'Power Grab' the 8th book in the 'Corpalism' series by Arun D Ellis
New release 'Power Grab' by Arun D Ellis
News
Mohammed was furious.
He knew that the station had made a risky decision, fronting news of what was potentially a high profile Daesh assassination of the US president with an obviously Muslim announcer. But he was convinced that he had managed the news of the death with considerable aplomb.
Since then, though, they had clearly lost courage and annoyingly had put Darbinder Singh in charge of the hour-long follow-up special about the economic fall-out from the president's death.
Mohammed was of the opinion the viewers wouldn't know the difference, would think Darbinder was a Muslim and label him equally responsible. Somehow that made the station's decision more unforgiveable.
Darbinder turned to face the camera, showed his teeth, gleaming white against his brown skin, "Our main story, following the assassination of President Stone, is of global markets continuing to fall; the FTSE 100 down another 500 points and the Dow Jones down over 800 points."
Mohammed glowered, wondering if it was worth putting the slick bastard off his stride by fidgeting at crucial moments, or clearing his throat. He decided against it when he saw the station commander giving him a knowing look.
Darbinder looked down at his screen, then added, "The dollar is at an all time low and the Euro fell again today. The pound also appears shaky and analysts fear that an economic crisis greater than the banking crisis of 2008 is only days away, our economics advisor, Ahmed Khan, joins us with more."
The camera panned out to reveal an eager Indian man, earnestly looking into the camera. Mohammed knew him to be a backroom person, unused to the limelight, nice enough and a good researcher but Darbinder would not be kind if he faltered.
"So, what is causing the problems, Ahmed?"
"Well, you see," said Ahmed, happily, "the murder of President Stone is a major blow for those hoping for a continuation of his austerity measures. The markets don't believe that his successor, President Ortega, has the same determination to see things through."
"They think he'll relax some of the cuts?"
"Worse than that I'm afraid, Darbinder. Most analysts seem to think the new man was merely going along with President Stone's policies so of course, now he is President he no longer feels obliged to see them through."
"But with rising poverty across America, is it such a bad idea to go slow on austerity, at least until things improve?"
"Well, you might think that, Darbinder, but US National Debt is now running at an unsustainable $26 Trillion."
Ahmed laughed nervously at his own words, "An unimaginable sum, and failure to bring this monstrous debt under control can only lead to America defaulting on its debts and that would cause a literal stampede away from the dollar and US markets."
Darbinder frowned; this was no laughing matter, nervous or not, "So what does this mean for the markets in general?"
"Most people are getting out of stocks in a hurry and into the old favourites, gold and bitcoin being the main ones of course."
"Right," said Darbinder, "and what does this mean for the dollar and other currencies?"
Ahmed looked distressed, but spoke strongly, "The markets have signified a loss of faith in the American economy. China holds nearly a trillion dollars of American debt, as well as majority stocks in a number of high profile American companies. Should these companies start to go under as a result of increased pressure on their balance sheet from rising interest rates it might expose China to even greater losses than they have been experiencing in recent weeks."
He took a quick breath then resumed, before Darbinder could intervene, "If that happens there is the definite possibility that China might decide to cut her losses and dump all her U.S. assets and excess dollars into the market."
He paused, theatrically, before saying, "Of course, this would be catastrophic for the world economy."
Darbinder blinked, then he rallied, "The question has to be asked, Ahmed, why would they cut their losses? Surely they would be affected as well?"
Ahmed now appeared very comfortable, seemingly he'd forgotten the camera and was chatting as if to a friend, "China's economy is still relatively strong and they might feel that they can ride out the ensuing economic tidal wave far better without American debt hanging around their necks. Nobody can know for sure the severity of the collapse that would follow, although most analysts agree that China would emerge the strongest economy. We mustn't forget that China knows all about going it alone."
"Meaning?" pressed Darbinder.
"Well," said Ahmed, "China was once a pariah in the west so she could easily withdraw again from world trade as such and live off her own economy...."
"But wouldn't that lead to major poverty? China is now the world's leading economic power surely the Chinese people themselves wouldn't stand for it."
"China is a capitalist country in name only," said Ahmed, "in truth it is still centrally run with the state subsidising major industries. China is more than able to survive the potential economic collapse or go it alone and there's not really anything the Chinese people can do to influence their Government. Also I don't believe that the will exists, not amongst the everyday Chinese peasant."
Darbinder nodded, urging him to continue although Ahmed needed no such encouragement.
"Naturally the nouveaux riche will be upset along with the western financed liberal groups but in general I think the Chinese people believe that their Government has their best interests at heart."
"And what of Europe?"
Something about Ahmed's casual statements was shocking Darbinder out of his normal calm. He was struggling to keep talking; his brain was working overtime on where best he should move his own assets.
"As it stands, Europe would collapse," Ahmed continued, "however, it has been speculated that closer European union could solve these problems."
"How would that help?" asked Darbinder wildly, "There's already a European Central Bank."
In the wings, Mohammed was trying not to laugh.
The urbane Darbinder had lost it.
Ahmed, in contrast, was the personification of calm, collected professionalism.
"Indeed there is, Darbinder," said Ahmed, "but the European Union is merely a group of independent nations who have agreed on a single market system to enable easier trading and movement across borders."
He continued smoothly, "Each European country has its own economic policy. When markets behave in a volatile way weaker countries may collapse, as occurred with Greece. It is this lack of central control that leaves the whole European economy open to collapse. Remember, Greece's debt isn't a great deal in actual monetary terms, yet it has placed huge financial pressure on the Euro."
"So what's the answer then?" asked Darbinder.
His voice was under control but an uncharacteristic frown etched his brow.
"One answer might be a single Central Bank running the economies of all of the member states, more or less the way the Bank of England or the Federal Reserve runs except in this case it would control the whole European economy. If one country ran into difficulty this Central Bank would have the freedom to deploy countermeasures for the whole EU economy without reference to any of the governments thus avoiding any re-run of the Greece, Spain, Ireland and Italian crises which nearly brought the Euro to its knees."
"Much closer union than currently," said Darbinder, stating the obvious.
Ahmed nodded, "Under the current system member states are free to set their own budgets but are always exposed in an economic crisis, threatening the existence of the EU and the Euro. It would make sense to have one Finance Minister responsible for a unified European Union budget incorporating the finances of every country in the Euro."
"How would this be received by the elected Governments of each member state?"
Ahmed shrugged, "If the crisis gets as bad as we fear, the only way to save the EU and their own economies would be closer economic union. One Treasury and ultimately, one Government running everything out of Brussels."
Darbinder looked horrified. "And how will all of this affect Britain post Brexit?"
"The British economy remains strong, Darbinder," said Ahmed, uncertainty in his eyes for the first time, "but, like everyone else, our national debt is too high to withstand the financial Tsunami that this crisis threatens to become."
"Would we have been better off if we'd still been in Europe?"
"Probably not," said Ahmed, "a crisis of the magnitude that is being predicted will damage if not completely destroy every economy in the world."
Darbinder's smile stretched his face as he worked the interview to a close, but the frown was still tightly in control of his forehead and he knew he had not made a good showing.
If he had been in any doubt the gleeful look on Mohammed's face would have dispelled that illusion.
Cheers
Arun
More books in the 'Corpalism' series
Compendium editions
News
Mohammed was furious.
He knew that the station had made a risky decision, fronting news of what was potentially a high profile Daesh assassination of the US president with an obviously Muslim announcer. But he was convinced that he had managed the news of the death with considerable aplomb.
Since then, though, they had clearly lost courage and annoyingly had put Darbinder Singh in charge of the hour-long follow-up special about the economic fall-out from the president's death.
Mohammed was of the opinion the viewers wouldn't know the difference, would think Darbinder was a Muslim and label him equally responsible. Somehow that made the station's decision more unforgiveable.
Darbinder turned to face the camera, showed his teeth, gleaming white against his brown skin, "Our main story, following the assassination of President Stone, is of global markets continuing to fall; the FTSE 100 down another 500 points and the Dow Jones down over 800 points."
Mohammed glowered, wondering if it was worth putting the slick bastard off his stride by fidgeting at crucial moments, or clearing his throat. He decided against it when he saw the station commander giving him a knowing look.
Darbinder looked down at his screen, then added, "The dollar is at an all time low and the Euro fell again today. The pound also appears shaky and analysts fear that an economic crisis greater than the banking crisis of 2008 is only days away, our economics advisor, Ahmed Khan, joins us with more."
The camera panned out to reveal an eager Indian man, earnestly looking into the camera. Mohammed knew him to be a backroom person, unused to the limelight, nice enough and a good researcher but Darbinder would not be kind if he faltered.
"So, what is causing the problems, Ahmed?"
"Well, you see," said Ahmed, happily, "the murder of President Stone is a major blow for those hoping for a continuation of his austerity measures. The markets don't believe that his successor, President Ortega, has the same determination to see things through."
"They think he'll relax some of the cuts?"
"Worse than that I'm afraid, Darbinder. Most analysts seem to think the new man was merely going along with President Stone's policies so of course, now he is President he no longer feels obliged to see them through."
"But with rising poverty across America, is it such a bad idea to go slow on austerity, at least until things improve?"
"Well, you might think that, Darbinder, but US National Debt is now running at an unsustainable $26 Trillion."
Ahmed laughed nervously at his own words, "An unimaginable sum, and failure to bring this monstrous debt under control can only lead to America defaulting on its debts and that would cause a literal stampede away from the dollar and US markets."
Darbinder frowned; this was no laughing matter, nervous or not, "So what does this mean for the markets in general?"
"Most people are getting out of stocks in a hurry and into the old favourites, gold and bitcoin being the main ones of course."
"Right," said Darbinder, "and what does this mean for the dollar and other currencies?"
Ahmed looked distressed, but spoke strongly, "The markets have signified a loss of faith in the American economy. China holds nearly a trillion dollars of American debt, as well as majority stocks in a number of high profile American companies. Should these companies start to go under as a result of increased pressure on their balance sheet from rising interest rates it might expose China to even greater losses than they have been experiencing in recent weeks."
He took a quick breath then resumed, before Darbinder could intervene, "If that happens there is the definite possibility that China might decide to cut her losses and dump all her U.S. assets and excess dollars into the market."
He paused, theatrically, before saying, "Of course, this would be catastrophic for the world economy."
Darbinder blinked, then he rallied, "The question has to be asked, Ahmed, why would they cut their losses? Surely they would be affected as well?"
Ahmed now appeared very comfortable, seemingly he'd forgotten the camera and was chatting as if to a friend, "China's economy is still relatively strong and they might feel that they can ride out the ensuing economic tidal wave far better without American debt hanging around their necks. Nobody can know for sure the severity of the collapse that would follow, although most analysts agree that China would emerge the strongest economy. We mustn't forget that China knows all about going it alone."
"Meaning?" pressed Darbinder.
"Well," said Ahmed, "China was once a pariah in the west so she could easily withdraw again from world trade as such and live off her own economy...."
"But wouldn't that lead to major poverty? China is now the world's leading economic power surely the Chinese people themselves wouldn't stand for it."
"China is a capitalist country in name only," said Ahmed, "in truth it is still centrally run with the state subsidising major industries. China is more than able to survive the potential economic collapse or go it alone and there's not really anything the Chinese people can do to influence their Government. Also I don't believe that the will exists, not amongst the everyday Chinese peasant."
Darbinder nodded, urging him to continue although Ahmed needed no such encouragement.
"Naturally the nouveaux riche will be upset along with the western financed liberal groups but in general I think the Chinese people believe that their Government has their best interests at heart."
"And what of Europe?"
Something about Ahmed's casual statements was shocking Darbinder out of his normal calm. He was struggling to keep talking; his brain was working overtime on where best he should move his own assets.
"As it stands, Europe would collapse," Ahmed continued, "however, it has been speculated that closer European union could solve these problems."
"How would that help?" asked Darbinder wildly, "There's already a European Central Bank."
In the wings, Mohammed was trying not to laugh.
The urbane Darbinder had lost it.
Ahmed, in contrast, was the personification of calm, collected professionalism.
"Indeed there is, Darbinder," said Ahmed, "but the European Union is merely a group of independent nations who have agreed on a single market system to enable easier trading and movement across borders."
He continued smoothly, "Each European country has its own economic policy. When markets behave in a volatile way weaker countries may collapse, as occurred with Greece. It is this lack of central control that leaves the whole European economy open to collapse. Remember, Greece's debt isn't a great deal in actual monetary terms, yet it has placed huge financial pressure on the Euro."
"So what's the answer then?" asked Darbinder.
His voice was under control but an uncharacteristic frown etched his brow.
"One answer might be a single Central Bank running the economies of all of the member states, more or less the way the Bank of England or the Federal Reserve runs except in this case it would control the whole European economy. If one country ran into difficulty this Central Bank would have the freedom to deploy countermeasures for the whole EU economy without reference to any of the governments thus avoiding any re-run of the Greece, Spain, Ireland and Italian crises which nearly brought the Euro to its knees."
"Much closer union than currently," said Darbinder, stating the obvious.
Ahmed nodded, "Under the current system member states are free to set their own budgets but are always exposed in an economic crisis, threatening the existence of the EU and the Euro. It would make sense to have one Finance Minister responsible for a unified European Union budget incorporating the finances of every country in the Euro."
"How would this be received by the elected Governments of each member state?"
Ahmed shrugged, "If the crisis gets as bad as we fear, the only way to save the EU and their own economies would be closer economic union. One Treasury and ultimately, one Government running everything out of Brussels."
Darbinder looked horrified. "And how will all of this affect Britain post Brexit?"
"The British economy remains strong, Darbinder," said Ahmed, uncertainty in his eyes for the first time, "but, like everyone else, our national debt is too high to withstand the financial Tsunami that this crisis threatens to become."
"Would we have been better off if we'd still been in Europe?"
"Probably not," said Ahmed, "a crisis of the magnitude that is being predicted will damage if not completely destroy every economy in the world."
Darbinder's smile stretched his face as he worked the interview to a close, but the frown was still tightly in control of his forehead and he knew he had not made a good showing.
If he had been in any doubt the gleeful look on Mohammed's face would have dispelled that illusion.
Cheers
Arun
More books in the 'Corpalism' series
Compendium editions
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