The Bear and the Dragon - Tom Clancy [129]
"Okay, but now, Im Sec-fucking-Treas, okay? That means that every citizen in our country is part of my family, and these Chink bastards are planning to fuck with my country—all those people out there"—Secretary Winston waved toward the thick windows of the Oval Office—"the ones who trust us to keep the economy leveled out. So, they want MFN, do they? They want into the WTO, do they? Well, fuck them!"
President Ryan allowed himself an early-morning laugh, wondering if the Secret Service detail had heard Georges voice, and might now be looking through the spy holes in the door to see what the commotion was. "Coffee and croissants, George. The grape jelly is Smuckers, even."
TRADER stood and walked around the couch, tossing his head forcefully like a stallion circling a mare in heat. "Okay, Jack, Ill cool down, but youre used to this shit, and Im not." He paused and sat back down. "Oh, okay, up on The Street we trade jokes and stories, and we even plot a little bit, but deliberately fucking people over—no! Ive never done that! And you know whats worst?"
"Whats that, George?"
"Theyre stupid, Jack. They think they can mess with the marketplace according to their little political theories, and itll fall into line like a bunch of soldiers right out of boot camp. These little bastards couldnt run a Kmart and show a profit, but they let them dick around with a whole national economy—and then they want to dick with ours, too."
"Got it all out of your system?"
"Think this is funny?" Winston asked crossly.
"George, Ive never seen you get this worked up. Im surprised by your passion."
"Who do you think I am, Jay Gould?"
"No," Ryan said judiciously. "I was thinking more of J. P. Morgan." The remark had the desired effect. SecTreas laughed.
"Okay, you got me there. Morgan was the first actual Chairman of the Fed, and he did it as a private citizen, and did it pretty well, but thats probably an institutional function, cuz there aint that many J. P. Morgans waiting around on deck. Okay, Mr. President, sir, I am calmed down. Yes, this is business, not personal. And our reply to this miserable business attitude will be business, too. The PRC will not get MFN. They will not get into the WTO—as a practical matter, they dont deserve it yet anyway, based on the size of their economy. And, I think we rattle the Trade Reform Act at them nice and hard. Oh, theres one other thing, and Im surprised its not in here," Winston said, pointing down at the briefing sheet.
"Whats that?"
"We can get em by the short hairs pretty easy, I think. CIA doesnt agree, but Mark Gant thinks their foreign exchange accounts a little thin."
"Oh?" the President asked, stirring his coffee.
Winston nodded emphatically. "Marks my tech-weenie, remember. Hes very good at modeling stuff on the computers. Ive set him up with his own little section to keep an eye on various things. Pulled the professor of economics out of Boston University to work there, Morton Silber, another good man with the microchips. Anyway, Marks been looking at the PRC, and he thinks theyre driving off the edge of the Grand Canyon because theyve been pissing away their money, mainly on military hardware and heavy-manufacturing equipment, like to make tanks and things. Its a repeat of the old communist stuff, they have a fixation on heavy industry. They are really missing the boat on electronics. They have little companies manufacturing computer games and stuff, but theyre not applying it at home, except for that new computer factory they set up thats ripping off Dell."
"So you think we ought to shove that up their ass at the trade negotiations?"
"Im going to recommend it to Scott Adler at lunch this afternoon, as a matter of fact," SecTreas agreed. "Theyve been warned, but this time were going to press it hard."
"Back to their foreign exchange account. How bad is it?"
"Mark thinks theyre down to negative reserves."
"In the hole? For how much?" POTUS asked.
"He says at least fifteen billion, floated with paper out of German banks for the most part, but the