SW Economics and extras

[Commander 598]

Tatooine is a dried up shithole because there's nothing there. NOTHING. Nothing but sand, failed mining outposts, a bunch of smelly and arguably primitive natives, and a bunch of old farts who either ended up too broke to leave, are hiding from something, or are the type of person who has one of those fetishes for trying to live in ungodly places. There's no population booms, all the kids get the hell out as soon as possible.

I "think" it's a stop along some trade route, but that's basically it aside from being a criminal hangout.

There's no reason to try and "help it", it's population is about 200k according to Wookiepedia. It would be like trying to aid in the development of a town with a population of less than 20 in the middle of America's western desert whose existence is directly related to a cattle ranch and being in the absolute ass end of nowhere for some residents.

[Mayabird]

It's even mentioned in KOTOR that Tatooine doesn't even have good mining. Every once in a while some idiot would try to start a mining colony, but the ore was always terrible, somehow ended up corroding or whatever, and eventually they'd just cut their losses and leave. Presumably the humans stuck on the world are the descendants of the poorest of the dirt poor who weren't able to get a ticket off after yet another mining attempt failed miserably.

[Dark Flame]

It's even mentioned in KOTOR that Tatooine doesn't even have good mining. Every once in a while some idiot would try to start a mining colony, but the ore was always terrible, somehow ended up corroding or whatever, and eventually they'd just cut their losses and leave. Presumably the humans stuck on the world are the descendants of the poorest of the dirt poor who weren't able to get a ticket off after yet another mining attempt failed miserably.

Hence the old sandcrawlers adapted for use by the Jawas.

[Connor MacLeod]

You know, there's a good chance that Tattooine isn't even PART of the Republic (that's one interpretation of the events in TPM, much like Kamino isn't in AOTC and Utapau in ROTS isn't.) so there's not really a whole lot the REpublic would or could do (Remember all that bureacratic inertia?)

Moreover, its quite likely that the Hutts actively resist any attempt at change or improvement on Tattooine - it seems like they like to keep the place as a kind of "smuggler/pirate" Haven and in such a case you want to keep it as low profile as possible (by keeping it a shithole, I suppose.)

There are a WHOLE lot of artificial factors that seem to be suppressing things from how people think they "ought to be" in Star Wars (The absence of droid armies, why they can't finagle a technological equivalent to the Force, etc. etc. etc.) And that makes alo tof sense, when you consider that the SW universe has a HUGE potential to fuck itself over in terms of technology (nuclear or nuclear-equivalent enegy densities seem to be commercially common, starships and hyperdrive vessels are very common, and self-replicating/automated/droid factories seem fairly simple as well.) Given all that, its a small wonder the SW universe hasn't fucked itself over severely by now (I mean, in theory it should be possible to spam hyperdrive ramming vehicles or bombs, were some fringe group inclined.)

[nightmare]

I don't think basing conclusions off the Trade Federation is very indicative of either the Old Republic nor the Empire. Rather the preliminary stage to the Clone Wars, in which it was made perfectly clear that certain cooperations had become too powerful and greedy a la united fruit.

[Darth Hoth]

Powerful syndicates and megaconglomerates are no new phenomenon in the Galaxy Far Far Away. For another example, some 3,900 years prior to the prequel era, we have the Czerka Corporation, powerful enough to for all intents and purposes serve as the government and/or colonial administration of planets such as Kashyyyk. The Knights of the Old Republic videogame also mentions that such corporations police themselves, since they are too large for the Republic to manage it.

[nightmare]

Powerful syndicates and megaconglomerates are no new phenomenon in the Galaxy Far Far Away. For another example, some 3,900 years prior to the prequel era, we have the Czerka Corporation, powerful enough to for all intents and purposes serve as the government and/or colonial administration of planets such as Kashyyyk. The Knights of the Old Republic videogame also mentions that such corporations police themselves, since they are too large for the Republic to manage it.

The difference is one of scale. In KOTOR, Czerka is a galactic megacorp supplying the Sith with arms in a galactic scale war, while the Republic by all accounts weak from the wars with the Mandalorians, Exar Kun, and Revan. They are also noted to have a competitor in Aratech.

In the Clone Wars, many of the megacorps are themselves waging galactic war to protect their perceived interests in a scale previously unheard of. While the former is a megacorp going awry on some insignificant local planets (their presence on Tatooine is not even 'evil' per se), the latter is a conglomerate of megacorps going all out in open warfare. Surely you'd say the situations are not identical. I mean, the Trade Federation even had a seat in the senate.

[Darth Hoth]

With the Republic as neutered as it was by the prequels, their actual strength might be smaller than it appears if compared in absolute terms with the megaconglomerates of the Tales of the Jedi/Knights of the Old Republic era. And was Kashyyyk such an unimportant planet; did it not cover a major hyperroute hub?

But still, your general argument makes sense; it appears as though I initially misread you. Very well, then.

[Illuminatus Primus]

Bad writing territory again: GL thought he was making a "statement" about capitalism by having rebels screwed by megacorps join with megacorps and wage war against the state.

[Imperial Overlord]

As shitholes go, Tatooine is pretty damn nice. Sure it's a harsh planet, but Luke's family has multiple vehicles and a large, sprawling dwelling as well as the resources to leave if they want to. There's nothing that I can recall that suggests that they are more prosperous than their neighbors. His friends are able to go offworld to get educations or join the Rebellion. Sure the sleazy star port associated with organized crime is bad, but Mos Eisley is just one spot on the whole planet. Luke's biggest complaint is boredom, not raiders or that the work is hard. Tatooine is a marginal backwater, but its not a hell hole by any means.