I actually decide to take quite a lot of whacks. I don't recall ever having used military to stop dissidents or refugees for instance. When the discrepancy between bliss and military became too large, paying off whacks would have wiped out all the military so then i took even more whacks.
Level fifteen now, 82K population (I increase it extra every turn), eight quick-charge thoriums but I rarely need surge more than two, lots of free space on the asset grid and running a good surplus on everything. No longer get any energy gifts from the AI though, so none to give
I miss the projects.
If I'm short on cash I surge my level 15 Communications Center for 42K bucks, that one seems to be gone from the asset list all together.