Chapter 48:

Every magical media source was given a press release,

The Statute of Secrecy will end on or before December 15th 2010. Some aspects of disclosure will start on August 1st. See further press releases for what secrecy is required between those two dates.

Starting July 31st 2010, it is recommended that all witches and wizards not to appear in public in non-magical areas. Before July 31st, all magical people should secure methods of transport to avoid needing to go into non-magical areas. Any that have a need to go into non-magical areas should have emergency port-keys. After the non-magical public gets used to the announcement it should again be possible to go to non-magical areas, but port-keys should be a permanent precaution taken.

Every magical person will be issued by their ministry, by late June, a device to protect every magical from non-magical weapons. It will be a combination of a shield and a port-key, plus other protections against airborne dangers, fire and radiation. The port-key will go to a local warded shelter that each magical ministry has, or can easily be reprogrammed to go to other warded locations that the holder of the device chooses.

A later article explained more what the rules would be after the Statute ends.

You do not have to reveal that you have magic. You however can do so if you want to.

You do not have to live among non magicals. You however can do so if you want to.

Laws against mistreating non-magicals will be strictly enforced by both magical and non-magical law enforcement. Similarly laws against witch hunts will be strictly enforced, and illegal magical detainees will be rescued.

Magicals will not be subject to a large portion of the laws of the non-magicals, for instance taxes, building codes, etc. Magicals will be considered to be citizens and residents of a different nation, which is their magical ministry and will be considered visitors to the non-magical nation.

There will be provisions for magicals to have a presence in both the non-magical and magical nations.

Magical are cautioned to avoid unnecessary fighting with non-magicals, and should opt to escape if possible. In some non-magical societies using magic in a fight against a non-magical that could be avoided would be considered a crime.

Laws against misuse of non-magical objects will be ended, but new laws will be enforced against intending to cause harm to non-magicals, or reckless disregard to their safety or peace of mind.

A grand conference was held with all magical banking authorities around the world. These were not limited to goblins, but all cooperated with each other. In addiiton, the US Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke was invited along with his counterpart from the Euro zone, Jean-Claude Trichet, and representatives from non-magical banking in China, Japan, India, Brazil, Russia, Egypt and the UK.

Bardoc, a member of Gringotts bank opened the conference, "The money supply has to match the wealth in existence, to keep prices stable. The entire notion of what wealth is, will undergo significant changes soon. An increasing part of both the non-magical and magical economies are even now, being built upon a combination of skilled spell casters work and skilled non-magical production specialists work. While, huge numbers of basically skilled industrial, mining, and food production workers are still the backbone of the economies, their role is becoming less important, and skilled workers in the same fields becoming more important, in terms of wealth generated.

What does this mean for the money supply? For now, we recommend just carefully monitoring it. We recommend keeping the familiar forms of money in the various parts of the non-magical and magical economies, and carefully adjusting exchange rates and creation of currency."

The MACUSA Keeper of Treasure and Dragots, Aris Argent, replied, "I agree with my esteemed colleague Bardok. We will need to look further into the future and be ready for more automation with both technology and magic, and more of the economy based in space. We might consider having a currency that assumes basic needs are free, and gives access to the truely limited resources, which for now looks like the work ability of skilled spell casters and skilled non-magical and magical workers. We might call the new currency, credits, meaning a credit for accessing those resources."

Ben Bernarke had his own presentation, "For almost a year and a half the global financial system has been under extraordinary stress. The proximate cause of the crisis was the collapse of the valuation of real estate and the associated rise in delinquencies on mortgages, which imposed substantial losses on many financial institutions and shook investor confidence in credit markets. Financial institutions have seen their capital depleted by losses and writedowns. Heightened systemic risks, falling asset values, and tightening credit have in turn taken a heavy toll on business and consumer confidence and precipitated a sharp slowing in global economic activity, outside the part of the economy that is Starfleet. The damage, in terms of lost output, lost jobs, and lost wealth, is already substantial.

While the supplying of basic needs has prevented serious outcomes to the people involved, the ability to sustain their previous prosperity has been threatened.

At the same time there has been the rise of a new economy based around Starfleet, its affiliated companies, and its supplying of basic needs. For the highly skilled, in the areas that Starfleet needs, there are good employment prospects. For others, there is still a largely intact economy, but future trends indicate the decline of that economy.

What will happen next is unprecedented and hard to predict. A perennial question is whether economics is really a science. It's true, for example, that we economists can't do large-scale controlled experiments, although neither can evolutionary biologists or seismologists. However, one thing we surely have in common with physics, chemistry, and the rest, is that ignorance or misapplication of basic principles can result in enormous damage. In economics, that damage can take the form of financial crises and economic depressions."

I was able to claim a spot in the presentations, "I would like to address the statements of Chairman Bernanke. There is indeed a transition, to a society where people work for personal enrichment rather than for basic living expenses. However, in the near future people expect more from their economy. At the present time, and also expected in the near future there is an unlimited demand for skilled people in both the magical and non-magical economies, as we build a system of production that has already led to unprecedented rises in living standards in the last 15 years.

I would like Starfleet to scale up education centers for both magical and non-magical people to help them acquire the skills that are in demand in this era. Furthermore, our planet is on the edge of its introduction to its neighbors. For that to go as well as it can, Earth must develop its capabilities as fast as possible, and build incredible volumes of equipment for use in space.

I would challenge our economic experts to find ways to repurpose the assets that exist in the legacy economy to both help what Earth needs, and to give them continued purpose and economic viability."

There were planning meetings to prepare for diplomacy with the Vulcans. We planned to mystify them by already speaking Vulcan and knowing aspects of Vulcan culture. We weren't going to tell them how in detail, but will tell them that Luna learned from Surak and that Surak's katra, a soul carrier, is presently on Vulcan in a katric ark.

From canon, we knew that the Vulcans and Andorians have some sort of conflict over territory, but that they started out on friendly terms. Therefore we knew that while we might have a good introductory meeting, we have to make sure that we both avoid conflict, but also claim our rightful share of assets in nearby star systems.

These were the planned items to say to the Vulcans.

Earth will trade information with them, where both consider the trade beneficial.

Earth will avoid contact with pre-warp civilizations, assuming no other people contact them.

Earth expects to make use of unoccupied resources and star systems, and hopes to do so in an agreed ways with its neighbors.

Earth needs to understand the relationship Vulcan has with its neighbors before agreeing to any general alliance, and as a long-term goal wants to have a general alliance that includes Vulcan and as many of its neighbors as possible.

The analysis of the Vulcan shuttle's acceleration, was that no impulse engines contemplated by Starfleet could do the same. Therefore it was assumed that Vulcan sub-light engines either warped space-time or used anti-gravity to remove most of the mass of the spacecraft thereby accelerating it much faster. A new set of research projects were started, including ones using magic to lighten the ship while it is being accelerated.

A team analyzing the 2063 warp travel, in canon, put forward the hypothesis that the Phoenix did not necessarily have a full warp engine, but instead could have stored anti-matter or energy for its very short burst of warp travel. Still it was known from the movie that components on that ship were a plasma intercooler, and a throttle assembly that contained theta radiation. Theta radiation was a byproduct of anti-matter reactions.

As experiments with extremely high energy colliders and rings proceeded, there were the starts of anomalies being seen. Each experiment usually resulted in repairing the equipment, which, with magic was easy to do. Then, an analysis of the data, and the addition of additional monitoring abilities. The main goal was finding anything that was contrary to the existing notions of physics, and they were finding it. A large team of physicists worked from Earth, and were skilled at rapid approaches to experimentation and making hypotheses. These were not at the pace of academic publishing, but more at the pace of mad scientists. Blowing up the equipment, or releasing harmful radiation, or even creating mini black holes were not considered to be out of bounds.

The approach was an industrial scale of physics research. Some would come up with entirely new possible physics models based on what was seen. Others would come up with experiments to prove, disprove, or help understand these new possible models. Others would build those experiments rapidly, using magic. Magical seers helped, as did various magical perception in the vicinity of Vesta.

Based partially on Star Trek canon, there were experiments on their being a parallel physics called subspace. The fabric of space could be shifted with extremely high power revealing subspace. Anomalies that were found were analyzed in the context of assuming that subspace would be discovered.

The plan to use Starfleet's shell companies to support and reform enterprises throughout the world that might become non-viable due to competition from Starfleet, was running into problems. The plan needed a lot of back and forth on how it could be done. The goblins kept reminding me that you cannot just create money, and maximum spending on planetary defense and R&D is not compatible with the level of spending that this would need. They did accept investments in other companies that both would keep them viable while having an expected return on investment. I learned not to go against goblin's economic advice.

In June, Starfleet added agreed with my Section 31 recommendations to scale up education for both magicals and non-magicals.

The announcement in the magical world was,

Classes are now available in every major magical shopping district to increase your capability in charms, enchantments, wards. Starfleet has an unlimited need for these skills, and many others. We urge you to increase your skills, and we urge you to help us out for pay, part time, full time, your choice. See the Starfleet recruiting center located in each magical shopping district.

In the non-magical world,

Adult education classes are now available in every Basic Living Center, to gain the skills needed in today's and tomorrow's economy. We need and pay for skills. See the Starfleet recruiting center, also located in every Basic Living Center, for what jobs are available and what skills are in demand.