The etymology behind the usage of the term Zeit in the SMP Compendium originates from the German word for “Time.” Zeit refers to the tertiary unit of measurement in gauging the economic and financial activities of the nation-state. It is meant to operate alongside the primary and second units of measurements employed by the Work-Standard, Arbeit and Geld respectively. With Zeit, the State is able to study the rate at which its economy is capable of contributing a specified amount of Arbeit to the Central Bank’s Life-Energy Reserve, and the rate at which the Central Bank is able to convert that Arbeit in Geld as part of the nation-state’s Financial Regime.
Additionally, Zeit is used to study specific professions or sectors within the economy and their contributions. Not everyone works at the same timeframe. Some people work shorter hours and others may work longer hours. It can be due to personal considerations like family, schooling or health, the details surrounding the profession in question, or even the impact of non-monetary policies by the State and the technology that is employed by certain sectors. The real implication that Zeit dares to ask is what can be done under a given timeframe and whether something can be achieved on schedule, ahead of schedule, or behind schedule.
Zeit is also employed as the means of making future projections concerning the conversions between Arbeit and Geld. By studying past trends and practices within the economy, the State can begin making conclusions on whether certain policies will affect the balance between Arbeit and Geld as part of its monetary policies. Another aspect of this particular usage of Zeit is the Central Bank’s decision-making process in setting the Mechanization Rate as the Work-Standard’s Usury-free alternative to the need for maintaining Interest Rates. The Central Bank, based on what has occurred in the past, can plan for the future by setting the Mechanization Rate at a specified point in Zeit. The Mechanization Rate can be altered and manipulated by the Central Bank at the formal discretion of the Head of State and Legislature as the other two members of the Financial Regime.
Under no circumstances whatsoever will Zeit ever be used as something to back the Value of any Currency pegged to the Work-Standard. To peg a Currency to the Work-Standard entails basing its Value on the Arbeit generated by the economy itself. The Value of the Geld, as a State-issued Currency, is affected only by the amount of Arbeit available in the Central Bank’s Life-Energy Reserve. Where Zeit does present itself as a contributing factor in the relationship between Arbeit and Geld is the State policy on the number of mandatory hours per work week.
The total number of hours in the work week will affect the amount of Arbeit that can be allocated to the Life-Energy Reserve. Hours that do not contribute any Arbeit is considered “Freizeit” (Free Time). Having a 40-hour work week is considered to be within the normal bounds. A 35-hour work week is feasible by increasing the Mechanization Rate to enhance the amount of Arbeit that each profession within a given economic sector is capable of contributing.
Longer work weeks that go from 48 to 56 hours should be considered as being within the bounds of national emergencies and wartime contingencies. Hostile invasions from enemy forces and devastating natural disasters are two good examples for why a work week would last that long.
Any Arbeit generated from “Überstunden” (Additional Hours or ‘Overtime’), which is to say that someone was asked to work beyond their normal hours, is compensated in Geld by the State. The State also reserves the political power necessary to set the total number of hours in the work week, the amount dependent on the overall condition of the nation-state. As long as the nation-state is not in a position where it must spend longer hours per work week, it is normal to expect the work week to be somewhere between 35 and 40 hours.
Categories: Compendium
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