In a lot of [lore] sources there's a lot of mention about how the economy in the UEE is pretty bad at the moment; especially public spending is at a very low point. But since there are no numbers or reports from the government, that's mostly hearsay. Can you give us a little impression of the economic problems or hardships this new Imperator is faced with when he or she enters office?

Sure. Again, we're not going to get too detailed as far as outlining what the GDP of a planet is, because that would fry my brain. But yeah, they come in, they've got a lot of things that they've got to deal with. That's what part of the debate was last week, of how do you handle Synthworld? You have this thing that's completely just draining money. And right now there's no end in sight as far as when they're going to actually accomplish anything. So if you're looking for a quick financial boost to the economy, cut that thing off and redirect that money into other things. They've got a lot. They've got a Vanduul military conflict to deal with. They've got a thinned out military and law enforcement. They've got Synthworld. They've got a bunch of stuff to deal with. So it's going to be fun.