I just started Book 7. I'm enjoying the series so far, but something has been nagging me for a long time. Economy has been brought up many times. I'm confused by how it works. Richter pays all his people a wage. He buys and supplies all they need. He has to keep spending and keep spending. But this makes no sense to me. What are the people doing with their money? If everyone is being paid by the leader to work, are they not buying and selling among themselves? What government simply pays everyone to work for the community and the people just save 100% of their money?? This makes no sense to me. They live in the woods hundreds of miles from the nearest market. The people don't need money, unless they form an economy within the village. Richter should be keeping all the money for trade with other nations if the people are providing services for the good of the community, or he could distribute so much currency that the people can begin trading among themselves. But I haven't seen that even mentioned. Just him stressing about running out of gold because he has to keep paying everyone to work indefinitely. Has anyone else noticed this?
He actually did touch on this in book 7 when discussing the professionals assignments with Randy. He just hasn’t been able to provide the resources necessary for the residents to start their own operations quite yet is my take: As far as the Trader, it’s time we start offering our people a chance to spend some of the coin I’ve been paying them. After the Townhall is built, one of the next projects I want completed is a Market. We can sell some luxury goods, and it will also give people a chance to sell items gained from the Dungeon. Book 7 Ch77
It’s still kinda early so it’s still being set up AFAIK, although I figure the soldiers are least at gambling most of their pay away. Grunts gonna do grunt things. It’s a good thing there are no strip clubs or shady car dealerships nearby.