digging the numerous graves that winter. Those classified A1, those with war-appropriate skills, became part of the Community Self-Sufficiency Program (CSSP) under the National Reeducation Act, designed to instruct those without vocational skills. This became vitally successful: in the first few months there was a significant drop in requests for government aid.
There was some friction however, since most instructors were first-generation immigrants, who knew how to get by with few resources. Many of their former white-collar students resented now having to learn how to fix toilets from people who used to fix ''their'' toilets.
There was some friction however, since most instructors were first-generation immigrants, who knew how to get by with few resources. Many of their former white-collar students resented now having to learn how to fix toilets from people who used to fix ''their'' toilets.
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There was still the death penalty for very extreme cases, and there were forced work gangs made up of repeat offenders who had been already given plenty of second chances and still continued to break the law.
There was still the death penalty for very extreme cases, and there were forced work gangs made up of repeat offenders who had been already given plenty of second chances and still continued to break the law.
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During the height of the Great Panic, even within the Safe Zone on the west coast there were many problems with secessionists. Some were crazed religious fundamentalists (Fundies) or on the other end, crazed environmentalist cults that saw the zombie plague as nature's judgment (Greenies); these were always more of a nuisance than a real threat. The big problem during the first shaky year trying to stabilize the Safe Zone was that several secessionist groups tried to fight the government. Some of them were reacting to the zombie epidemic and thinking they were better off on their own; some were crazed survivalists that had been planning something like this for years (in the event of nuclear war, etc.) and just used the zombie epidemic as a convenient excuse. The secessionists within the West Coast Safe Zone were acknowledged to be rebels trying to set themselves up as bandit-kings in the face of the chaos and anarchy of the time. The response to them was obvious: they were enemies of the country and were dealt with without hesitation. The more difficult moral dilemma came with the secessionists ''east'' of the Rockies. Several survivor enclaves were embittered at the US military abandoning them, and as the saying went, "we didn't leave the USA, the USA left us". As they were liberated, each of these secessionist zones were presented with the option of full amnesty, pardon, and peaceful reintegration. Most took the offer, but a few did not, such as the large survivor enclave in the Black Hills of South Dakota, which had to be retaken with lethal force.
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During the height of the Great Panic, even within the Safe Zone on the west coast there were many problems with secessionists. Some were crazed religious fundamentalists (Fundies) or on the other end, crazed environmentalist cults that saw the zombie plague as nature's judgment (Greenies); these were always more of a nuisance than a real threat. The big problem during the first shaky year trying to stabilize the Safe Zone was that several secessionist groups tried to fight the government. Some of them were reacting to the zombie epidemic and thinking they were better off on their own; some were crazed survivalists that had been planning something like this for years (in the event of nuclear war, etc.) and just used the zombie epidemic as a convenient excuse. The secessionists within the West Coast Safe Zone were acknowledged to be rebels trying to set themselves up as bandit-kings in the face of the chaos and anarchy of the time. The response to them was obvious: they were enemies of the country and were dealt with without hesitation. The more difficult moral dilemma came with the secessionists ''east'' of the Rockies. Several survivor enclaves were embittered at the US military abandoning them, and as the saying went, "we didn't leave the USA, the USA left us". As they were liberated, each of these secessionist zones were presented with the option of full amnesty, pardon, and peaceful reintegration. Most took the offer, but a few did not, such as the large survivor enclave in the Black Hills of South Dakota, which had to be retaken with lethal force.
===Entertainment===
===Entertainment===