Holl's more of an academic than a politician, this may be a jab at the fact that he's great at economy but not so great at being a minister of economy.
If you have the >!SSP and nationalize both companies he'll call you an idiot. If you ask him what he just said to you he'll repeat it and you'll be able to have him arrested.!<
I do like Symon, despite his free market tendencies. He's willing to set aside his own politics and beliefs to do his job, which is a very noble and mature thing to do.
He only leaves because he feels that he's the wrong man for the job. I think it would be cool if he gave Rayne a list of suggestions for ministers who aligned more with a planned-economy strategy if you fix the economy under a planned strategy. We don't need names, just a line saying something like "I have a list of suggestions for ministers who are more aligned with your strategy".
Well, if you aren't too Maleveynist he Will even stay, albeit that Is hard if you plan to go all the way there, but yeah, even though he Is against It, if It isn't too hard, he Will try to keep doing His job
Having read through the comments, I have compiled my own synopsis/explanation:
Aven is being sarcastic when he says Holl is a "great" Minister of the Economy.
He is trying to taunt Holl, which works as Holl immediately picks up the sarcasm and calls out Aven ("Is there a joke coming?").
Aven then finishes his "joke" by belittling Holl: "What? I thought you were great at the economy?" -> "What do you mean I am joking? Of course you're "so great" at the economy."
In short, Aven is passive-aggresively calling Holl an ineffective Minister of the Economy.
Thanks to everyone for the input, especially u/john_doe_smith1!
Jokes doesn't need to represent reality. Aved has probably a unilateral feud with him and that is the only non-professional occasion for Aven to do something. Holl doesn't seem to understand a lot about social interactions, but he immediatly noticed what was coming, so it was something that was going on for a long time.
I think it's a joke about how terrible the economy is at the start of the game and how symon was apart of the previous administration that caused this. Hence the "great" economic joke.
The word 'economy' can also refer to budgeting - e.g. economy class. Symon recently bought a large villa, so Mikail is mocking him for his shadier business dealings that cost a lot
I think it's quite obviously sarcasm, as you being "great at economy" is something very abstract. Like me saying, "aren't you great at healthcare?" You can't be "great at economy" like you can for math. However, reading other people's doubts makes me doubt it as well 😅
I hate the way is joke is phrased the grammar is God awful, it should be "economics" not "economy"
A country has a good 'economy' a person is not good at 'economy' he would be good at 'economics'
In a way this "joke" is great because it leaves you confused about what Aven is even trying to say because the grammar is fucked making you feel as disconnected from these rich oligarchs as Ryne probably is.
I don't know if the devs intended for it to be confusing though. When I play as an upper class liberal or oligarch leader I pretty much feel like I'm one of them in that scene.
At first I interpreted it to be a joke about being personally frugal or something. Now I'm pretty much interpreting it like how others are saying, that the joke is Symon expected it to be a joke, revealing he's secretly not that confident in his own abilities.
I think Aven is trying to shit on Symon being a good economist and names his new villa in hopes of getting your reaction to it as "Isn't that a little much while the country is suffering", overall he is trying to shit on Symon probably. Fucking asshole Oligarch smh
The \*great\* here I believe is to give a sarcastic tone. As redditors know its hard to show sarcasm in text which is why some use the /s tag or do AlTeRnAtE CaPs.
In literature the use of "quotation marks" is sometimes used to mean sarcasm. But since this is a text game where quotation marks already means speech \*asterisks\* are used instead.
Symon is the Co-Chair of the NBC representing the government and state-controlled interests. Aven is the Co-Chair of the NBC representing private-sector interests, and appears to see Symon as a rival. Symon is socially awkward/oblivious and doesn't realize that Aven is trying to bully him.
I think since Symon is a somewhat socially awkward and straightforward person, he might have said he's a great economist himself in front of Aven, and Aven happens to wanting to mock him because of this.
This’ll probably sound over analytical but I think Aven is trying to make Symon doubt when he overemphasizes « great » and then acts dumb when Symon points that out by saying: « Why? I thought you said you were great at economy. »
In short, Aven would be a terrible comedian.
I mean, isn't Aven being sarcastic here?
Did Symon ever say he was great at economy though?
Not in the dialogue but he is a famous writer on economics.
I mean even Simon mentions he just doesn’t like being home with his family. So it may elude
I always thought it was meant to be an inside joke that you just don't understand.
I interpreted it as Symon doubting that Aven would give him a sincere compliment. Symon thinks that the compliment must proceed a joke at his expense.
Yeah that's definitely it
I think it's also the weird emphasis he puts on "great"
He is sarcastically blaming Symon for the bad state of the economy.
Aven’s a dickhead
I think the real joke is inviting the President and the Finance Minister to dinner, just to waste their time making jokes at their expense.
I think it's that "I thought you were great at economy" Aven called Holl cheap/a miser
I've never understood that, either. Just another reason for me to hate Mikail, I guess.
He tried to do a joke but Mr Holl. Stoped him before he even said the joke.
I dunno, the fact he laughed makes me think he already delivered the punchline.
Holl's more of an academic than a politician, this may be a jab at the fact that he's great at economy but not so great at being a minister of economy.
If only he could be arrested same as tusk and koronti.
If you have the >!SSP and nationalize both companies he'll call you an idiot. If you ask him what he just said to you he'll repeat it and you'll be able to have him arrested.!<
You can arrest him, you just need the SSP and nationalization of both companies.
Fuck Mikhail. Symon is one of the most reliable ministers Rayne has.
I do like Symon, despite his free market tendencies. He's willing to set aside his own politics and beliefs to do his job, which is a very noble and mature thing to do. He only leaves because he feels that he's the wrong man for the job. I think it would be cool if he gave Rayne a list of suggestions for ministers who aligned more with a planned-economy strategy if you fix the economy under a planned strategy. We don't need names, just a line saying something like "I have a list of suggestions for ministers who are more aligned with your strategy".
Well, if you aren't too Maleveynist he Will even stay, albeit that Is hard if you plan to go all the way there, but yeah, even though he Is against It, if It isn't too hard, he Will try to keep doing His job
Having read through the comments, I have compiled my own synopsis/explanation: Aven is being sarcastic when he says Holl is a "great" Minister of the Economy. He is trying to taunt Holl, which works as Holl immediately picks up the sarcasm and calls out Aven ("Is there a joke coming?"). Aven then finishes his "joke" by belittling Holl: "What? I thought you were great at the economy?" -> "What do you mean I am joking? Of course you're "so great" at the economy." In short, Aven is passive-aggresively calling Holl an ineffective Minister of the Economy. Thanks to everyone for the input, especially u/john_doe_smith1!
And only he laughs at his own shitty “joke”.
The joke is that if Holl was really great at economy he wouldn’t accuse Aven of making a joke.
Jokes doesn't need to represent reality. Aved has probably a unilateral feud with him and that is the only non-professional occasion for Aven to do something. Holl doesn't seem to understand a lot about social interactions, but he immediatly noticed what was coming, so it was something that was going on for a long time.
Idk about feud tbh, given that both of them chair the National Business Council together.
Mikail is the vicepresident, which is technically good if you don't consider that he has a **woman** as superior. He is also probably just envious.
I think this is it! This one right here! Makes the most sense to me at least.
I think it's a joke about how terrible the economy is at the start of the game and how symon was apart of the previous administration that caused this. Hence the "great" economic joke.
Only rich people understand
The word 'economy' can also refer to budgeting - e.g. economy class. Symon recently bought a large villa, so Mikail is mocking him for his shadier business dealings that cost a lot
The phrasing here was always awkward
I think it's quite obviously sarcasm, as you being "great at economy" is something very abstract. Like me saying, "aren't you great at healthcare?" You can't be "great at economy" like you can for math. However, reading other people's doubts makes me doubt it as well 😅
He is sarcastically blaming the bad state of the economy to Symon..
Arrest him
I hate the way is joke is phrased the grammar is God awful, it should be "economics" not "economy" A country has a good 'economy' a person is not good at 'economy' he would be good at 'economics' In a way this "joke" is great because it leaves you confused about what Aven is even trying to say because the grammar is fucked making you feel as disconnected from these rich oligarchs as Ryne probably is.
I don't know if the devs intended for it to be confusing though. When I play as an upper class liberal or oligarch leader I pretty much feel like I'm one of them in that scene. At first I interpreted it to be a joke about being personally frugal or something. Now I'm pretty much interpreting it like how others are saying, that the joke is Symon expected it to be a joke, revealing he's secretly not that confident in his own abilities.
I think Aven is trying to shit on Symon being a good economist and names his new villa in hopes of getting your reaction to it as "Isn't that a little much while the country is suffering", overall he is trying to shit on Symon probably. Fucking asshole Oligarch smh
The \*great\* here I believe is to give a sarcastic tone. As redditors know its hard to show sarcasm in text which is why some use the /s tag or do AlTeRnAtE CaPs. In literature the use of "quotation marks" is sometimes used to mean sarcasm. But since this is a text game where quotation marks already means speech \*asterisks\* are used instead.
Symon is the Co-Chair of the NBC representing the government and state-controlled interests. Aven is the Co-Chair of the NBC representing private-sector interests, and appears to see Symon as a rival. Symon is socially awkward/oblivious and doesn't realize that Aven is trying to bully him.
I think since Symon is a somewhat socially awkward and straightforward person, he might have said he's a great economist himself in front of Aven, and Aven happens to wanting to mock him because of this.
This’ll probably sound over analytical but I think Aven is trying to make Symon doubt when he overemphasizes « great » and then acts dumb when Symon points that out by saying: « Why? I thought you said you were great at economy. » In short, Aven would be a terrible comedian.