The following pages are a compilation transcribed from petabytes of analyzed text, audio, and video recovered from Hub sensor Big Iron. Typed or handwritten transcriptions will be in raw, uncorrected format. The majority of the source files originate from the journal of Max ████████████. Notes that go beyond the original source files will be clearly annotated.
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Classified transcript between the President of the United States and ████████ during ████████████. ████████████ Office / 2315 / Date: ████████████
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POTUS: "The wheels are coming off, I don't know how much longer we can keep up this charade. The unemployment numbers are being openly heckled in the mainstream media. You are calling inflation at a percent and a half, but the American people begin to take notice when gas goes to six dollars a gallon and food cost goes up forty percent over a three year span.”
████████████: “Top down economics and war spending got us out of the Great Depression. I have faith in the system; faith that we can make this right again.”
POTUS: “Faith? I won an election on faith and family. Somehow I think we’re going to need more than a campaign slogan to put this mess back together. ████████████, right now, I really need to know your way ahead. Call it crisis mode. We’re there. It’s only a matter of time before a butterfly flaps its wings somewhere and confidence in the dollar is lost.”
████████████: “That’s not going to happen, Ma’am.”
POTUS: “That’s what the leaders of the Weimar Republic, Zimbabwe, Argentina said in the days before their currency imploded. What’s the plan? I have a midnight VTC with one of our biggest customers, right behind China and yourself.”
████████████: “Well, in the near term, it’s best we keep interest rates at or near zero percent; we’re avoiding a liquidity trap. We’re also going to keep increasing the M-3 supply. As we’ve already discussed, before we cross the no return delta, I’ll increase the rates and begin to recall the supply. Now is a bad time for a rate increase and we need to encourage spending. Too many people are parking their money in their banks and worse, their mattresses. If we keep the pressure up, they’ll start spending. My analysts say that a few more months of zero percent interest with some healthy inflation thrown in will get the average saver back in the economy.”
POTUS: “A few more months? We don’t have that kind of time, do we? What have your folks calculated as the real current number?”
████████████: “Are we secure right now? This number needs to stay with us.”
POTUS: “It’s the fucking Oval Office, I should hope so. If we’re not secure, I can’t imagine a place that is.”
████████████: “Thirty-one point three percent.”
POTUS: “I’m sorry, did you say thirty-one percent?”
████████████: “I know that number sounds a bit dismal, but rest assured we’ve run numerous [WHISPERS] actuaries on this. [END WHISPER] The computed data tells us almost to the minute when we need to adjust the interest rates to avoid a currency crisis. The internet is being crawled via ████████████ in real time, assisted by PRISMA. Every internet forum comment, video chat, and e-mail are part of the calculations. It’s quite accurate. We will know about any crisis of confidence long before the consumer hive mind can crash the system.”
POTUS: “What if you don’t? What if you don’t call it just right? What’s the contingency?”
████████████: “The contingency is the reason I’m here tonight. On the very small chance we miss our mark, we’re going to need to jumpstart the Keynesian sluices. History has shown that there is only one way to do that; good old fashioned war.”