"I don't think so." And with that, they turned and left.
A restrained cheer went up among the crowd that had gathered. Jason rejoined his group, and the room was again filled with chatter.
Barbara looked at John with raised eyebrows. "What was all that about?"
"I'd take it as confirmation. Before this, I was just guessing. Now I'm sure."
"Of what?"
"Remember what I said about Bush? That every business he touched went south? I wrote in my blog that being a miserable business failure was the man's critical qualification for having been placed in power by the folks who stole the 2000 election for him. They ran a false-flag hit on New York to set the stage, and then sat back while he ran up such a huge debt with his wars and such that the taxpayers could never hope to pay it down. They put him in power to bring this nation to the state you were in when you finally filed for bankruptcy. But because countries don't get that chance to write off their debt, they have no choice but to hand over their assets -- their natural resources -- to the international banking cartel that really runs the show. Bush told everyone to go shopping. So did he. And now we're all screwed."
"And that's why they followed you in here? To shut you up?"
"Well, yeah. They've been throwing up all sorts of diversions to keep people off the track. It's all about WMD! No, it's about regime change! No, it's about the oil! But once you clear away all that, what it's really all about is the money. To be specific: the dollar. Once upon a time, there used to be gold backing it up. Then it was the stability of the government. But now even that sham's been shed. The money's worthless. But if that gets out, if people realize that this monstrous debt we've been saddled with can't ever be paid off because the money itself is worthless, all bets are off. The government, and everything it does, is a joke. And the only thing they'll have left to use against us is the threat of force. They can't win. There's nothing they can do to win. Once the government turns against the people like that, everyone will do what you're doing here, what I just watched happen. Open revolt."
Barbara let the ideas settle for a moment. Then she stood up and walked around the counter. "John," she said finally, "I think you're going to need a place to hide. Looks like you're in good company. Let me introduce you around."
THE END
(This is part 6 of a series that began with "Logical Conclusion/Full Circle".)
