2030_ The Real Story of What Happens to America - Albert Brooks [92]
“Mr. President, we have the ability, unlike any nation on earth, to do massive construction quickly and with high quality. We have manpower second to none, and I am sure you have seen the architecture and building results throughout China in the last two decades. Where one country might have five hundred men on a job site, we have five thousand. We would treat Los Angeles as one of our own great cities and take pride in helping you make it better than ever. We will supply the needed manpower and materials and know-how and do what you desire, and we will charge you next to nothing. All we want to do is be partners in the result.”
“I’m not clear what you mean by partners.”
“Partners. When Southern California is up and running, it can generate more revenue than almost any area in the world. My goodness, from Los Angeles alone, you must collect countless billions of dollars in federal taxes. Not to mention all the fees you charge. My people tell me that it costs more to bring ships into your West Coast than any other port in the world.” Biao smiled. “So we would do the work and become your partner.”
Everyone looked at the President. The American delegation was speechless. They had no idea what Bernstein’s reaction would be. “Partners for how long?”
“Forever. Partners. Fifty-fifty. As we bring Los Angeles back to life and make it the income generator that it always was meant to be, we will split whatever revenue you collect from your people.”
The President looked down the table. The Americans looked back. Bernstein couldn’t read their expressions exactly, but he could tell there was some interest in this.
“Mr. Premier, if you asked me how this meeting would have turned out, I could have listed a hundred possibilities and this one would not have even been a distant thought. If you would be so gracious, I would like to break for a few hours and talk with my team and meet again this afternoon. Obviously we are not going to come back with specifics; it’s only to see if this idea you propose is workable in any fashion. Do you have any problem with taking a break at this time?”
“Absolutely not,” the Premier said. “I was told there was a fine horseshoe area up here. I love horseshoes. Could someone show me where that might be?”
“Yes, sir.” The President turned to John Van Dyke. “Get him some horseshoes.”
When the American delegation met privately, there was a shocking lack of being shocked. Many people, including Susanna Colbert, thought this was an interesting and possibly workable idea. “Talk to me,” the President said.
“Let’s look at raw facts here, sir,” Susanna answered. “There is nowhere to get this money except from China. Nowhere else to borrow it from and no ability to print it without going under. If they will take the brunt of the cost in rebuilding the city, then sharing the profits might turn out to be an advantage for us. Even if we allowed them to take half, which I think is too much and can be negotiated downward, how long would it take Los Angeles to generate fifty trillion dollars, since half of that is what we would be borrowing? A hundred years? And maybe we don’t make it forever. Maybe they will agree to a set period of time.”
One of the undersecretaries, Mark Holmes, stood up. “Did we go insane? Are we really talking about letting the Chinese own one of our cities? Have we been drugged?”
“Is this any different from borrowing twenty trillion?” John Van Dyke asked. “Don’t they own us even more by loaning us that kind of money? Maybe there is a huge advantage here.”
“What would that be?” the President asked.
“Well, first of all, if they worked here and knew that in order to get their money back Los Angeles had to be profitable and peaceful and all that good stuff, then they would be working toward that goal. Hell, I don’t think China would ever attack us if they had a fifty percent stake in our biggest city.”
“Why not just give them half