George Bush’S Great America [EN]: Chapter 93

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“China should at least issue a ‘Reconsider travel’ advisory for the time being.”

Since that incident, China had consistently been at the ‘Exercise increased caution’ stage. However, as the Chinese government’s control began to noticeably decline, foreigners were repeatedly attacked. Among these, the worst cases involved Westerners, who, if caught, sustained at least serious injuries.

The reason was quite simple: the one who screwed up China was an American, and weren’t Americans Westerners? Of course, Chinese people weren’t indiscriminately grabbing and beating any Westerner who passed by. It’s just that distinguishing them was incredibly difficult.

Just as Westerners couldn’t distinguish between Eastern races, Easterners couldn’t distinguish between Western races either. In fact, even if one could distinguish races, the United States was a nation formed by a mix of races, making it nearly impossible to tell them apart at a glance without looking at their passports.

Even without that, the reality was that Westerners were frequently mistaken for Americans and beaten, either out of simple animosity or for robbery.

Due to the decision of the Communist Party’s upper echelons, who feared that foreign companies’ investments would be completely cut off, the Public Security Bureau was strengthening security and trying to prevent this as much as possible. However, due to repeatedly reduced budgets, there were clear limitations.

In a way, the Communist Party was also feeling somewhat wronged by this reality. It wasn’t like they wanted this situation to happen, and the reason for this mess was entirely America’s fault. Not even a mere beast would cut off its own flesh because it was hungry, so no matter how crazy the Communist Party was, would they strangle their own economy with their own hands?

“But that’s the Chinese Communist Party’s problem, not ours. Have them lodge a protest through official diplomatic channels.”

The content was roughly a long, drawn-out version of ‘How dare some reckless Motherfucker touch an American citizen?’ using lengthy political jargon.

“Understood.”

The Chief of Staff looked at the piles of documents going up and down on the seemingly rugged desk made of bulletproof material and thought:

‘Next time, won’t there be missiles attached to that desk? Or at least automatically moving killer drones?’ Coincidentally, a similar drone was under development. Its form resembled a CCTV camera with a gun attached, a modified P90 [a compact 9mm submachine gun]. When set up, it would shoot everything that moved until it ran out of bullets, but it couldn’t even distinguish between friend and foe, so it was still under development.

A prototype of it was currently inside the President’s desk. So, it wouldn’t be strange if it were attached to the desk, would it? Or maybe the desk would actually transform into a giant robot with heavy weapons?

Or maybe, without the Chief of Staff’s knowledge, they were already converting this White House office into a fighter jet?

‘What am I thinking?’

The Chief of Staff shook his head vigorously to shake off the thoughts, feeling like he was turning strange himself.

“Next is related to the defense industry.”

“Yes?”

“Why?”

“It’s nothing.”

The Chief of Staff squeezed his hair slightly, feeling like his mind was going because he had been working for too long for his age. Soon, he felt a refreshing sensation and his mind cleared.

“Indonesia is requesting additional F-15s, it seems persuasion worked well?”

“The Indonesian side seems to be maximizing its military spending and wants to wield it to their heart’s content.”

“They won’t be able to introduce them all at once, but this is also a budget. This year, we might die from being buried in overflowing money.”

“And it’s all flowing out.”

“But it’s coming in.”

If it weren’t, he would have been impeached a long time ago. A president who squanders the national budget and only starts projects is not welcome. Especially a president who raises taxes because of a budget shortage!

“Speaking of which, the next item is related to Korea. The FX project [Korea’s fighter experimental project] has been confirmed with the F-15K and concluded early.”

It seemed that they had become strongly aware of America’s gaze, so they ordered 50 F-15Ks without question. Boeing, the company in charge of the order, was naturally grinning from ear to ear, so much so that it almost touched the ceiling, with such a generous order of 50 units.

Where in the world, except for the United States, would they have the ability to purchase 50 units? There was Asea, but their integration project had only just begun. Moreover, they were selling off Su-series aircraft [Sukhoi aircraft, a Russian-made fighter jet] to the Middle East at bargain prices and planned to operate their existing F-16s mixed with F-15s, so it was uncertain how many they would order.

Whether it’s fighter jets or airplanes, if there’s no demand for a product, the factory itself has to close down. And a fighter jet factory isn’t the same as a factory that makes daily necessities, is it? The manpower attached to one fighter jet alone requires at least a doctoral degree as support.

Thus, from a different perspective, the fighter jet business was a one-time iron business. If the era changes and the paradigm of war changes, the factory doors have to be closed and losses have to be taken as is. In such a business, order inquiries were flooding in like this, so they had no choice but to be overjoyed.

If you want to see what happens to a fighter jet factory that doesn’t receive orders, look no further than the Rafale [French multirole fighter jet] and Eurofighter [European multirole fighter jet].

‘We’ll run them as much as the orders come in.’

The problem was that the one trying to change that paradigm of war was the head of the very country where that company was based.

‘In 2019, which I will face, we won’t be moving carrier strike groups like we do now, but the United States alone will be able to cover the entire world in a true sense. And the main force of the US Air Force covering the entire globe will be drones.’

Of course, manned aircraft couldn’t be absent from the battlefield. There were situations that couldn’t be handled by drones, and it wasn’t like drones didn’t have their drawbacks. However, the overwhelming advantage of cost-effectiveness that drones possessed overshadowed all the disadvantages. Above all, Bush believed that the mere fact that people weren’t fighting directly on the battlefield was worth enough.

“I heard there have been countless F-16 order requests from Afghanistan as well?”

However, in the case of Afghanistan, it was being run on the US budget from the start, so it wasn’t very welcome. But in order to pressure China, Russia, and the Middle East, Afghanistan was essential. In ancient times, it was the crossroads of civilization, but now it was America’s crossfire aimed at surrounding powers.

“Still, raising Afghanistan will be helpful in the future.”

In Afghanistan, a street named after Bush was created, and banners with Bush’s image were hung throughout the streets, and a statue that extremely glorified Bush was erected in the middle of the square.

‘And right in front of that square is McDonald’s.’

Frankly, Bush was embarrassed to see it.

I mean, in the world, the thing you can see after eating a hamburger at McDonald’s is a Bush statue. The statue’s name is also ‘George Bush’s Great America.’ It’s good to suck up to America, it’s good to support Bush himself, but it has to be moderate. Moderate.

“Your Excellency’s majesty is amazing in Afghanistan. Frankly, in some areas, it seems higher than in the country.”

“If a president’s glorification statue is erected in his own country, it’s a sign that the country will collapse. It’s not like I’m the German Chancellor of World War II.”

Who said that? When a war breaks out, the president’s popularity skyrockets to a level that can’t be compared to peacetime. That patriotic fervor continued to the Olympics, and Bush’s approval rating still didn’t think about falling from the sky. To some extent, the approval rating was so high that Bush himself suspected the survey itself was too high.

Isn’t there also something called the trap of public opinion polls? Originally, an approval rating survey is to integrate the survey results from various institutions to make it the closest to the actual situation. Therefore, approval ratings are bound to differ depending on the approach.

“Only in terms of prestige, it seems similar.”

Bush’s popularity also lay in the tax freeze. Originally, taxes and insurance premiums are bound to rise as the years go by, but this government was able to freeze taxes because it was attracting budgets from overseas. Freezing taxes means that the purchasing power of ordinary people increases, whether it’s for daily necessities or luxuries. An increase in household purchasing power means the revitalization of the economy, which means reviving domestic demand.

What is the first step in reviving domestic demand? Attracting overseas capital to invest in the country, promoting domestic industries, creating jobs, and promoting the consumption expenditure of high-income earners, but first of all, shouldn’t ordinary people live in order for the economy to live?

The improved lives of ordinary people turn into goodwill towards the current government. In particular, the goodwill of ordinary people was concentrated on George W. Bush, who was at the center of the government. Of course, there are people who don’t even pay attention to the government whether their lives improve or not, but Bush’s awareness soared to the end of the sky, sweeping even these people away.

Of course, these were the kind of people whose attitudes could change as quickly as flipping their palms.

‘So-called bubbles.’

Bush’s head cooled down when he thought this far.

“Get rid of it, get rid of it. Put it away. Tell me about the problems scattered throughout the country.”

“There are so many. Specifically, there are enough documents to fill this room.”

It was not an exaggeration or a boast. However, since the United States was administering through state governments centered on the federal government, it was relatively spacious. Nevertheless, it was not that there were no problems that came up to the federal government, and Bush’s desk was buried in piles of documents as the days went by.

Originally, a problem is like a hydra [a serpentine water monster in Greek and Roman mythology with many heads], so if you solve one well, no more heads grow, but if you solve it in the wrong way, more problems arise. In this respect, perhaps the hydra is better. At least the hydra is fixed at two, isn’t it?

‘It’s truly a damn thing.’

“First of all, it’s about the nationwide utility pole replacement project that you ordered last time.”

Replacing utility poles is good, but because they were trying to finish it in too short a period, safety accidents were happening here and there. Moreover, it was even more so because it was winter. In fact, if it was only up to this point, it wouldn’t even be included in the problems.

The biggest problem was that the supply of concrete utility poles could not keep up with the demand. This was because the project was being carried out on a large scale, but the number of companies that made concrete utility poles was overwhelmingly insufficient.

“Should we give subsidies to utility pole companies?”

It would be nice if we could receive orders from foreign countries, but this is concrete, concrete. Moreover, it’s not just concrete, it’s cylindrical concrete. It means it’s empty inside. Even if we ship it by boat, I can’t even imagine how much loss and damage there will be in the process of transporting it.

“But we can’t just bury them all in the ground.”

In the vicinity of the city, they were still working hard on undergrounding, but the cost of undergrounding varies depending on the depth and length of the land that needs to be dug. Even worse, they couldn’t just bury it in the ground and shout ‘Yeah! It’s over!’ and shout cheers, but they also had to design it to be earthquake-resistant for fear of it being cut off due to natural disasters such as earthquakes.

“What are you going to do? Actually, I submitted the documents because you said you wanted to see them in person.”

Originally, this kind of thing shouldn’t have come up here. But because Bush said he wanted to see it in person, it ended up coming up here.

“Will Congress pass an additional budget?”

“Maybe?”

Because the Democratic Party is already deeply involved in this project, and the person who brought and submitted the budget was Bush himself.

‘No, if I keep meddling here and there like this, the budget size will grow uncontrollably. Maybe there won’t be any problems even if I proceed as is.’

“Proceed as is.”

“Understood.”

‘By the way, is the light water reactor project proceeding properly?’

Field reports are coming up in bundles, but I have to be able to trust something.

‘No matter what, they wouldn’t have messed with the light water reactor report, would they?’

Bush’s thoughts were not wrong.

To be exact, only half right.