2030_ The Real Story of What Happens to America - Albert Brooks [67]
“We can’t just print it, you’re right,” she said. “To print that much money would devalue our currency beyond repair. The time may be near to ask other countries for monetary help. It’s up to the President, of course, but that may be what is necessary at this point in time.”
Susanna glanced to her right, and both the President and John Van Dyke were not smiling. They had not formally introduced other countries into the mix, but now it was done. Susanna quickly added, hoping to repair any damage she might have caused, “I stress this is something the President has not decided on, but he has always put every option on the table and I’m sure he will make the right decision.”
Before Air Force One even left the ground the headlines from the trip were everywhere and they were all essentially the same:
PRESIDENT TO ASK FOR FOREIGN AID
Susanna sat alone on the return trip. After an hour someone came to her seat and asked her to come to the President’s office. She thought she was going to be the record holder for the shortest time in a cabinet position. She walked in and the President was smiling. “Sit down.”
“I feel terrible,” she said. “I seem to have put you in an uncomfortable position.”
“Quite the contrary. You spoke what we have known from the beginning but were hesitant to say. The cat’s out of the bag and it’s about time. When we get back to Washington we’ll put our heads together and figure out a way to borrow these unfathomable sums with the least amount of pain. My feeling is that, if possible, we can spread it around the world so no country holds that much more of our debt. The number is so great already that I don’t really know how to borrow another twenty trillion, but that’s why you’re here now.”
Susanna felt somewhat relieved. “Let me work on it. And I’m sorry if I caused headlines on something you weren’t ready to deal with.”
“I would never have been ready. So, in that regard, thank you. But Susanna?”
“Yes, sir?”
“Don’t do it again. Don’t give answers to questions that I don’t know about in advance. Is that clear?”
“Yes, sir.”
Susanna went back to her seat still not knowing if she was in trouble. What she did know was that she was numb. Twenty trillion dollars, what does that number even mean? The debt the country was currently paying off was already so large; how could it take this much more? She took a pill and ordered a whisky sour. She was going to either sleep or enjoy the flight. Susanna had learned a long time ago to use air travel as the one place to relax. If she crashed, what a waste of time worrying would be. About anything. And as she looked around she had to pinch herself; everyone did the first few times they flew on Air Force One.
* * *
Robert Golden was in a meeting when he heard the loud explosion. He thought a terrible accident had occurred outside his office window. Alarms sounded and a security official appeared on every screen. “Please evacuate the building through the emergency exits immediately. Do not panic. Everything is under control.” Paul Prescott came running in.
“What the fuck was that?”
“I don’t know. Let’s get out of here.”
As people filed into the street they could see a gaping hole in the side of the front entrance to AARP headquarters. It didn’t look like a car had crashed, and there was no car there anyway. Apparently it was a homemade bomb: plastic, small, but it did a lot of damage.
After two hours the police determined it was safe to return to the offices, although most people chose to take the rest of the day off. Golden immediately ordered an internal investigation to see who had been fired recently, who’d been reprimanded, who was disgruntled, anything they could gather to put together a suspects list.
The first person Paul Prescott called was his new friend at Justice.
“Are you all right?