Let’s say at the beginning of the series you could take anyone’s position on the Small Coincil, even Hand, which would you choose, why, and what would you try and accomplish given the state of the monarchy at the time? (And please don’t say master of ships so you can pull an Aurane Waters and get the heck outta westeros and head to the summer isles).

tcarve:

racefortheironthrone:

Master of Coins. Build a canal linking the Mander to the Blackwater and the Trident to Ironman’s Bay. Charge 10 gold a ship, that’ll put a significant dent in the debt. 

I can think of several problems with that.

1. The crown is already waist deep in debt at the start of the series. Where is the initial capital for this mammoth undertaking coming from?
2. Per your analysis of the series the Westerosi monarchy is pretty weak. How would you convince the lords upon whose land these canals will be dug to cooperate? Would you allow them to tax shipping too?
3. Connecting the Trident to Ironman’s Bay seems likely to meet with a lot of resistance from the Riverlords. Is it really a good idea to provide the Ironborn with easy access to the Trident? There would probably still be memories of Ironborn rule in the Riverlands, and I doubt anyone’s trusting the Greyjoys not to exploit such a strategic weakness when Balon’s first rebellion was only nine years previous.

1. That’s a fair point. My only argument would be that the true state of the crown’s debt and income is highly uncertain, as Littlefinger cooked the books hardcore. 

2. Yeah, they’d get a share. And they’d benefit from the improvements to their local economy – as their smallfolk get richer, they get richer.

3. You can more easily close off a canal than a river, and the Ironborn can already get from IB to the Trident by portaging their boats – as Harwyn Hoare did when he conquered the Riverlands.