The United States' First War Treaty?

Supergirl #44 by Sterling Gates and Jamal Igle (2009)

The President of the United States in the DC Universe travels to the nation of Markovia to sign what he thinks if the first ever free-trade agreement with them. What is he actually signing?

That's right -- he's signing a war treaty. That is, the President of the United States is signing an agreement with Markovia in order to engage in intergalactic conflict with New Krypton.

I've heard of peace treaties before (agreements that end war or conflict) and I've heard of treaties that establish an alliance between two nations during war, but I have never actually heard of a war treaty that actually sets out to create a multilateral conflict. It's also bizarre that General Lane implies that all the other nations of the world have already agreed to attack New Krypton and that Markovia would complete the set. Does this mean that the President thought he was signing free-trade agreements with every other nation on Earth? Does the U.S. now have a collection of signed war treaties from every country? "The War Treaty of Switzerland?" Why isn't there just one treaty?

It must be strange living in a world where security is such a major issue. According to a CBS/NYTimes poll from June 2009, 57& of respondents cited the economy and jobs as the most important issue facing the country. Health care got 7%. War and peace was only 2%. In the DC Universe, where global security is constantly threatened, do priorities change? Do health care and the economy take a back seat to global security and intergalactic freedom? And so much so that the world comes to agreement in attacking another planet so quickly and easily?

Apparently so. And yet, the governments of the world still felt the need to keep this agreement from the public. In fact, Project 7734, the government-funded organization in charge of curbing the new threat posed by the Kryptonians, is a furtive operation that not even the President knows he is funding. If security is, in fact, such a major issue, you would think that the taxpayers would be more willing to spend their dollars on it. And I'm sure Project 7734 could accomplish more if it weren't lurking in the shadows. This could only mean that they're planning something so vital to the Earth's future survival that the nations of the world agree to engage in intergalactic conflict, but so nefarious that despite the public's xenophobia, it would likely not support it.

The lesson here: elect a President who reads what he signs.

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Could New Krypton Have Stayed on Earth?

The Citizens of New Krypton by Pete Woods.

It's truly a shame that Kandor's temporary stay on Earth did not work out as well as Superman had intended. But, economically and politically, it was doomed to begin with.

After Superman defeated Brainiac and retrieved the stolen city of Kandor, he restored it in its original integrity near the Fortress of Solitude at the North Pole. Overnight, Earth became the new home for approximately 100,000 Kryptonians. Hopes were high to assimilate the Kryptonian population into the Earth community and to teach them the way of Earth cultural and democracy. Yet as tensions rose (unfortunately human tendencies towards xenophobia and paranoia garnered the mistrust of many ill-tempered Kandorians), an exectuve decision was made by Alura-El (Superman's aunt and Supergirl's mother) to retreat completely into autonomy. Kryptonians were to live within their sanctuary at the North Pole, mining their own resources and disconnecting completely from the affairs of the primitive humans.

In effect, Kandor had become an autarky, a completely self-reliant society, economically independent of other nations. Unfortunately, prohibiting a society of 100,000 citizens from international trade or any sort of economic interdependence with other nations is not easy in 21st century Earth. The world is globalizing--fast. Technology, communication, and industry are rapidly expanding into global markets and more nations and societies are quickly being integrated into this system of trade and interdependence. This is why recessions tend to have global impacts; the increasd interconnectedness of these markets makes local economic collapses that much more difficult to contain.

Economic autarkies today either are not real autarkies, or are not doing so well. Consider the case of North Korea. It maintains an "autarkic" command economy and a strict isolation policy from Western countries. The problem is that it is not completely cut off, as Kandor intends to be. In 2008, North Korea's trade rose 30%, three-quarters of which came from China. It has even begun conducting small amounts of business with South Korea. Actually, North Korea also receives considerable foreign aid, from countries including South Korea and even the United States. Beyond that, its economic conditions aren't so hot. Growth is significantly hampered due to its trade restrictions, even though GDP has been rising in recent years. Poverty continues to be a huge problem as well.

Kryptonians do have certain advantages that would aid them in remaining isolated from human existence. A major one is that, apparently, they do not need to eat (how sad!). This means that finding resources that can be made into a source of food is not a problem. Yet, there is no denying that the Kryptonians do need some Earth resources. They have established science and medical guilds, meaning they are interested in innovation and technology. Obviously, they're going to need more fancy crystals to put into crystal tubes. They have labor guilds, which means they need to use tools. And Krypton is a society which pours most of its resources into its own rapid development.

Since its resources on the original Krypton were all but depleted, it needs to make due with the scarce ones available on Earth. The North Pole has untapped minerals and fuels, but I'm betting Kandor will need more that, especially if it wants the kind of technology that will send a child through the galaxy in a crystal ship. This is why Alura sent teams to explore human nations -- it wasn't just to spy on them, it was also to gather stock of what resources might be available to them.

Eventually tensions rose so high that, following an epic battle with the Justice League, the citizens of Kandor left Earth and established a new society on a different planet altogether (New Krypton). It's truly a shame. Imagine the implications for Earth's economic growth and technological innovation if we could have worked out or differences and integrated Kandor into the global marketplace. Once again, we blew it.

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Superman, New Krypton, and Labor Unions

Over on New Krypton, Kal-El (formerly Superman) is having trouble negotiating a peaceful resolution to a very dangerous hostage situation. Members of the planet's labor guild have taken Alura, commander of the Kandorian people, as well as several other prominent members of the Council hostage. Though General Zod, who is now Kal-El's superior in the military guild, ordered him to use force to dissolve the attack, Kal-El resolves to listen to the guild's demands. What are they? Simple enough: the workers demand shorter work days so that they can see their families and reduce the illnesses they had been suffering from being overworked, exhausted and malnourished. They are also demanding some form of health care, sick leave, and other social benefits common in Earth's workplace today.

Even New Krypton, a society that favors efficiency over equality and views Earthlings as "primitive" and "weak" for their emphasis on the converse, cannot suppress the rights of the individual. Perhaps had they studied a little Earth history, they might have noticed some historical parallels.

The eight-hour day movement in Europe was a time of dramatic transformations in work life, as adults during the Industrial Revolution typically worked anywhere from 12 to 16 hours a day, with little or no time to eat or rest. Factories were unregulated, so there was no one to ensure they met health or sanitation standards. Child exploitation was extremely popular as well. These variables helped spark not only the movement for an eight-hour day, but began to sew the roots of unionization.

Of course, there is an important distinction between this and New Krypton: Capitalism. Workers in the United Kingdom, France and the United States were typically working for private, unregulated employers and were earning wages to survive. New Krypton doesn't seem to work this way. Employers are certainly not private, there seems to be no such thing as "business" or "profit," and hence there is no competition among them. There are no markets. The Invisible Hand has no place on New Krypton. Further, the workers do not actually seem to earn any sort of wage -- it seems that each citizen is instead motivated by an innate sense of civic duty. In fact, the labor guild likely adheres to the social code for one or all of three reasons:

1) Civic duty or a utilitarianism
2) Deep sense of Kryptonian tradition
3) Self-interest: they work in exchange for the right to be citizens, to enjoy the planets public resources (the only one I can think of is pretty crystals), and to be protected by the military guild

Civic duty and tradition are powerful motivators. As an example, consider feudal Japan where vassals were almost instrically attached to serving their lords and would rather experience death before suffering the dishonor of disobeying it. Yet, it's not always enough. We can already see the seams falling apart on New Krypton with Kal-El's presence. Lower-class Kryptonians desire to be equal to that of the nobility. They want to see their families. They don't want to be sick. Nobles want to sit around while laborers tend the fields for sixteen hours. What to do? Assuming Alura grants them shorter hours and medical care, what do you suppose comes next?

That's right! Labor unions! Supposing that laborers work for different employers (scientists, etc.), certain labor forces are going to band together in order to collectively bargain with their superiors for more benefits and better working conditions, to prevent against discrimination, and to be involved with political activity of the state (such as having votes on the Council).

The other issue that concerns me is moral hazard. The medical scientists in the science guild need to take time and resources to heal the sick. If the workers get continual access to health care from the science guild, what is to stop them from abusing this? I think that eventually Alura and Zod will need to introduce some system of payment. And what comes next? Markets! Workers will have more access to health services, but they will have to shell out some serious ice crystals in order to get it.

The point is that it does not seem that New Krypton can continue suppressing the labor guild. And that's not a bad thing. Kal-El is champion of the workers. He's like FDR. Better yet, he's like Upton Sinclair, laying upon the masses his masterpiece, The Ice Crystal Fortress.

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