Starfleet Jedi

What does the Trade Federation trade? It seems to be in such a high demand to the point that people will seemingly revolt against their government to get it, and they can hold planets hostage, and no one can do a thing.

What does the Trade Federation sell, and why is there no one who they seem to compete with?

May I ask what you're looking for precisely?

Mr. Oragahn wrote:May I ask what you're looking for precisely?

Why the Trade Federation is so powerful basically.

They seem to be able to do what ever they want to, and what they sell seems to be in high enough demand that if a planet can't get it the people may revolt.

There seems to be no other party that trades as well beside smugglers.

Lucky wrote:

Mr. Oragahn wrote:May I ask what you're looking for precisely?

Why the Trade Federation is so powerful basically.

They seem to be able to do what ever they want to, and what they sell seems to be in high enough demand that if a planet can't get it the people may revolt.

There seems to be no other party that trades as well beside smugglers.

Their power is directly linked to how they "infiltrated" the senate : the TF had its own pod at the senate. It has one or several powerful lobbies running for it. The senate's highly corrupted, just the way it is now in Washington and the EU, both crawling with lobbies.

It's also a bit more subtle, because the TF wanted more liberalism, and the Republic obviously turned into a burden of bureaucracy, and the only way to have things moving in your favour was to corrupt said Republic.

It's quite a pity that the CIS was shown in such a bad light because of the TF and the droid army, because I think the CIS' fundamental claim was quite legit in a way.

There's something to be impressed about in the fact that the TF was so powerful.
The Republic seems to be like the EU at its early days, with a pinch of toothless United Nations Organization and "fair use" trade rules.
In that light, planets (equivalent of nations) still retain lots of power and manage their population, rules, culture and co the way they see fit. If anything, a Trade Federation wouldn't be crawling under commercial burdens.
But the Republic also has one thing the EU doesn't have (yet, but it's coming), it's direct taxation, at least on interplanetary trade.
And the greedy TF was f***in' pissed off by such taxation. I suppose the taxation originally was a sort of Tobin thing, possibly meant to spread the wealth among all planets.

Mr. Oragahn wrote:

Lucky wrote:

Mr. Oragahn wrote:May I ask what you're looking for precisely?

Why the Trade Federation is so powerful basically.

They seem to be able to do what ever they want to, and what they sell seems to be in high enough demand that if a planet can't get it the people may revolt.

There seems to be no other party that trades as well beside smugglers.

Their power is directly linked to how they "infiltrated" the senate : the TF had its own pod at the senate. It has one or several powerful lobbies running for it. The senate's highly corrupted, just the way it is now in Washington and the EU, both crawling with lobbies.

It's also a bit more subtle, because the TF wanted more liberalism, and the Republic obviously turned into a burden of bureaucracy, and the only way to have things moving in your favour was to corrupt said Republic.

It's quite a pity that the CIS was shown in such a bad light because of the TF and the droid army, because I think the CIS' fundamental claim was quite legit in a way.

There's something to be impressed about in the fact that the TF was so powerful.
The Republic seems to be like the EU at its early days, with a pinch of toothless United Nations Organization and "fair use" trade rules.
In that light, planets (equivalent of nations) still retain lots of power and manage their population, rules, culture and co the way they see fit. If anything, a Trade Federation wouldn't be crawling under commercial burdens.
But the Republic also has one thing the EU doesn't have (yet, but it's coming), it's direct taxation, at least on interplanetary trade.
And the greedy TF was f***in' pissed off by such taxation. I suppose the taxation originally was a sort of Tobin thing, possibly meant to spread the wealth among all planets.

That still does not explain why people will threaten to revolt against their government to get what the Trade Federation sells.

Then again a planet that needs to import food does not make sense, but that seems to be common in Star Wars.

Lucky wrote:That still does not explain why people will threaten to revolt against their government to get what the Trade Federation sells.

To get what the TF sells, I don't see, but to get what the TF sells at a much lower price, that I can imagine.
I can imagine worlds claiming more sovereignty and wanting to do without the Republic putting its fingers into internal affairs and economies. Too much regulation, too much taxation. That I can imagine.
Most worlds of the Republic didn't seem to have suffering economies like it's actually the case in the Occident.
So in my opinion, it would largely be about the Trade Federation pushing for less taxes, and thus promising lower prices in return without that burden of a galactic VAT.

Then again a planet that needs to import food does not make sense, but that seems to be common in Star Wars.

Depends on the planet. I can easily imagine Coruscant in the need to import lots of food and other goods.
Some other planets could live in such harsh conditions (desert or ice planet, or poison or else) that food could only be properly grown outside.
Do you have an example in mind that doesn't make sense to you?

Mr. Oragahn wrote:

Lucky wrote:That still does not explain why people will threaten to revolt against their government to get what the Trade Federation sells.

To get what the TF sells, I don't see, but to get what the TF sells at a much lower price, that I can imagine.
I can imagine worlds claiming more sovereignty and wanting to do without the Republic putting its fingers into internal affairs and economies. Too much regulation, too much taxation. That I can imagine.
Most worlds of the Republic didn't seem to have suffering economies like it's actually the case in the Occident.
So in my opinion, it would largely be about the Trade Federation pushing for less taxes, and thus promising lower prices in return without that burden of a galactic VAT.

Then again a planet that needs to import food does not make sense, but that seems to be common in Star Wars.

Depends on the planet. I can easily imagine Coruscant in the need to import lots of food and other goods.
Some other planets could live in such harsh conditions (desert or ice planet, or poison or else) that food could only be properly grown outside.
Do you have an example in mind that doesn't make sense to you?

I was talking about the Pantorans threatening their government with revolt when a single Trade Fed ship blockaded them, and refused to trade. They are the native race ice planet or no ice planet, and should be able to meet all their own needs easily. The debt was implied to be rather sizable considering a planetary government could not easily pay it.

Coruscant has plenty of room for greenhouses, hydroponics, recycling centers, and manufacturing centers.

Mandalor has big cities, and has seemingly been the way it is for a long time. They should be able to feed and cloth themselves.

The only thing I can think of that makes sense is if the Trade Federation is selling addictive products.

Lucky,
Many modern, industrialized countries need to import some type of foodstuff that can only be grown outside their borders, even though in terms of economy and capacity, they would have all the necessary know-how and funds.
Even artificial greenhouses will be a lot more limited in production than natural fields, so Coruscant, with its growing population, with buildings that cover the entire planet, would certainly need to import foods from "farm" planets, I am sure...

Perhaps its simply cheaper for planets to import food, I had always thought the Trade Federation was a giant shipping company. Interstellar travel is obviously cheap and fast in SW, so...*shrug*

Praeothmin wrote:Lucky,
Many modern, industrialized countries need to import some type of foodstuff that can only be grown outside their borders, even though in terms of economy and capacity, they would have all the necessary know-how and funds.
Even artificial greenhouses will be a lot more limited in production than natural fields, so Coruscant, with its growing population, with buildings that cover the entire planet, would certainly need to import foods from "farm" planets, I am sure...

If we saw the food being imported was fresh fruits and veggies I would agree to a certain extent, but we are talking about soft drinks.

We are talking about a setting where your planet could be cut off from supplies at a moments notice, and may be cut off an unknown amount of time. To not plan for a blockade is just stupid, and I do not like the option they are just stupid.

The Dude wrote:Perhaps its simply cheaper for planets to import food, I had always thought the Trade Federation was a giant shipping company. Interstellar travel is obviously cheap and fast in SW, so...*shrug*

They seem like the only shipping company, and that still does not really explain why they would expect a planetary government to pay them.

It makes me wonder if the Trade Federation in nothing more than a thinly disguised rip-off of Dune's Spacing Guild.
-Mike

Maybe one could compare the Trade Federation more with the trading companies from the 15th to the 19th century, e.g. the East India Company .

Although they were only trade companies, they had not to underestimated political and military influence.

And it would fit in the tenet of Star Wars that always seemed to me to be a story from the Early modern period and/or Age of Revolution placed into the future.

Lucky wrote: They seem like the only shipping company, and that still does not really explain why they would expect a planetary government to pay them.

Maybe the government is the ones purchasing the goods. Maybe they have the monopoly on trade and its an extortion racket.

It's not like the TF makes a whole lot of sense to begin with.

The Dude wrote:It's not like the Star Wars makes a whole lot of sense to begin with, except for the fun and excitment of the PT.

Corrected it for ya... ;)