American Meltdown: Book Two of The Economic Collapse Chronicles (8 page)

CHAPTER 15

"Remember that it is the actions, and not the commission, that make the officer, and that there is more expected from him, than the title."

-George Washington

It was cold outside. After the animals were tended to and the firewood was cut and stored, Matt Bair had little else to do in the way of chores on his new homestead. He and Karen generally went over to Adam's house after lunch. It was only a couple of miles away if they walked through the woods rather than taking the road, so they usually walked to get the exercise. Karen and Matt typically tried to get back home before dark. This got them home before the frigid night air made walking outside unbearable. It also served to ensure they would not wear out their welcome at Adam's. Miss Mae, the cat, tended to get a bit destructive when left home alone for too long as well. Tearing paper or scratching up the couch was her way of protesting when she felt ignored.

When they arrived at Adam's, everyone was right where they left them the evening before. They were watching the crisis unfold on television. Matt and Karen found a seat together on the couch and turned their attention to the drama du jour.

Patrick James of CNC was reporting from the White House fence.

"People are climbing the fence onto the White House lawn. We have not received official word, but we’re sure the President is not there. Marine One was seen leaving yesterday, and we assume the President and most of his staff were on board.

Press Secretary Jared Campbell gave the press briefing last night that did little more than stonewall the press on the crisis. That briefing was done in the White House Press Room last night. It was after we saw Marine One lift off, so we assume that Campbell is still in the White House."

POP....POP, POP...POP.  Gunfire rang out from the White House lawn. Patrick James dropped down on his stomach. James had climbed the ranks at CNC by never thinking twice about accepting risky assignments. He had been in harm's way on a regular basis throughout his media career. This had boosted his status with the network and taught him to always be aware of the situation.  The cameraman and the others stationed with Patrick James followed his lead and got down behind the CNC van.  Patrick crawled over to the cameraman and continued reporting.

"Gunfire has broken out on the White House lawn. We don’t know who is firing, but we’ll try to move to a safe location and keep filming as long as possible
," James reported.

James and the cameraman low crawled to the back of the van where they could see the White House Lawn. Several civilians were
lying motionless on the lawn. The Marines guarding the White House were yelling indiscernibly between themselves. Four of the Marines were stripping off their Battle Dress Uniform shirts and walking away from the White House. Several others were yelling at them and two of the Marines were leveling their M-4 rifles at the Marines who were walking away.

Patrick James began to comment on what he was seeing. "It appears the Marines fired on the protestors who breeched the fence. I can't say at this time whether any of those protestors were armed or not.

Four Marines appear to be abandoning their post after the shootout.  They have taken off their jackets bearing the Marines insignia. They seem to be checking on the victims of the firefight. They may be checking for weapons, but it looks like they are assisting the victims or checking for a pulse. The Marines still at their posts have rifles trained on the four that are walking away, but are not firing.”

Matt and the others watched
intently as the four Marines moved from body to body.

Patrick James continued
, “They are now approaching the fence.”

Matt squeezed Karen’s hand as he continued to watch the live action scene on the television.

The Marines jumped the White House lawn fence, faced the crowd and held up their right hands with only their three center fingers extended and their thumb and pinky fingers crossed over their palms. They yelled, "Oath Keepers," as they held up their hands. The crowd of protestors cheered for the four men.

Matt looked at Adam. "Is that the Boy Scout pledge sign they just made?"

Wesley interjected before Adam had a chance to answer. "It’s also the sign people made in the Hunger Games movies to show solidarity."

Adam answered, "It may stem from either or both of those things, but it has been adopted by the Three Percenters. The first American Revolution was started by only three percent of the population at the time.  The three fingers represent The Three Percent. They are a different group from Oath Keepers, but I suppose these four guys are identifying with both groups. The philosophy of the two groups are not that far apart."

Shelly asked, "I saw some bumper stickers at church with the roman numeral three followed by the percent sign. Is that the insignia of the Three Percenters?"

"That's them," Adam replied. "From what I hear, Oath Keepers across America are ready to go absent without leave. They are just waiting to see which of the states will secede so they know if they will be leaving or not. They also need to know which states will back the movement so they know where to go. These four guys may have just pulled the trigger on that plan. I think they are calling it Operation AWOL."

"AWOL is short for absent without leave?" Janice asked.

"You got it," Adam said.

CHAPTER 16

"
If Congress can employ money indefinitely to the general welfare, and are the sole and supreme judges of the general welfare, they may take the care of religion into their own hands; they may appoint teachers in every State, county and parish and pay them out of their public treasury; they may take into their own hands the education of children, establishing in like manner schools throughout the Union; they may assume the provision of the poor; they may undertake the regulation of all roads other than post-roads; in short, everything, from the highest object of state legislation down to the most minute object of police, would be thrown under the power of Congress.... Were the power of Congress to be established in the latitude contended for, it would subvert the very foundations, and transmute the very nature of the limited Government established by the people of America."

- James Madison

Anthony Howe paced around in circles while he tried to get the video room at Mount Weather to look less like a bunker.

"This isn't going to work,” Howe chided. "Can't you people set up a green screen in here and just cut and paste me in front of the fireplace of the Oval Office?"

Howe was furious. He regretted not having Jared Campbell here. This was his job. He should be the one telling these idiots what to do.

The woman who was handling the filming of the President's speech made a suggestion. "Mr. President, may I recommend that we drop a maroon crushed velvet drape over this wall and flank you with the flag of The United States and the Flag with your official seal? We have a nice wood desk where you can be seated. While it won't be the Oval Office, it will certainly look presidential."

"O
kay," Howe grunted. "But get this mocked up to look like the White House by tomorrow. Bring furniture from there or whatever you have to do. It's only 40 miles away. It shouldn't take an act of Congress to get some authentic furnishings in here."

Howe went into the boardroom to meet with Bleecher and Chang. He started speaking as he sat down. "Ladies, I am going to tell the American people that the banks will be open on Monday. Will the two of you be able to make sure that goes smoothly?"

Jane Bleecher spoke first. "Mr. President, the Fed can produce the funds, but I expect the people to withdraw every dime they can get. I would recommend restricting withdraws to $500 per week. That will likely deplete most of the physical bills in the vaults in a couple of weeks."

"We can do that, but I am giving them enough bad news today. I'll let them figure out the weekly limitation on Monday when they get to the bank.” Howe turned his attention to Chang. “Can we reopen the markets on Monday?"

"I don't think you should, Mr. President," Melinda Chang said. "I think it would be a blood bath of selling."

"Then when do we reopen them?" Howe asked.

Chang scribbled nervously in her note book on the table before she replied. "I would wait until we can come up with a plan to restore confidence."

"How do you propose we do that?" Howe asked.

Bleecher answered, "We need a new stimulus program that will inject funds directly to the people to spend."

Howe shot down the idea. "Hyperinflation has already set in. Pumping money into the system at this point will just make the currency completely worthless. We are getting reports that people aren't accepting dollars in individually-owned grocery stores as it is. Paul Randall's barter system idea is already creeping into grocers and gas stations."

Chang recommended, "Maybe we need to let the smoke clear and come up with a revalued currency. Perhaps we could back it with a basket of commodities. Then it would have a fixed value, based on the aggregate value of the commodities."

"That would be admitting Paul Randall was right," Howe rebutted. "We would lose all control to that maniac. I'll watch this country burn to the ground before I admit he was right about backing the dollar with silver and gold."

Bleecher proposed an alternative idea. "What if we began paying government employees and government benefits in ration tickets? The government could easily commandeer needed commodities such as food and fuel under the National Defense Resources Preparedness Executive Order 13603. This would turn the ration tickets into a de facto commodity-backed currency without naming it as such."

Howe perked up. "That's right. Mustafa signed Executive Order 13603 in his first term. It was the National Defense Resources Preparedness Act. It allow
s the government to seize resources in times of emergency. Jane, I think you are on to something."

Melinda Chang jumped right on the bandwagon. It was obvious to Howe that she was trying to prove her value to him. She said, "The ration ticket would likely start to trade as a currency for other goods and services. We would maintain some control over these transactions as we would be issuing the de facto currency. At least it would keep the consumer market attached to the government. That’s more influence than we have in the barter networks Paul Randall is advocating."

Howe was actually smiling. "Good work ladies. Get this all ironed out and come up with a proposed timeline. Consider the full power of the US military at your disposal for implementing this plan."

As they left, Howe realized he was going to be in absolute control now. That is what he really wanted. The people would have to accept it. They could fall in line or starve to death.

Anthony Howe walked the short distance down to the video room from where he was to give his address to the American people. He was walking a bit lighter than just an hour before.

Howe complemented the woman who was coordinating the filming of the presidential address. "Well, the desk and backdrop look very nice."

"Why, thank you, Mr. President." She looked surprised by the sudden change in his demeanor.

Howe sat down at the wood desk and the camera focused in as he began his address to the nation. "America, the acts of economic terrorism committed by Paul Randall and other co-conspirators within our own government have collapsed our economy. As several state governments are now vowing to rebel against the United States Government, markets panicked. The anticipated loss of revenue from those states sparked a deterioration of confidence in the bond market as investors questioned how our nation could pay its obligations with a divided nation.

“Despite this attempt to completely derail our country, I have successfully negotiated an agreement with the IMF to restore our economy until these bands of traitors can be dealt with. We will be able to fund entitlement programs and reopen the banks on Monday morning. Unfortunately, the IMF did ask for a temporary security deposit in order to secure the needed assistance for these rescue measures. All deposits lost in the derivatives meltdown will be reimbursed by the FDIC up to the insured amounts. Those accounts will then be made available to the depositors for the first $5,000. Amounts above $5000 will be allocated to the depositors in full. The first 10% will be immediately available and the remaining 90% will be on deposit with the IMF as security for the loan. As the loan is paid off, the remaining 90% of the deposits up to $75,000 will become available incrementally.

“Those of you who receive benefits from the government will begin to see portions of your transfer payments as early as Monday. We are asking for patience while we work on getting your benefits restored to their full amounts as soon as possible. As funding is limited for these programs, we will not be funding benefit programs in states that are in open rebellion. I understand that many of you in those states are not in agreement with your state governments, but cuts have to be made. I would encourage you to contact your governors and state representatives and demand that those governments step down and turn over power to the Federal
Government. For those of you who live in those states, this is the best way for you to have your benefits restored. If they will not listen, take to the streets, protest at the governors' residences and the military bases and demand that they comply.

“For those of you in states that still want to see our country prosper, you have nothing to worry about. Life will be getting back to normal very soon. So please, obey the curfews, relax and take it easy this weekend. The banks will open on Monday and we
’ll get back to making this country great again.

“Take care of each other."

Howe forced a smile until the cameraman signaled he was off air. He got up and went to his office alone. He poured himself a stiff drink and looked in the mirror. "Salute," he said to his reflection as he lifted his glass.