8/21/15
“Sir, your nine-o’clock appointment is here,” said the secretary.
“That’s the finance minister of Brazil, isn’t it?” said Edward. “Tell him I’ll be with him shortly.”
Edward Hanson was the emergency manager appointed to receivership of the remaining assets of the bankrupt United States government, and charged with liquidating them to settle the outstanding debts as quickly as possible. He had made decisions which weren’t popular, but he reminded himself he hadn’t created the problem, he’d merely been given the task of picking up the pieces. Creditors and citizens could scream for blood, but his authority to make these decisions was absolute.
After several large U.S. cities had declared bankruptcy years earlier, the decisions of their receivers had been met with so many legal challenges, that it was nearly impossible for them to take any action. Afterwards, new bankruptcy laws were established specifically for governmental entities in order to prevent such interference again. As a result, emergency managers were given power to make binding decisions which, in the absence of blatant dishonesty, could not be contested.
Edward knew the Brazilian finance minister was upset about the position his country was in, but there was no help for it. There were very few major assets remaining.
The problem had begun, rather it had finally come to a crisis, when the two parties of Congress couldn’t reach an agreement on the national budget. They allowed the government to shut down, each hoping to force the other side to concede. This tactic had worked in 2013, after all. But as they engaged in their game of financial brinksmanship, debt payments to the World Bank were missed, and this led to a lowering of the U.S.’s credit rating. That was the tipping point from which there was no recovery.
The reduced rating led to ineligibility for more loans. That then led to defaulting on more creditors, as well as the inability to restart any government services. This meant government offices stayed closed, including those handling Social Security and disability payments. Postal service was suspended, and even the military was forced to place most of its personnel on furlough. The stock market crashed, banks closed, and panic ensued.
The President of the United States, along with the Vice-President, made a public appearance to call for calm. But a gunman in the crowd assassinated them both. After that, most congressmen fled for their lives. Without an army to back them up, their power was broken. A few of the more brazen ones drained the government’s bank accounts of what cash reserves remained and deserted the country.
Riots and looting broke out in many large cities, and without any police or fire services to respond, these continued unchecked until nearly everything was gone or destroyed. Once the anger finally burned out, fear set in. What could be done now?! No one had any answers.
About that time, those congressmen who still retained a bit of integrity came out of hiding and reassembled in the Capitol. Since their membership was reduced, they convened in joint session. They then passed several emergency measures. One of these was the receivership Edward now managed.
It was hoped that once all the old creditors were satisfied, a new government could then seek funding to re-establish some basic services. Thus all eyes were on Edward Hanson to bring this phase of the plan to a quick and final resolution.
He made it clear to all, creditors and citizens alike, that there were no cash funds remaining, thus payments would have to be in other forms. He also announced that no creditor should expect to receive full payment of the amounts they were owed, but he would attempt to give them a measure they could find satisfactory.
One of his first actions was to inventory what assets remained and to secure them with a militia put together from the remnants of the military services. The next decision was to rank creditors by the amount they were owed. He would then go down the list in order making settlements until the assets were exhausted.
Upon hearing how he planned to satisfy the debts, several nations conceived a plan to improve their ranking. Two of the larger creditors, China and Japan, conveyed to Edward Hanson that they were consolidating their claims together in order to be considered a single entity, and thus their position should be moved higher on the list. They felt this would give them an earlier, and thus a better quality settlement. Afterwards they would decide between themselves how to divide whatever they received.
Edward Hanson liked the prospect of clearing away multiple obligations in a single sweep. Then, once China and Japan received a favorable reply, Taiwan and Hong Kong asked to join their association, followed soon afterwards by Russia. This alliance made their entity the largest creditor on the list, and thus first in line for consideration.
The success of the Asian alliance soon prompted a cooperative agreement between the European nations. Switzerland, Belgium, and Luxembourg joined together to become the next largest creditor unit. This was how Brazil came to find itself so subordinate in the hierarchy of debt consideration.
Paulo Silva, finance minister for Brazil, was shown into Edward’s office. This would be his first, and perhaps only, opportunity to secure something of value to offset his country’s losses. But he knew that the largest assets were already gone.
“Good morning, Mr. Hanson,” said the Brazilian minister. “It’s a privilege to finally meet you.”
“Good morning, Mr. Silva,” answered Edward. “Let’s get right to business, shall we? First, please know that I have no desire to cause harm to your country. I appreciate all you did for the United States when we needed your assistance. However, please also understand that I have very limited resources to work with. So it will make this easier if we’re frank in our discussions. Do you have anything in mind that your country would like as settlement of our debt to you?”
“How about oil? The U.S. still has plenty of oil, doesn’t it?”
“No, not anymore. I relinquished Alaska back to Russia to settle with them.”
“What?! You gave away one of your states?”
“Yes, and that wasn’t the only one. I gave Hawaii to Japan to fulfill their debt. Needless to say, Russia and Japan are both happy.”
“What about China? What did they get?”
“They elected to take all of our most advanced military hardware. You know, the stealth fighters and bombers. They also took nearly our entire supply of nuclear missiles; but they’re supposed to share some of those with Russia.”
“I see. But what about Texas? There’s a lot of oil in Texas, isn’t there?”
“Yes, but I can’t offer you that. Texas is no longer under my authority. Once the government here collapsed, Texas seceded from the United States and formed its own territory. And we were in no position to prevent them. So, now they’re the Republic of Texas again, like they once were long ago. And before you ask, yes, there are some small oil deposits under a couple of our other states. But I can’t give away our entire supply. We need to keep a little for our own survival. What other than oil would you like?”
Paolo Silva thought for a moment before answering. “How about coal? You also have coal deposits.”
“Yes,” said Edward, as a pained look crossed his face. “But those are in regions of the country where we haven’t regained control yet. When our currency collapsed, a lot of people went hungry. It was especially bad in the mining areas where people were already struggling. So, many of those areas turned to anarchy and are now being ruled like feudal enclaves.”
“Then how about gold? Don’t you have a lot of gold in that big repository? What is it, Fort Knox?”
“I’m sorry, no. There isn’t any gold there. When I went there to inventory the supply, I found the place completely empty. As near as I can figure, the gold’s been gone for twenty, maybe thirty years. And every President since then has been keeping it a secret. At this point, there’s no telling where it went.”
“Caramba!” exclaimed the minister. “This is getting desperate! Can’t you suggest something?”
“Well, as you know, after the Asian alliance was satisfied, the European group came. They found things as I just told you. So they settled for taking all our art treasures. They’ve completely cleaned out the Smithsonian Museum and the National Gallery. They’re going to take the Statue of Liberty. And they’re also removing the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, and the main section of the White House. Those buildings will be dismantled, transported, then reassembled somewhere in Europe. They also took all of our intellectual property. That is, they took all the surveillance software developed by our intelligence agencies. I think they want it to strengthen their banking systems.”
“Isn’t there anything left?” The minister’s voice cracked as he began to fear he might go away empty.
“We still have a lot of military hardware left. China only got the stealth stuff and the missiles. There’s still plenty of regular grade armaments. Take all you want. We have thousands of fighter jets, bombers, tanks, artillery pieces, and fleets of navy ships. Your nation could become the dominant military power of South America.”
The Brazilian minister’ eyes lit up. “Yes, yes. That would be great! As much as I want, you say? Yes, I’ll take that.”
“Good. I’ll have one of my generals take you on a tour of the stockpiles. Make a list of everything you want, and I’ll sign off on it. But it’ll be up to you to find a way to get it down to your country.”
“Thank you, thank you very much.” The minister began shaking Edward’s hand vigorously. “When I came I was afraid I’d leave with nothing. But this, this is something of real value.”
“Well, Mr. Silva, I’m glad we found an acceptable solution for you. Good day.”
Edward Hanson walked the minister to the door, then passed him to the secretary. He returned to his desk and crossed a line through another entry on his list. He smiled at the realization he might be able to finish this in just another couple of weeks. After that it would be up to the new government to find a way to begin again.
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