George Bush’S Great America [EN]: Chapter 27

< Episode 26 >

Alan Greenspan, Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board. Many people are mistaken, but the Federal Reserve Bank is actually a private company. Well, that’s because what the Fed does is ultimately monetary policy, issuing U.S. dollars, and controlling banks. Since this is ultimately a national matter, it inevitably becomes closely tied to the government, whether it likes it or not.

Furthermore, the top officials, such as the Chairman and the Board of Governors, are ultimately selected according to the preferences of the President and Congress. Therefore, the Fed is exposed to government influence, so in conclusion, it wouldn’t be entirely wrong to consider it a public enterprise. However, since it was independent from the U.S. Federal Treasury, it was strictly a private company on the surface.

Anyway, it’s true that the President appoints the Chairman, but that doesn’t mean they’re just a puppet, like, ‘If you just tell me what to do, I’ll work like a dog!’ They had as much authority as the President gave them. As you know, the U.S. dollar, or USD, is the world’s reserve currency. In other words, the Fed, which prints the U.S. dollar, it is not an exaggeration to say that it moves the world economy. Alan Greenspan, the Chairman of the Fed at its apex, could be called the master of the world economy.

“Did you hear? Iraq is really divided into East Iraq and West Iraq. It’s like Germany during the Cold War.”

“No, I haven’t heard yet.”

“Congratulations. You’re lucky. You would have heard it on the evening news otherwise.”

They’re even planning to build a wall separately. After collecting the information that’s been diligently gathered, I can see the landscape to some extent. Russia seems not to have forgotten the lessons learned during the Soviet era. They’ve started to indiscriminately spread supplies and everything else in the area.

In addition, they’ve emphasized a principle of non-interference as much as possible, except for the search for al-Zarqawi. This is because they’ve clearly realized that trying to force their ideology on the Middle East is useless. In fact, Putin wanted to turn the entire Iraq into a barren wasteland, but the generals strongly opposed it, so the culture of East Iraq was not destroyed. Of course, it goes without saying that a considerable number of generals had to take off their uniforms in the process.

The situation in Europe was a bit more complicated. It goes without saying that Saddam Hussein was a complete idiot, but he was also a symbol of secularism in the Middle East. Iraqis, who were steeped in secularism, actively embraced democracy without blaspheming Allah.

More precisely, they absorbed Western-style capitalism like relief supplies, rather than democracy. But everyone knows that ideologies are not clearly separated and are mixed little by little. Moreover, they are a race that even held demonstrations for democracy. They quickly accepted democracy like a sponge absorbing water.

In addition, the puppet government put forward by the European Union was also composed of pro-Western intellectuals from the protesters, and their cooperation was remarkable. In fact, it would be more accurate to say that they were obedient rather than highly cooperative.

As a result, a situation arose where the Russian and European Union forces were confronting each other more than during the Cold War, although no one intended it. The higher-ups realized that something was wrong and quickly moved to quell the situation before it really developed into World War III.

Thanks to this, a comical incident occurred where Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, and all sorts of figures belonging to the European Union were forced to create a friendly atmosphere in the conference room.

But that’s what the higher-ups thought. The officers and soldiers who were struggling on the ground were eager to kill each other. In fact, small-scale local wars were often taking place, ignoring the orders from above. It was a confirmed matter that they would be separated into East and West Iraq, but the wall had not yet been built. The search operation routes unintentionally overlapped, so they often faced each other, and gunfire never stopped at every turn.

Of course, the command tried to stop it somehow, but the integrated forces were only integrated in name. Why should we listen to the stories of officers from other countries? The field is the law. Well, it was ignored with this logic. If it were peacetime, they could just give them disciplinary action and send them to the brig, but it wasn’t a very good atmosphere, so they were sticking to the existing route as much as possible.

If it had only been this, it would have ended with the first launch of the European integrated forces faltering, but those higher up than the higher-ups thought that there was no better training than actual combat, and that there was no space where friendship could sprout better than the battlefield, so they indiscriminately mixed them up. That became a disaster.

Some units with high affinity flowed as the higher-ups intended, but about 99.9% of them gave the finger to that intention, so a cold war was flowing even between units. France and Poland alone had different foods and completely different ways of working, but here they were told to adapt to a newly created method, so the hell created by armchair theory was right here.

Integrated forces with different supplies, weapons, training, ideologies, and command systems. I’m really curious as to where it’s integrated.

“Actually, shall we start talking about your business?”

Greenspan was very nervous. That’s because he had been informed of some precautions and information from the chief of staff before entering this place. Before he became president, he understood him as a fairly naive person. Not as innocent or foolish as a simpleton, but as a truly devout priest.

But after 9/11, that man went crazy. Hegemonists accepted it as a positive change, but it didn’t look good to some conservatives. Of course, he hadn’t caused any accidents yet, and he was just criticizing based on the administration so far from a future-oriented perspective. In short, it meant he was just criticizing with ‘brain farts’.

Well, Greenspan wasn’t some 30 or 40-year-old kid, and he was an undefeated veteran who turned 75 this year, so even if the other party was the President of the United States, there was no reason to be nervous. If they told him to step down, he would just step down. Working past the age of seventy is more about hardship than reward. He had made a name for himself as the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, and he had so much retirement money that he couldn’t spend it all before he died, so it was about time he wanted to rest.

So, the real reason he was nervous was because he was George Bush. Ah, to explain in a little more detail, it was because he was the son of George H. W. Bush.

‘This is fucked up!’ I was expecting the son to be a bit more gentle, but after synthesizing his actions and steps so far and listening to the precautions I heard earlier, it’s really mind-boggling.

Greenspan was born around the time the Great Depression began and has seen all sorts of corporate executives, presidents, and even monarchs. People who could be called bosses can be largely divided into three categories.

First. A boss with an iron will who chews up his subordinates’ words and ignores them all.

Second. A boss who listens well to his subordinates and cuts off anyone who says the right thing.

Third. A puppet boss who listens well to his subordinates and implements them as they are.

That’s the fourth. To be exact, it’s closer to a combination of the first and third.

That means, ‘I’m going to have a long discussion with you to play a good boss, but I already have a set answer, so if you don’t listen to me, you son of a bitch, it’s a direct confrontation!’ That’s the kind of person he is.

“You’ve done enough. I hope you can step down now.”

That’s fucking blunt.

I thought he would at least pretend to be a good person, but I was completely wrong. It’s not even something a boss should say. Isn’t there respect for elders before that? Could it be that even with the insight of a seventy-five-year-old, I could be wrong? Above all, wasn’t it your father and you who put me in this position! Father and son are the same when it comes to turning people inside out!

Even though I had every intention of resigning after doing enough for 20 years, it was so mind-boggling that it felt like the world was going to be turned upside down. Greenspan was so dumbfounded that his manners went out the door with his courtesy, so he had nothing to say and started with a short retort.

“Why.”

“Ah, to be exact, I’d like you to do one thing and then step down.”

“What is it?”

“I’m thinking of increasing the authority of the Fed a little in the future.”

“So?”

What does that have to do with Greenspan’s downfall?

“Don’t tell me?”

“Take a cool load of abuse in your final years and leave.”

“Heh heh heh. Of course, I don’t want to.”

“It is said that you live longer if you get a lot of abuse.”

“If that’s the case, I’ll live forever! Hahaha!”

What is this young punk talking about now? Get abused and step down?

“As the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, you have the right to know about the U.S. economy.”

“As the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, we create the world economy.”

Greenspan saw a straight bamboo-like will in George Bush’s eyes. It’s usually called stubbornness, but there’s a steely kind and a stiff bamboo-like kind that Bush has. The former has elasticity, so if you proceed with the story, it returns to the starting point, which makes you angry, while the latter doesn’t even try to listen to the story, so to put it bluntly, you go crazy.

‘Ha, fuck. The father and son are both crazy.’

Father Bush made a big promise that there would be no tax increase, but when the situation changed, he quickly reversed his words, causing a lot of people to worry. Among them, Greenspan was the one who wanted to split his skull in half while worrying.

“It’s simple. If you keep holding on, the second Great Depression will come.”

This fucking gremlin-like young punk! You’ve never even seen the Great Depression, but you talk so much! In our day, we called this a boom, you punk! A boom! You punk, a boom!

Greenspan had to keep suppressing the volcano that was constantly trying to erupt from his mouth.

“You know very well that the U.S. real estate is gradually becoming a bubble, don’t you?”

That wasn’t entirely wrong. It wasn’t at the level of a bubble yet, but if it continued like this, it would definitely burst ‘decades later’. Even so, measures would have been taken or breakwaters would have been built by then. Predicting it from now was just a fuss.

“Preventing that bubble from bursting is what Wall Street and the Fed do.”

For a bubble to burst, it has to grow first, but so far, there hasn’t been much of a bubble.

“That’s right. And I’m going to fight Wall Street. Isn’t that a very suitable reason for you to step down?”

“Your Excellency, the honorable and dignified President. Are you crazy?”

Did you see this crazy guy? Why fight a perfectly good Wall Street? Above all, can you survive against Wall Street? Antagonizing Wall Street was like fighting the United States itself.

“You can’t do this to me in the first place. The moment this story leaks out, you’re done.”

No matter how strong the power of the U.S. President is, it’s not enough to shake the Fed.

At least until now.

“Try it.”

“What?”

“If you’re so confident, try it.”

I couldn’t tell if he had some guts, or if he had something to rely on, or if he was really crazy, but at least

“Huh, let’s change the subject. What do you want to do by kicking me out and fighting Wall Street?”

“Financial regulation.”

“Is that what you’re saying? You said you were going to fight Wall Street, but that’s a complete lie! It’s not just Wall Street! You’re trying to fight the entire American people!”

Is he going to fight against Libertarianism, which created the current United States? Right now, Greenspan was witnessing the scene of a president elected by the people betraying the people!

“I’ll fight for America. I’ll make them understand.”

“That’s just simple elitism! That’s!”

“Elitism? You’re calling it prediction.”

“Look at this crazy guy!”

“Crazy? I’ll become a demon if I have to.”

“You’re in a position to persuade me. Do you know that?”

“I’m doing it.”

It’s a complete mess.

“Where is the element of persuasion hidden in this conversation? I’m seventy-five years old this year, am I already senile?”

“What I’m asking for is simple.”

It’s not a request, it’s a demand. Greenspan ran a hand over his face. Okay, there must be a reason why he’s pushing so hard like a madman. If it’s reasonable, if it’s really a path for America, there’s no reason why I can’t listen.

“Loan regulation.”

“Oh, shit!”