George Bush’S Great America [EN]: Chapter 242

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Despite George Bush’s soaring popularity, the established wealthy class didn’t particularly care for him, as their opinions often clashed. However, among these affluent individuals, there was a surprisingly fervent base of support: the nouveau riche [newly rich]. More precisely, those who had transitioned from the middle class to become millionaires.

When you think of the nouveau riche, you might imagine people shouting, ‘I’d rather be a satisfied pig than a hungry Socrates!’ But the reality is a bit different. They were more like people who wanted to be satisfied Socrates. If they could, they’d want to have their cake and eat it too – human nature, isn’t it?

What’s important is that they became Bush’s support base, mainly because their wealth came from oil. Specifically, they were the new investors in shale gas development. Initially, they were taken aback by the poor profitability, but oil was still oil, right?

At first, they resented the president for taking a difficult path when there was an easy one available. People who like oil aren’t usually environmentally conscious. They wouldn’t care if they drank polluted water instead of clean water, if they could. So, the president’s decision was incomprehensible to them. Wasn’t the president once involved with oil ventures himself?

After enduring hardship and premature investments, they finally started drilling and made their first fortune. Until then, they had even been hostile to the president.

However, their attitude changed drastically when Saudi Arabia started the oil war. The Saudi’s onslaught, befitting the king of oil, was something that no mere company or investor could handle.

While the companies merely screamed, the investors had the opportunity to see how warm the Hudson River was [a metaphor for financial ruin]. Just as the entire economy was about to be shaken beyond the oil category, Bush’s ‘shale gas subsidy’ became a lifeline that pulled them out of the swamp.

As things turned out, the nouveau riche had no choice but to form a love-hate relationship with the current president. They almost died because of the president’s stubbornness, but they were saved by his foresight. Besides, he created business opportunities here and there, which helped them quite a bit.

– Saudi Arabia has additionally increased production by 8 million barrels. The world is fiercely protesting against Saudi Arabia, but Saudi Arabia remains silent.

Even they, watching the situation, couldn’t help but feel their livers shrinking [a metaphor for fear], despite the subsidies. Saudi Arabia was increasing production again and again. The amount they were pumping out was reminiscent of the United States during World War II.

– Next news.

– The treatment has been distributed to each hospital under the leadership of the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and is being distributed ‘free of charge.’ This is a rare sight in the United States.

– The treatment is administered through general examination and prescription, and 7,058 out of the 5,987,712 people identified so far have received the treatment. Meanwhile-.

“Still, I’m relieved.”

I ran my hand over my face as I watched the news quoting the government’s announcement. After seeing the news reporting hopeful words selected from the report, I finally felt like I had defeated the invaders.

“If it had been just a little later. Hmm… I don’t even want to imagine it.”

There’s no need to say it twice. The economy that had barely been revived would have collapsed, and people would have died like flies. I was sure of it because I had seen the report created by the best minds in the United States, ‘What would happen if the treatment was delayed by another month?’

The Chief of Staff shook his head from side to side as if trying to shake off the memory of the report.

“How many deaths?”

“A total of 712, Mr. President.”

712 people. It was a really low number in terms of overall figures, but still, the responsibility weighed heavily on my shoulders. Bush tried to turn a blind eye to the number 712. He decided to think that this number would have come out no matter how he dealt with it.

Some might ask if it wouldn’t have been better to just isolate everyone in the early stages and do a good job. Then I would ask, if the economy collapses, who will take responsibility for the unemployed and hungry people on the streets? If that had happened, it wouldn’t have ended with at least 712 people.

Citizens only have to look at the numbers shown on TV, but politicians have a responsibility and duty to look at all situations from a grand perspective. And Bush, at the pinnacle of those politicians, naturally had to look further than anyone else.

‘But if you look too far, that’s a problem in its own way.’

If you ignore the immediate problems in front of you in order to prepare for the future, it would be better not to do it at all.

“Fortunately, the mortality rate is low.”

“I couldn’t agree more.”

I strongly agreed. Even though the infectivity was already crazy, if the mortality rate had been high, we would have had to change the existing plans or treat them as if they had never existed in the first place.

“Do you have any separate statements to make?”

“They are truly modern-day Nightingales [reference to Florence Nightingale, a celebrated nurse]. Tell them they are excellent. About one A4 page should be enough.”

In short, he meant to decorate it roughly on his own. When one page came out like that, Bush would roughly quote it and give a speech. This had often happened since the beginning of his term.

“By the way, what are you going to do about Saudi Arabia?”

The United States had been on an upward curve ever since Bush took office, but the damage was not insignificant because it overlapped with this epidemic. Even if only one thing happened, the GDP would fluctuate, but with two things happening at the same time, even the mighty United States was bound to falter like a reed in the face of a storm this time.

“Chief of Staff.”

“Yes?”

“Can humans stop a sandstorm?”

“No.”

At least not yet. Of course, I don’t know if humanity will advance further, but for now, even if the entire human race puts their heads together, even if they detonate all the nuclear bombs that humanity has, they cannot calm the storm. In the face of natural disasters, it is right to think about how to deal with them after they have passed, rather than preventing them.

That’s why Bush prepared in advance. If you can’t avoid it, you should at least mitigate it, right?

“Yeah, but if you really don’t want to, you have to play.”

“No, what do you mean by playing? What are you talking about?”

It was always nonsense, but today was a little special. There had been clues in the meantime, but today I couldn’t even grasp the feeling.

“What do you mean? We have the most powerful orchestra in the world. I’m going to play world peace.”

“World peace? Play? Orchestra? Frankly, I don’t even understand what you’re trying to say.”

“I’m talking about playing the sound of people crying [a metaphor for military might].”

If a squadron of F-22s and bombers went back and forth in the sky a few times, they would stop this damn oil war on their own. The reason I hadn’t done that in the meantime was because it was such a crazy idea that I couldn’t bring myself to say it.

“Well, okay. Anyway, our production will exceed Saudi Arabia’s in a few years.”

The budget for technological development and additional shale gas development has already been secured. These were problems that time would solve. And when that day comes, Saudi Arabia will fall on its own. And in fact, Saudi Arabia would already be singing in screams [a metaphor for suffering].

More than 98% of Saudi Arabia’s budget comes from oil, so if you plummet the price of oil, wouldn’t it just be cutting your own flesh?

The reason why they are waging an oil war is because Saudi Arabia is in a corner and at the same time has some confidence in winning.

“If I hadn’t secured the budget in advance, I probably wouldn’t have lost, but I would have had to struggle so hard that I would have been covered in blood.”

Historically, this was actually the case. What the United States experienced from the oil war with Saudi Arabia was the recession itself in the drilling and oil refining industries.

“Ah, this document.”

It was a document on the additional production of relief supplies, which was the document I had requested from the Chief of Staff earlier. Unlike other documents, it was thin, perhaps because it was a list-type report with not much to write. If other documents were Chicago pizza or Big Mac, this document was nothing more than a thin biscuit.

“Vegetarians are supporting the President because of this.”

“Vegans?”

“Yes, for now, externally, this is relief supplies for vegans, not India.”

It wasn’t that there were no halal foods among the relief supplies, but anyway, externally, it was going to be relief supplies for vegans. Above all, it was convenient to create public opinion by mentioning vegans. After all, if you’re going to switch to halal food, you can just add some halal food to the vegan diet and increase the number of items. In an emergency, you can just give them a vegan diet.

And this wasn’t just relief supplies to be used in India. It could actually be used for vegans. Therefore, there is no problem with vegans supporting Bush. However, there was a problem, and the problem was that this was a fact that had not yet been announced.

“This is also unexpected. The official announcement is tomorrow. Where did the information leak from?”

It was natural for Bush to worry about the fact that national affairs were leaking out so easily.

“The production of relief supplies is a noisy affair. It would be more strange if it didn’t leak out. And it’s not exactly confidential either.”

No matter how much the government leads, it is ultimately produced by companies. There are not just one or two items that go into relief supplies, but dozens of them, so wouldn’t a huge amount of logistics move?

So, it would be more strange if rumors didn’t spread. Perhaps if that had happened, the Chief of Staff might have suspected that someone was deliberately blocking it, and handed the organized documents to Bush.

“Then let’s rather encourage and spread it this time. That would be better. Do it thoroughly like this.”

“I understand, but I’m worried that it might backfire if we do too much. As you know, there are more people in our country who don’t respect tastes than you think.”

He was talking about the macho men who were Bush’s biggest supporters. Creating a new support base is good, but maintaining the existing support base is also important.

‘Hmm, that’s right. If I say it openly, they might call me a traitor.’

“Then let’s just say it’s your idea. Congratulations on becoming the guardian of vegans.”

“Yes?”

That’s what I said, but in the end, the only answer the Chief of Staff could give was ‘yes.’

“I wish people would live without fighting.”

That was true.