Ch. 3 - Countdown to Chaos

The newly-inaugurated President Harris is now putting in place his agenda, and Americans learn the full implications of the previous fall's election.

Countdown to Chaos

With the election now over, it was time for President-elect David Harris to assemble his team of advisors. These would be the folks who have a president’s ear on issues from taxation and spending to education to land management to foreign policy, and everything in between. Now, seeing who an incoming president picks to advise them can really provide a window for one to see how exactly they will govern once in office. Who Harris picked only confirmed the fears I had about him, as he was pulling many members from various far-right think tanks, such as the Heritage Foundation, the American Enterprise Institute, and the Cato Institute. He was picking men and women who held what could be considered to be fringe beliefs, who were known for making inflammatory comments and pushing ludicrous policy proposals. For instance, one advisor, a short, stubby, jowl-faced man named Frank Forman. Among his numerous posts calling for generic conservative policies like reducing spending and cutting taxes, he also once referred to homosexuals as “subhuman” and “a menace to be dealt with” in a post on Twitter (a popular social media site) that he had quickly deleted, but not before someone screen-captured it and showed the world what exactly what hateful thoughts came out of Forman’s small mind. Another advisor, a fiery, petite redheaded Texan lady named Carla Lee, actually gave a speech to a small religious college a couple of years earlier stating that the women who were graduating today “were better off finding a husband to submit fully to, and shouldn’t bother with a career. The best choice you ladies can possibly make is to be a wife and mother.” Such a statement came off kind of strange coming from a woman who chose a career, at least to those who actually used logic and reason. These kooky, discredited beliefs were par for the course at the Heritage Foundation, where she worked. After all, one of their head “academics” once wrote a now-infamous book, which made the claim that racial minorities, African-Americans in particular, were destined to be poor because they were “genetically predisposed to be less intelligent than whites”. Yes, these were the people who had the ear of the incoming President, they would be given the opportunity to shape the direction the United States of America would be headed. With every day, a new announcement of an advisor was made, and those of us who were watching closely made sure to parse and dissect every selection. It was certainly distressing to see people with such horrid beliefs giving the leader of the free world advice on all matters. I mean, David Harris never said anything like what those people said while on the campaign trail, so he didn’t come off like a total dingbat. However, if he was hiring them, did he actually share their belief system? Did he just not say it because he knew of the backlash that would ensue? Well anyways, back to the advisors. One pervasive belief that many of them echoed was that America’s social safety net, the programs that kept millions out of poverty, either needed to go, or be pared back significantly. Harris’ Chief of Staff, a tall, dashing fellow in his late 30’s named James Milton (no relation to my boss, that I know of anyways), called the nation’s anti-poverty programs “an affront to individual liberty”, and once referred to those who used them as “leeches” in a speech to corporate executives in 2015. He said of the safety net: 

“Those who go to the government for help end up growing complacent, with no desire to help themselves out of their predicament. They grow dependent of the government, and learn to live the high life without working for anything. That, I think, isn’t helping them at all. It’s quite hurtful, to tell you the truth. It is high time we make like a mama bird and push the baby birds out of the nest, so they can fly on their own.” 

These were the minds that were going to be shaping the direction of the United States for at least the next four years. Full of cruelty and outright lies. And it wasn’t just the advisors, but also who an incoming President picks to be in their cabinet (the heads of the various government departments) that showed the American people how they would govern once they assume power. My fears of President-elect Harris were further stoked by the people he chose for his cabinet. For example, he picked the CEO of Goldman Sachs, Michael Drew, to head the Treasury Department, despite his poor record. He had a propensity to foreclose on people’s houses during the housing crisis of the Great Recession, even when they were not behind on their payments. He had no problem taking people’s money, then taking their homes anyways. And for that, Goldman Sachs received a fine of 150 million dollars by the government, a relative slap on the wrist considering the bank made billions from the practice. He was also accused of having his employees do other various shady dealings during his time running the bank. However, Drew did give Harris’ presidential campaign $15 million, as well as smaller amounts to Harris’ 2010 Senate campaign. To head the Department of Education, he picked Laura Hall, a woman who had no background in public education whatsoever, but instead headed the Campaign for Parent Choice, a group who advocated for the wider use of charter schools, where the school is run by a private company instead of a school district, and has a goal of turning a profit. She had also made comments in the past about wanting to abolish the Department of Education, a goal which David Harris shared. Likewise, the guy Harris picked to run the Department of Energy had publicly commented that the department they were picked to run should be abolished, and the same also went for Harris’ pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency. David Harris’ disdain for our environmental laws was well known, even going back to his Senate days. In a 2010 Senate campaign speech, Harris said that “I long for the day that our American industry can compete once again, when we remove the chains of so many of these environmental protections that have been put in place over the last several decades. These laws just increase business costs, and it is time to put them in the past.” to roaring applause. I guess his supporters didn’t want breathable air, or drinkable water, or trees, or to keep countless animal species from going extinct. Perhaps they no longer remember the thickets of pollution that blanketed major cities before those laws, or how rivers would literally catch fire due to various toxic substances in the water.

Oh, and it just kept going from there. Congressman Christopher Morris from Alabama, a longtime ally of David Harris who was tapped to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, had long argued against any sort of government health care, which meant no Medicare of Medicaid. Robert Faller, the District Attorney of Knox County, Tennessee, and an early supporter of David Harris when he ran for the U.S. Senate, was Harris’ pick to be Attorney General. However, he had a poor history when it came to civil rights, and often argued for more corporate power when it came to making laws. Civil rights groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union and the Southern Poverty Law Center vociferously complained about the nomination of Faller, citing his reported ties to white supremacist groups, as well as his past comments about race that, in the eyes of many Americans, showed him to be too biased and racist to be the Attorney General, a position that was supposed to uphold the legal protections of all Americans. Some of these comments include hits such as “I get tired of these blacks who want these special rules and protections! Didn’t we give them enough in the 60’s? They are never satisfied!” or “I don’t care for this Black Lives Matter talk. If they don’t want to be killed by cops, maybe don’t commit crimes or refuse to comply with officers!” or “Why don’t we just kick the immigrants out? Especially the ones who aren’t supposed to be here. I mean, just round them up, and stick on a bus, and take them back to wherever they came from. It’s that simple.”

The other cabinet nominees just followed similar patterns. Harris’ choice to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development, congressman Jim Teller of Wyoming, argued against government housing of any kind. “Housing problems are best solved by the free market. The market will come up with the right rents, and government isn’t needed for that.” The nominee for Department of Labor, fast food executive Eric Putnam, had a long history of labor law abuses towards his tens of thousands of employees, and once argued that there should be no minimum wage. “The government, especially the federal government, has no right to set a minimum wage. Any wage floor simply hurts those without the skills to make more money. Companies shouldn’t have to pay anyone more than what they are actually worth.” Putnam once argued to Forbes magazine in an interview a few years earlier. George Miller, the nominee to lead the Department of Commerce, shared similar sentiment to Putnam. Ryan Hilton, the former governor of Mississippi who was picked to lead the Department of Transportation, greatly expanded the use of private toll roads in his state, turning over the maintenance of roads from the state government to private firms. Kenneth Ungerman, the governor of Idaho, was chosen to lead the Department of the Interior, which oversaw our national parks and forests. Well, he wasn’t too big of a fan of our national parks and forests, once claiming that “We have no use for all of this land to be owned by the government. Do you know how much economic activity can be generated by drilling for oil and gas, by mining and logging operations, if we opened up those lands for that purpose? We need to sell off these federal lands in order to unlock all that potential. We’re talking probably tens of billions of dollars, and countless jobs for hardworking Americans. We’d be stupid to not open up these lands! I fought the government for this as Governor of Idaho, and I will continue to do so as Interior Secretary.” He stated shortly after being nominated. For the Department of Veterans Affairs, Harris tabbed George Niederhauser, who called for turning over healthcare for veterans to the private sector. Also, last but not least, Sam Graham, the choice to head the Department of Agriculture, was against giving government subsidies and tax breaks to small farmers. “Let them sink or swim on their own!” He said, conveniently ignoring the huge corporate farms that get the majority of those subsidies, and killed off most of the small, family-owned farms that once dotted the landscape. Through David Harris’ cabinet choices, we saw the true face of what was to come under the new administration, and it wasn’t pretty. Each and every one of his nominees came in with the intention of either dramatically changing the scope and meaning of the job, or to dismantle their department entirely.

Before too long, left-leaning, as well as many mainstream commentators, showed alarm at the fringe members now dominating the incoming administration. And the pieces attacking the new government rolled in before David Harris even took office. Time magazine had a headline on a December issue titled “How Far Right is Too Far Right?”, which showed the face of David Harris on the cover. The feature article declared:

“It appears that David Harris and his merry band of bandits are hellbent on reinstating the late 19th century, when the robber barons held sway over the populace. The gap between the haves and have-nots will reach heights never seen before, and tens, if not hundreds of millions of people will fall through the cracks. I hope this incoming administration takes a long, hard look at just how much pain he would cause the fellow Americans he claims to love so much.” 

On left-leaning publications and websites such as the Huffington Post, the Nation and Salon, there were seemingly daily articles predicting impending doom. The Nation put on one issue the headline “The United States: 1776-2017?”. Some people, such as the authors of these articles and many of the commenters on said articles, actually felt that the end of the United States was nearing its end, that the most powerful nation on Earth was soon to meet a horrible, painful demise. Of the hundreds and articles and news segments pumped out by the various commentators, I quite possibly read and watched all of them. While I knew that things were about to get far worse for the vast majority of our population, I was hesitant to think that our nation was now dying. However, I did know that it was sure to be a bumpy ride ahead.

As the calendar flipped to 2017, it was time for the new session of Congress to get to work. After the Republican victories in both houses, Congress did have an even more conservative tilt to it than ever before. On top of David Harris winning the presidential election, the Republican Party added seats in both houses of Congress, going from 254 to 282 seats in the House (out of 435), and from 54 to 59 in the Senate (out of 100). Surely, all that Reed money really made a difference, as many of these new Republican members won their seats on the heels of massive campaign spending, drowning out their Democratic opponents. Also, through a heavy vetting process conducted by the big money donors such as the Reeds and a myriad of Tea Party groups, these Republican freshmen were also ultra-conservative, with views in the vein of David Harris. These newly-minted members of Congress would help Harris pass his agenda once he took office a couple of weeks later. The attack on government spending would now be bigger than ever, and now they finally had the numbers to be successful this time. The far-right had truly taken over, and would now get to rip the New Deal to shreds. “A popular graphic that made the rounds on the internet not long after the election declared “The Republican Party has won every branch of the government, for the first time since 1928.” Republicans gloated about that statistic, but they seem to forgot their history. They perhaps wouldn’t have been so happy to gloat about their accomplishment is they recall what happened the last time they captured every lever of power: In 1929, the Great Depression began.

There were even more changes to the Republican Party leadership. The Tea Partiers had already forced out previous Speaker of the House John Boehner back in 2015, replacing him with Tea Party firebrand Jason Miller, a representative from Alabama who was elected in the first Tea Party wave election in 2010. Miller, a big, burly former college football player of about forty, cowrote a Tea Party budget in 2011, calling for balancing the budget via massive cuts to social spending. He cowrote it with, you guessed it, then-Senator David Harris. Miller easily won the vote among the members of the House for the Speaker’s Gavel, and he intended to wield it aplenty. “This is the dawn of a glorious new era, in which we can finally slay the beast that is big government.” He remarked on January 3rd, the first day of the 115th Congress. The Republicans in the Senate then completed their takeover of that body in January of 2017. replacing their previous leader, Kentucky’s Mitch McConnell, with Utah Tea Partier Lee Michaels. Michaels, a tall, mob boss-looking fellow, was a former corporate executive known for stripping multiple companies bare and sending the jobs off to China, walking away with the profits made and moving on to his next victim. He shared Harris’ beliefs about the role of government, so he was perfect for the job. It was settled, the far-right had their dream team in place for the new session, they managed to wrest control away from the Republican establishment, whom they had been infighting with for years. Their takeover of the U.S. government was now complete. All I could say about this was may God have mercy on us all.

Indeed, it was safe to say that I, like my fellow progressives, was deeply concerned about what lied ahead, despondent even. I had fallen into a depression that I could not perk myself up from, not even pastimes I previously loved like video games or bowling or watching a ballgame. And I began to have nightmares nearly every night, incredibly vivid nightmares which were always about impending doom. These nightmares involved falling, or having incredible stomach pains from hunger. Images of bread lines and eviction notices became seared into my brain, to where I could even see them while awake. Many of these nightmares involved family members or close friends dying. Needless to say, there were many sleepless nights during this time period, as I would often be tired at work due to lack of rest, to the point where I would often nap during my lunch break instead of getting something to eat. While at home, I would find myself pacing back and forth around my apartment, thinking deeply a lot, and it got to the point where I was often distracted at family gatherings, or out with friends, or at work. I definitely came off as very distant when I dissociated every few minutes. My mother would seemingly ask me what was wrong daily, as she frequently called me once I moved away. I always said the same thing: “Oh, nothing Mom, I’m ok, just got a lot on my mind.” I always had issues expressing how I really felt at any given moment, I was always shy in that regard. As the months passed, even I was noticing that I had been growing increasingly distant, my coworkers and friends and family expressed their concerns to me. “Will, what the hell is wrong with you?”, my work buddy Reggie asked me out of the blue one day. “Like, you good? You have been really off lately. You hardly talk, and you have been making more mistakes with your work. I can’t keep covering for you with Milton, you gotta snap out of it somehow.” I apologized to Reggie, and told him that I had a lot on my mind. He knew what was up, that I kept obsessing over the whole situation that was unfolding before our very eyes. I couldn’t help it, I struggled to turn my attention to anything else.

“You need to come out to the bar with me and the boys. That should help you out of this funk or whatever you got going on. Come get some drinks and check out some fine honeys.” Reggie asked, wanting to snap me out of it.

“Okay…..maybe that would do me a lot of good.” I replied.

“Good. Cuz y’all need to get laid.” He shot back with a chuckle before heading back to his desk and I returned to me stack of invoices to get payment approvals for.

It was that day that I had gathered my thoughts and formed a coherent response to everybody’s questions. See, I had a lot of time with these thoughts since the election, since it was almost all I thought about, and I found myself interacting with others much less. I sat down on the couch with a pencil and a notepad I had been using to record football picks for a yearly competition I had with my buddy Andrew (we would pick who we thought would win each week’s football games, the winner at the end of the season won 20 dollars. We kept this up even after Andrew joined the Army, we did the picks over the phone), and started to jot down all of my thoughts as to the whole situation. I was making predictions as to what would happen. I knew that the economy is a vast and intricately connected thing, and that taking out a huge part of it would cause the rest to fall quickly. I hated to even envision this, and the thought of it depressed me deeply, but I came to the conclusion that our economy’s days were numbered, much like the articles from the sites I visited every day were saying, much like James Patton said even before the election. If the Harris Administration made the policy prescriptions that I thought they would, that they had previously expressed interest in enacting, it would trigger a massive collapse of the economy, that we just may never recover from. It would take out entire sectors of the economy one by one, and spread all over the world, since other nations were gearing up with similar proposals of their own. I drew upon my knowledge of the economic system, which I spent years garnering between reading the news and taking economics courses in college. My predictions weren’t that deep on details, at least at first, but I knew that sharp reductions in wages would trigger sharp reductions in retail spending. I knew that for businesses to prosper, consumers needed money to spend on the products and services that businesses sold. Then, the reduced consumer demand would cause manufacturing to fall. Once retail was taken out, there would be less need for manufacturers to make things, hurting them significantly and causing them to let workers go. Job losses would be massive, springing millions into deep poverty, and there would no longer be government help for them, worsening the blow of unemployment. This was to be a vicious cycle, a downward spiral where businesses, who were now losing huge amounts of money, would respond by cutting workers more, and further reducing the pay of those who remained. Many would lose their homes, causing the housing sector to go down before long once evictions and foreclosures start piling up. Then, the grand finale, those housing losses, combined with mass business failures and people burning through what money they had left, would drain the banks dry. Bank failures would start happening, causing a mass ripple effect across the entire economy, causing trillions of dollars to vanish in a puff of smoke. This would all be sparked by a mass reduction in government spending, which varied from twenty to twenty-five percent of the nation’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product, a key measure of an economy’s size), as well as stark reforms to our labor laws. There would be no more laws protecting labor unions, which had helped obtain higher wages and better benefits for workers but had decreased in size and power since the 1980’s due to right-wing attacks. There would also be no more environmental laws, or workplace safety laws, and of course, no more minimum wage laws. This putrid cocktail of new policy was a stark reversal of decades of progress, and was going to create a massive mess. “We’re fucked.” I uttered to myself, resigned to this fate.

Before long, I started communicating these terrible predictions to those around me. I did this as a way of venting, but also to warn people as to what was probably coming. And once I began to prattle on, most people probably wished I went back to dissociating. I surely sounded crazy to everyone, only needing a crazed look in my eyes and a big, scribbled-on whiteboard to complete the insane look. I started my quest to inform with people who I felt more comfortable talking about such matters with, beginning with my sister Leann. Leann was now nineteen years old, she had graduated high school the same year I finished college, and was now working at a store called Claire’s, which sold jewelry, accessories and other assorted products to young girls, that was located in Montclair Place, the local mall. She was tall, with a medium build. She wore glasses and had ever-changing hair, it would be blue one month, then back to her natural blonde the next, then it would be green after that. We still stayed in regular contact once I moved out of my parent’s house, as I would share articles and memes (a form of internet joke) with her. Like I mentioned before, she did share very similar political beliefs as me, I guess I taught her well. One cold, rainy day in late December, right before the swearing in of the new Congress, me and my sisters were hanging out at my apartment. I would like to give my mom a break from them sometimes, though sometimes she would come along as well in order to get out of the house and/or escape from my father, but this time she didn’t. While Briana, now thirteen, was watching TV in my bedroom (her usual shows, which consisted of stuff on Nickelodeon or the Disney Channel), I started telling Leann exactly what I had been thinking about for the previous several weeks since that fateful November night. I told her what I felt would happen, and when it would happen. She was taken aback by my predictions.

“S**t, Bub, is that why you have been acting all weird lately? Do you think all that would actually happen?” she replied to me, looking at me like I were some sort of crazy person.

“Yeah, that is what has been on my mind since November. I can’t shake the feeling that we are fucked. I hate feeling this way, and I wish that I didn’t, but I can’t help it. It is a terrible thing to think about, it’s like I’m fighting with myself constantly. I can’t help but think of this kind of stuff all day long. It’s driving me insane. I try to distract myself with work or a ballgame or playing some Mario on the Wii, but I still can’t stop thinking about all this s**t.” I responded, with an increasingly distressed tone. Yes, I had quite the potty mouth back in the day. A classic case of sailor mouth. Maybe that’s a reason why my parents wanted me to join the U.S. Navy after finishing high school. I felt, however, that my future lay in some cubicle crunching numbers, and producing reports for some rich person to read. The conversation continued.

“Wow, just wow….. I have read some things on Harris, like that issue of Time that you told me about a few weeks ago. I bought it from the Barnes and Noble after work one day, and read it. He believes some crazy s**t. Like, why didn’t Time write that before he won the election? Sounds like he does want to do exactly what you say he wants to do. He said stuff like everyone taking care of themselves or whatever, and he said that if someone struggles, it’s probably their own fault, so they can fix it themselves. It’s like he has no grasp on reality. He’s such an a*****e!”. Leann replied as she recalled the aforementioned issue of Time magazine. Then Leann let out a huge sigh, she didn’t want to talk about this anymore, and neither did I. She went back to talking about some band she had recently started to like, and fired up a song by them on her phone. It wasn’t bad actually, definitely better than the stuff she was into a few years before. The tunes were something that could put my mind elsewhere, at least for a few minutes. The escape, however brief it was, was really nice. I could talk about music, or movies, or what was happening in the sports world, but I couldn’t take my mind off of my thoughts on the economy for long.

I also remember the first day back at work of the new year. I was tending to my stack of reports and unpaid invoices like usual, when I saw a familiar face. It was my pal Reggie. He was African-American, a couple inches taller than me, with a shaved head and a thin, well-kept goatee. We greeted each other with our trademark fist bump, followed by me sitting down at my desk. Our conversation started with talk about the Los Angeles Lakers (our favorite basketball team) game last night. They beat the Los Angeles Clippers, their hated rivals (and who they happen to share their home arena with), in a thriller of a game that went to overtime. They had just started to play well again after a few tough years, but were still a far cry from the great Laker teams of the past. After a few minutes dissecting the play of the team’s promising young stars, the conversation turned more serious:

“Hey Will, what’s going on? Are you feeling okay now?” Reggie sat on my desk, he was clearly still concerned about my well being. “You seem really out of it lately. I’m worried about you man. You are just really off, you’re still messing up with some of the payments you make, and you’re making mistakes with your calculations, which you never do. You’re the most accurate person with that kind of stuff. Milton is getting on my a*s about it again…..You’re my boy, Will, but I can’t be having you messing up so much. I just want you to be okay, alright?”

“Yeah, I’m okay. I mean, I can’t lie, I still have the same thoughts I had last time we talked, but I’m not gonna let them distract me from my work anymore. I feel like I’m gonna have a productive year at work, then maybe Mr. Milton will give me a raise”. I replied with a forced chuckle to Reggie, who had a confused look on his face. He wasn’t sold at all.

“Dude, you gotta stop letting that get to you. I know it sucks that Harris won, the dude is a psycho. I get it, man, I really do. But it’s gonna be okay. He can’t be as bad as you think, you read too much political s**t! Seriously, it’s warping your mind and messing with every other aspect of your life…..I see you staring at your phone all the time on your breaks. That s**t is really messing with you, man!” Reggie shot back at me. I was a bit taken aback by his inquisition, his intervention, if you will. But I knew it came from a place of caring. Anyways, I gave a response.

“I’ve tried convincing myself that, man. I really, really did. But unfortunately I think it IS gonna be that bad. I have been reading so much about it. I got at least a hundred articles and studies bookmarked on my phone, and I wrote it all out over the last couple of weeks….. I think the economy is gonna go down, Reggie. I hate thinking this, but I can’t help it”. Reggie put his hand across his face, seemingly a mixture of being tired and trying to comprehend what I was saying.

I spent the next twenty or so minutes telling him what I thought was going to happen, what my predictions were, in more detail than before, as my thoughts had become even more fleshed out than when I first broke out the notebook. Reggie’s expressions oscillated between agreement and disbelief with some head nodding mixed in. Trying to gauge his expressions, it seemed like he felt that what I was saying made sense, but didn’t want to believe that things would actually get that bad. Reggie was a very intelligent, thoughtful man, he graduated from UCLA (a prominent university in Los Angeles) with honors. Despite his academic prowess, he also struggled to get a job in the accounting field, and had settled on working at Milton Plastics until he can pass the CPA exam and get something better. Here at Milton Plastics, he managed his tasks with aplomb. He had a hand in preparing the financial reports that the company produced, like the income statement and the company’s balance sheet, as well as keeping track of all the transactions in the company journals and ledgers, so he was above me in the Accounting Department hierarchy.

Back to our conversation, he seemed to put the pieces together in his head as I was saying them, as he did share fairly similar beliefs as me (he was probably a bit more moderate that I was), and he voted for Morrison as well. Still, he didn’t pay nearly as much attention to politics as I did. I knew I was surely an outlier in that regard, as I was always glued to political news. I often spent my breaks at work glued to my phone, scrolling through whatever caught my attention that day. Once I finished my big rant, it was 9 A.M., time for the workday to start. Reggie headed off to his cubicle, which was located some fifteen feet from mine. Before he gave me another fistbump and shuffled through the crowd of coworkers who were milling about the office at the start of the day, he turned back to me one more time.

“Man, I hope you’re wrong. Things can’t go down like that. What would my family do if I lost my job? Or if my wife lost her job? We have twins to feed.” Reggie said to me. Reggie’s wife, a sweet, lovely young woman named Melissa who worked as an elementary school teacher, had just given birth to twins, a boy and a girl, eight months earlier. They were a wonderful family, who liked to invite me over for dinner at their house in Brea every couple of weeks or so. They even referred to me as “Uncle Will” to their twins, which I found to be pretty cool.

“You know what man, I hope I’m wrong too. I would love nothing more than to be wrong about all of this. I hope that, in six months time, we look back at this day and you tell me, you were crazy, man! You didn’t know what you were talking about. Everything is just fine.” I responded. Reggie then walked away to start work, and I went back to my report and my stack of invoices that I needed to arrange payments for that day. As much as those I talked to were disturbed at what I had to say, it was therapeutic to speak my mind. Even though most of the people that I knew and interacted with regularly knew what my political leanings were, I didn’t actually express my views all that often. I knew that that particular topic wasn’t one you could discuss with just anyone, so I often kept quiet, especially since I struggled so badly when I would get blowback from others. For some reason, my mind would lock up when that happened. Furthermore, I felt they didn’t want to hear it most of the time, so unless I was talking to Leann, I would only mention political stuff when the other person brought it up. This time it was different, I just had to tell people what I thought would happen, even if they might think I was crazy.

Then came the inauguration day, the day when David Harris would be sworn in as the 45th president of the United States of America, which came on January 20th, 2017. It was a clear, but cold Friday morning in Washington D.C., as a huge crowd gathered on the National Mall to watch their guy, the native son of Knoxville, Tennessee, take the oath of office. The world watched as the presidential oath would be administered by John Roberts, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. The throng of supporters, which was estimated at more than one million individuals, roared in approval as Harris walked down the steps of the West Front of the U.S. Capitol building alongside the outgoing President Obama. Harris then took his position alongside his supportive wife Sarah, and his two young daughters Ann and Michelle. David gave Sarah a quick kiss, and hugged Ann and Michelle, who were fourteen and ten years of age respectively, and spitting images of their father, just with pigtails and freckles. The entire family grinned ear to ear as the big moment approached, all of them waving to the crowd that had gathered to see them. First came the swearing in of Harold Branson, the new Vice President. Tall, portly, bald and bespectacled, Branson was a fellow far-right Senator from Colorado who Harris chose as his running mate. Branson had virtually identical beliefs, and fought for the same causes as Harris, so he was a natural choice to be the vice presidential candidate. Not long after Branson took his oath, Harris came up to stand in place to take his. After being sworn in, he addressed the ecstatic crowd, made up mostly of older white folks waving a mixture of American flags and Gadsden flags, the flag with a snake that said “Don’t Tread on Me” that had become the unofficial flag of Tea Party groups. The group of supporters that attended the inauguration was not unlike what would be seen at his campaign rallies. His winding, nearly 20-minute inaugural address sounded like a campaign speech, touching on the usual themes of liberty and freedom and balancing the budget. Unlike many inaugurations of past presidents, Harris’ inauguration had little ceremony, and he didn’t throw a big party afterwards, like some of his predecessors would do. He was always a deeply private individual, who didn’t care much for the limelight. He would rather have a quiet dinner with his family, some Republican members of Congress, much of his cabinet, and a few foreign dignitaries his first night in office. It was a symbol of smaller government, his supporters crowed the next day.

I remember watching the inauguration on the television in the break room at work. Work stopped for a little while so people can watch the historic moment. Probably half the staff in the office had gathered to view the event. Mr. Milton had the hugest, s**t-eating grin on his face, especially when he looked at me, since he knew I voted for the other guy. He clapped during the swearing in, it was the happiest I had ever seen him. A chill went down my spine the moment President Harris was sworn in, and I broke out in a cold sweat. Reggie had a somber look on his face, shaking his head in disbelief. The responses of the others also went down party lines, depending on the political affiliation of the individual. Hannah Erickson and Travis Veitenheimer were smiling, both at the swearing in and at each other (I think they had a thing going on). Crystal Jordan and Jack Martin and Carolina Felix joined myself and Reggie in moping throughout the proceedings.

After his inauguration, David Harris got right to business. On the following Monday, January 23rd, just three days after taking office. Harris, with his vice president and a couple dozen Republican members of the House and Senate in the background, unveiled his big economic plan in its entirety. His piece de resistance, if you will. It was called the Economic Freedom Act, and was unprecedented in size and scope. In the form of a PowerPoint presentation on the big screen, Harris unveiled it to the nation in a nationally-televised speech, much to either the delight or the horror of everyone, depending on their political leanings. The Economic Freedom Act balanced the budget immediately, and was essentially a complete right-wing economic wishlist. Crafted by the minds at the libertarian Cato Institute, as well as much of the Republican caucus in Congress, it consisted of the following, among other things:

• Altering the tax code, to consist of just two tax brackets, as opposed to the seven that existed before. The brackets were 10 percent and 25 percent. Corporations also saw a reduction in their tax rate, the top rate dropping from 35 to 15 percent. A myriad of tax credits and deductions were also ended, which affected people up and down all income levels, and ensured that everyone with income would pay at least some income tax. No more refunds for lower-income people every year. Taxes would actually rise for the majority of the population.

• Required the federal budget to be balanced at all times, no matter the situation. Far-right Republicans had been calling for a Balanced Budget Amendment for years. Such a requirement would make the federal government unable to expand again once it was shrunk. Conservative groups had been fighting to adding the Balanced Budget Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and now they didn’t need to add it anymore. It was included in this bill. This would make the federal government unable to respond to any economic crisis that may arise in the future.

• Completely ending both Social Security and Medicare, they weren’t even being phased out, like even most conservatives had suggested. This would affect around sixty million elderly and disabled individuals. The elderly had depended on these programs for financial help and health care in their old age, and would no longer receive the benefits into these programs, even though they had been paying into the programs for their entire working lives. For decades, these programs dramatically reduced poverty among older Americans. Before Social Security, seniors had the highest poverty rate among any age groups. With the program, they had the lowest. Tens of millions of seniors were now to lose the only source of income they had.

• Ending the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as the food stamp program, which at the time was helping over forty million individuals have enough to eat. This program had been an effective weapon in the fight against hunger. Without it, food insecurity would rise sharply.

• Ending welfare payments, which gave a small amount of cash assistance monthly to roughly three million people. These payments helped people stay afloat when they fell on hard times.

• Ending unemployment insurance, which replaced some of the lost income when a beneficiary lost their job, through no fault of their own. These benefits helped bridge the gap until the beneficiary could find a new job, absorbing the shock of losing a job, and stabilizing a person’s income. About two million beneficiaries would be suddenly cut off, leaving them with no income. Numerous jobs programs were also ended, making it harder for many to find work.

• Ending housing assistance, such as rent vouchers and public housing. The public housing would be sold off to private interests. The federal government would also stop guaranteeing mortgages. Many poorer people used these vouchers in order to afford a place to live. An estimated five million households depended on some sort of housing support at the time it was cut off, which would leave many of them scrambling to maintain shelter.

• Ending funding for highway construction and repairs. This was expected to offer some relief, as the federal gas tax was ended, but states were now expected to shoulder the cost of maintaining their highways alone.

• Ending federally backed student loans and grants, such as Pell Grants, which helped millions get through college, such as myself. College would now be accessible only to the rich, and those who were able to get scholarships for academic excellence or athletic ability. Many people who couldn’t afford to attend college would now have to discontinue their studies for the time being.

• Ending a vast array of childhood programs, such as WIC, which helped mothers of small children buy food, and Head Start, which was a preschool program. Child care and afterschool programs were also ended, leaving many working parents scrambling to find new arrangements to make sure their children were taken care of while they worked.

• Ending the school lunch program, which helped feed millions of children during the school day. The school meals were, in some cases, the most complete meal that a child in a low-income family would get all day.

• Ending of job training programs, which provided training and employment support for individuals, many of which had just lost their jobs. These programs equipped people with the skills needed to find a new job.

• Ending of Medicaid, a health care program for tens of millions of low-income Americans. Many low-income Americans used Medicaid in order to have health coverage, so ending it was a blow to many people.

• The complete repeal of the Affordable Care Act, President Obama’s health care reform. Coupled with the ending of Medicare and Medicaid, the number of  Americans who lacked health coverage ballooned from around thirty million to around two-hundred million. The ending of tax credits for businesses who provided coverage for the employees added to that number, as many workers lost their private plans when their employers stopped providing coverage for their employees.

• Countless other aid programs were also eliminated, from mental health programs, to programs that provided phones to poor people, to programs that assisted people with their energy bills, among many, many others.

• Cut off all foreign aid, they had been giving roughly fifty billions dollars to different countries, sometimes for that country’s military, but often as food or monetary aid for poorer nations. This would prove to be incredibly harmful to the world’s poorest nations, many of which were already struggling due to various reasons. As a result, the gains the world had made in stamping out hunger would be reversed.

• Sharply decreased military spending, reducing the amount of projects the military undertook, closed down many overseas military bases, and also reduced the pay of members of the military by about half, and ended their benefit programs and the G.I. Bill. The Department of Veterans Affairs was to be shuttered. The administration turned their back to the men and women who were serving our country. Many of those who enlisted did so because of the benefits they would receive, benefits that they could use to improve their station in life, and/or to escape a life of poverty. Many enlisted men and women came from poorer communities, and joined to better their situations, lured in by the promise of steady employment and money to pay for college. Now, those benefits were no more.

• Closed down many federal departments, causing over two million government employees to immediately lose their jobs. The ending of social programs did cause millions of state and county employees to lose their jobs as well, as many programs were administered at the state level.

• Ending of protections for organized labor, as the EFA instituted a “right-to-work” law for the entire nation. Despite being far weaker than they were decades earlier, labor unions still secured higher wages and better benefits for their workers than the workers could otherwise achieve. This also had an effect for non-union workers, as all workers, union or non-union, earned more money in states with stronger union protections.

• Ended the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which was a form of insurance in case a bank failed. This was instituted in the wake of the Great Depression in the 1930’s, when bank failures led to millions of depositors losing all of their savings. Now, people’s money would be at risk in the event of future bank failures, and they could lose everything if they were unable to remove their funds in time. The NCUA, which did the same for credit unions, was also scrapped.

• Ended business subsidies, much of which went to large corporations. The ending of what came to be known as corporate welfare and the reductions in military spending (except the cuts that hurt the members of the military itself) were the only parts of the whole Economic Freedom Act that I actually liked. However, even this had some negative effect, as the ending of farm subsidies would cause food prices to rise somewhat, right as incomes would drop sharply.

• Ended many business regulations, including mass rollbacks of environmental laws, and laws against unfair business practices of all kinds. Businesses would now have the green light to do just about whatever they wanted to their workers, their customers, and to the environment.

• Ending of many workplace safety laws, such as the Occupational Safety and Health Act, which had succeeded in dramatically reducing the number of injuries and deaths on the job. Before these laws were enacted in the early 20th century, thousands of American workers were killed on the job every year.

• Ending of overtime pay laws, which required most employers to pay their employees higher hourly rates for hours worked in excess of the standard forty per week.

• Ending of a variety of protections against discrimination, whether it be due to race or national origin, sex, religious beliefs (or lack thereof), or sexual orientation or gender identity. Protections were not abolished at the state level, and a number of states maintained their protections, mostly Democratic-run states. However, many states have no such protections. For instance, it was legal to discriminate against LGBTQ+ individuals in employment, housing, and other accommodations in 31 of the U.S. states.

• Scrapping various whistleblower protections, which shielded workers from retaliation by employers for reporting wrongdoing on the part of the employer.

• Ending the Family and Medical Leave Act, which allowed workers to take time off in the case of serious personal illness or family member illness, as well as in the wake of the birth or adoption of a child. Workers were able to take off up to 12 weeks (unpaid, unfortunately) for these situations, without putting their jobs at risk.

• Doing away with laws that set limitations on how young workers can be, as well as how many hours children can work. Before the passage of these laws in the early 20th century, it was common for companies to put young children to work, often in dangerous jobs.

• Ending of the minimum wage, which set a wage floor under the lowest-paying jobs. Employers could not pay their workers below this amount, which at the time right before the EFA took effect was seven dollars and twenty-five cents per hour. Several million made the minimum wage, while thirty-five million U.S. workers were paid between the minimum wage and ten dollars and eighty-eight cents an hour, which was fifty percent higher than the minimum. The EFA also overturned minimum wage laws passed by state and local governments, and forbade them from instituting their own wage floors. Countless workers were now at risk of seeing their pay drop, perhaps by quite a lot, while new workers would now be hired at far lower pay rates.

• Abolishing all federal grant programs. Grants given out by the federal government totaled in the hundreds of billions of dollars per year. Dozens of agencies gave out grants, such as most government departments. These agencies gave out the grants to many entities, from state and local governments to nonprofit agencies to private businesses, for a vast array or reasons. Grant programs were for things such as economic and humanitarian assistance, promoting economic progress, healthcare services for poorer individuals, education programs, national security, promoting the welfare of workers and job seekers, improving transportation, protecting the environment, promoting research and development, developing small business, among many, many other things.

So there you have it, the Economic Freedom Act. The EFA was developed by the economic team of the Harris Administration, the Cato Institute, most of the Republican members of Congress, and many of the wealthy financial backers of the Harris campaign, who felt they would have much to gain from the lower taxes they would be paying. The EFA, which would take effect on April 1st, 2017, reduced government spending to the tune of two and a half trillion dollars per year, far beyond anything that anybody except the far-right extremists could even fathom. It also completely upended the entire tax code. For businesses, it was a mixed bag, they got their tax rate reduced, didn’t have to pay payroll taxes anymore, and now were able to treat their workers as terribly as third-world workers were treated, but they lost a lot of their generous subsidies and tax credits, something many in the business community felt was a fair tradeoff. The head of the conservative business group The Business Roundtable remarked:

“Our membership, as well as our leadership, has gone over the contents of this sprawling bill, and we see far more positive than negative in it. The Business Roundtable has always been in opposition to government overreach in business affairs. We hold the position that business owners know best how to operate their businesses, and this bill returns that power back to them. The business community will thrive once more once a more natural economic order is restored…..We wholeheartedly support the passage and implementation of the Economic Freedom Act, and will work to help achieve it, by any means necessary.”

For regular people, it was terrible all around, except for perhaps the richest of the rich, but I predicted that the effects of the EFA would take them down too. If there was nobody left to buy the products and services that businesses were producing, how would the rich continue making any money? The bill would take out over 10 percent of the nation’s economic activity in one fell swoop, and would instantly lower the standard of living for huge swaths of the American population. The EFA went above and beyond even my worst fears, and that cold sweat broke out again as I read the summary of the bill, and re-read it, and re-read it again. I would have read the whole thing, but it clocked in at over two thousand pages, a length that ensured that virtually nobody could read the thing in its entirety, not even the people who would vote on it and ensure its implementation if it passed. The bill actually broke one of David Harris’ campaign promises, in which he vowed to not introduce or sign a bill of over twenty pages. His promise to make lawmaking simpler and more accessible to the people vanished within days of him taking office.

The response to the unveiling of the Economic Freedom Act was swift and completely predictable. Conservative commentators were absolutely ecstatic, the nation would now be run exactly the way most of them wanted it run. Well-known commentator Mary Dennis, a tall, rail-thin blonde who was well known for incendiary statements against racial and religious minorities, titled her nationally-syndicated column the day after the EFA was announced “No more living off the government, now get a job, losers!”. In her venom-filled diatribe, she expounded the virtues of the new policy:

“This Economic Freedom Act is just, it’s just a dream come true. I know that I won’t be paying for these lazy inner-city moochers anymore. All these programs…..they have made us soft and lazy. They’re evil, and I would go so far as to say that this free money has enslaved people in a way, you know? But no more! All I hear from the left is that quality of life would fall for all these people, but don’t you think that maybe these people SHOULD have a lower quality of life? Haven’t they been living the easy life, and leeching off of hard-working taxpayers too long? These people, all these inner-city people and illegals and other ‘low-income people’ can work harder and better their own lives. They will feel better too, I can tell you that!” 

Of course, she ignored the fact that benefits were used close to equally in urban and rural areas (in fact, it was Republican-dominated states that got the most money from the federal government, relative to what they put in, while Democratic-controlled states paid in more than what they received). And of course, she couldn’t lay off her trademark racism in her diatribe, as “inner-city people” was conservative code for “black people”. Their attacks on the poor were typically racially tinged, further evidenced by the fact that Dennis also invoked “the illegals”, who didn’t even qualify for the programs that were ended. Lance Hallman, the old bag of hot air himself, on his radio program, remarked:

“I have no sympathy for any of those the liberals are boo-hooing about today! I don’t, I don’t…..have any sympathy for anyone who lives off the government. These people live off of you and me, folks. But this bill, this glorious, beautiful bill, changes all of that! It’s not my job to pay for people’s health insurance or their college or their birth control. And it isn’t yours either. It is their’s and theirs alone! If they want these things, or anything else, they're gonna have to work for it! They’re gonna have to get up off their lazy behinds and go to work every day, like the rest of us! That’s all there is to it!.....It’s time to pull themselves up by their bootstraps, and make it on their own. They sink or they swim.” 

The whole “pull yourself by your bootstraps” bit was a common conservatvie trope over the years. It was also meant to say that it is an impossible task. Conservative analysis always ignored the fact that most of these poor actually do work hard, and in many cases harder, than those who were more well-off. Hallman dusted off the old trusty right-wing talking points, trying to assure his army of listeners that regular people weren’t completely screwed. After all, a significant number of his listeners also benefitted from government programs in some way, shape, or form.

Fox News ran wall-to-wall coverage, where their myriad of talking heads pretty much said the exact things that Dennis and Hallman were saying on their platforms. Many of their commentators droned on about how the EFA would “jump start” the slumping economy, and be a boost to business. Observers noticed that every Fox News host used the term “jump start” when describing it. Almost as if they got together and decided that they were going to all parrot the same points over and over again. The Fox News coverage continued for weeks following the EFA’s unveiling, as they brought in many of the officials of the Harris Administration to give their comments and their justifications for the EFA. Few would question if this was the right course of action, as if taking food out of the mouths of children and swiping the retirement funds away from people who paid into the system their whole lives was completely okay with them. Wait, what am I talking about? Of course they were okay with it, many of them were advocating these exact policies for years on the propaganda network they called a “Fair and Balanced” news station. Like immediately killing the jobs of over around three million people, and likely killing millions more jobs over the next few months and years was just swell. It got to the point where they were just repeating the same tired lines over and over again, like a broken record. However, one talking head, a higher-up from the Heritage Foundation named Rick Hallman who had assisted the Harris Administration in crafting the EFA, made a big claim. According to him, the economy would indeed shed millions of jobs, and there would, in fact, be an immense amount of pain inflicted by the EFA. “We will probably have a downturn sharper than even the Great Depression, which will be eventually followed by a great economic boom once the proper economic order has been restored”, Hallman said during the interview. He finished off his segment that late January evening by saying that this was “necessary for our great nation to survive” and that the United States would get better once again once it “got the toxins of big government, of liberal government, out of its system”. These segments, as always, provided a window into the warped, selfish mindset of the far-right. It encapsulated one big problem I always had with the conservative mentality. To many conservatives, human beings were expendable commodities, meant to be used and thrown away once they outlived their usefulness. That was the mentality behind corporations fighting labor laws, or moving jobs overseas. They couldn’t treat their American workers poorly, so they moved operations to where they could ruthlessly exploit the workforce. Now, because of the EFA, they can treat American workers poorly once again.

To those who observe conservative media closely, it was painfully obvious that the myriad outlets were all working from the same playbooks, as if one person wrote the scripts they were all using. The most blatant and noticeable example came from the television stations owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group. Sinclair owned close to two-hundred TV stations, scattered all over the United States. At the behest of the corporate owners (who were known Republican donors), the news coverage of each station took a conservative bent, and focused more on national politics than local politics, which was typically the province of local TV stations. People all over the nation took notice at the coverage at Sinclair-owned stations during the debate about the Economic Freedom Act. These stations aired what the company referred to as a must-run segment, packaged segments that were shown at all stations that had news departments. In this case, it was a segment in favor of the EFA. The segment had various anchors, all reading the same script, word for word. The public noticed the blatant, and quite frankly chilling segment. A great example of the powers that be working to manufacture consent, to bring people to favor a deeply unpopular bill. The manifestation of the removal of the Fairness Doctrine by Republican President Ronald Reagan in 1987. The Fairness Doctrine had existed for decades, and required the news to show all viewpoints, and give them equal airtime, so differing views can be examined and weighed. It also forbade media outlets from expressing their own views, to ensure impartiality when covering political issues. It’s abolition allowed for the rise of right-wing media, leading to the formation of networks such as Fox News.

In response to the concerted messaging, a man named Lance Ulrich, a liberal blogger, added a new feature to his blog, recording every instance of right-wing media sources using the same (or at least similar) messaging. Within days, the list grew to hundreds of instances, from all over the country, from both television and radio personalities, as well as numerous GOP politicians at all levels of government, up to and including the President and Vice President themselves. “It seems like the right does not have an original thought, not even on their own signature legislation. So they have some public relations type tell them what to say. Look at all these instances, look at the wording and terminology, there is no way this is not a concerted effort.” Ulrich said during an appearance on CNN.

Conversely, many other commentators, mainly on the left, but also including many mainstream commentators, were appalled by the EFA. CNN ran wall-to-wall coverage, where their on-air personalities picked apart the various parts of the policy and offered their opinions. Most of those opinions were negative, even from their more conservative commentators, who felt that, even though they agreed somewhat with the EFA, that it was way too much, way too soon. “As we all know, my fellow Republicans are ecstatic about all of this.” Remarked Mike Dornan, a former GOP strategist turned analyst. “Some executives I am talking to…..they don’t want me to say this on air, but they are gonna cut wages. And I mean big time, by several dollars an hour for a lot of staff. They won’t admit it, but that’s coming. I don’t agree with that. I get the general desire of the bill, I do think government is too big. But this would be madness.”

Essentially, everyone who wasn’t on the far right of the political spectrum thought that this was a terrible idea. Most of CNN’s talking heads, who were generally middle of the road politically but mixed in people from both the left and right, expressed worry that the changes brought on by Harris’ grand policy would upend the fabric of society, and that it was horrific and cruel. MSNBC, which once tried to bill itself as a liberal alternative to Fox, covered the story much the same way. The few liberal commentators left on MSNBC were in agreement, that this would erupt in chaos. One such commentator, an older, grey-haired and very talkative man named George Christenson, predicted a possible change in society. He felt that the United States will start drifting towards a new caste system reminiscent of the Middle Ages, where a few noble landowners had complete dominance over the rest of the population, which barely scraped by to survive, living a meager, harsh existence with no hope of advancing in life. Christenson believed that the new economic policy would shift the wealth to the wealthy even faster than had happened the previous forty years or so, allowing the elites to accumulate unfathomable amounts of wealth, and run roughshod over everyone else. “We’re moving back to the days of lords and serfs! Life is about to get terrible for most Americans. Within a few decades, we will have a very distinct class system. A few with everything, and everyone else with nothing, but doing all the work. Study up on the Middle Ages, because it will look a lot like that!” He told a guest during one show. However, he did not predict complete collapse. The economic forecasts, at least the ones that weren’t from right-wing think tanks, weren’t pleasant. 

One such report that came out in February, and was aired on the evening news on the major networks and all the cable networks except for Fox News, was from Macroeconomic Advisers, a nonpartisan group that had previously advised major corporations as well as presidents of both parties. Macroeconomic Advisers was not kind at all towards the EFA, predicting “catastrophic consequences” while predicting an extremely sharp downturn “of a veracity that has never been seen before.” Spending cuts of that size would shrink the economy by a whole twenty-five percent in 2017 alone, according to their detailed calculations (the previous worst year on record was a drop of twelve percent, in 1932). There would also be a loss of jobs in excess of twenty-five million, and combined with the number of seniors reentering the workforce due to the loss of Social Security benefits, would cause the unemployment rate to rise above thirty percent, which would rank as the highest in American history. Worst of all, the group explained that “there is no way we can foretell exactly the ensuing chaos that this EFA would unleash”, and also that “the situation would get worse for an unknown period of time, and reach depths that we can’t possibly determine at this point. No model exists of what exactly could happen in the long run. But all signs point to not only a sharp downturn, but a very long one as well, at least the length of the Great Depression, if not longer.”

Macroeconomic Advisors were not the only economic experts who sounded the alarm bells. In early March, a letter signed by several hundred prominent economists, ranging from liberals to moderates and even a few conservatives (and included over a dozen Nobel Prize winners for Economics), warned of the negative effects that the EFA would cause. The letter spoke of “dire consequences” to workers and to the natural environment. In the letter, the economists wrote:

“Large-scale wage cuts are likely, the lowest-paying lines of work may see pay levels drop to as low as four dollars per hour, or perhaps even less in some cases. The wholesale ending of anti-poverty programs, coupled with wage cuts, will lead to mass economic dislocation, affecting tens of millions of workers. These individuals would drop into poverty, if they aren’t already. This will then spread to higher-paying jobs as demand all across all economic sectors will fall sharply over time. The lack of demand for goods and services will, before long, lead to large numbers of job losses, perhaps the worst job losses ever seen in the United States. If significant portions of the Economic Freedom Act aren’t overturned, and in fact, are allowed to take effect, it will unleash an economic depression, perhaps dwarfing the Great Depression in size and scope. Therefore, we recommend that the Harris Administration and Congress reconsider its stance, and amend or repeal the Economic Freedom Act, before it takes effect. If it is implemented, even for a short time, it will cause irreparable harm to the U.S. economy.”

Within hours of the release of the letter, it was blasted by many conservative media outlets, as right-wing talk radio hosts all over the country deemed it to be “liberal propaganda”. The most well-known response came from Erick Wendell, a nationally-syndicated radio host and former Fox News host. Wendell, known for being rather emotional on the air, was downright yelling into the microphone that day. “This is pure rubbish, meant to get the American people back on the government teat! They don’t want us to be free! They HATE FREEDOM!” exclaimed Wendell. He wasn’t done, calling the conservative economists who signed on the letter “a bunch of turncoats, who betrayed the conservative movement. I mean, they played themselves off as so-called experts. But any true conservative, the true patriots see right through the smoke and mirrors. They showed their true colors today, I’ll tell you that! We will return to a constitutional government!” His rant was pretty similar to most other right-wing commentators on talk radio and Fox News that day, but Wendell’s take on it was certainly more fiery and emotional. Wendell was in tears by the end of his spiel, as he was known for crying while on the air. He finished his rant by proclaiming that “we are at a crossroads as a country. We can return to the time-tested values of small government and free markets. For far too long, people in Washington D.C. have had the crazy idea that government can manage the economy. That idea was, and still is wrong. Now, we have a once in a lifetime opportunity, to restore the American Way, and we can’t pass up that great opportunity. We must pass the Economic Freedom Act into law!” 

Among all of the countless takes on the topic, the best response to the EFA came from MSNBC’s best-known liberal personality, a whip-smart, bespectacled woman named Renee Meadows. Meadows had occupied the main prime-time slot (prime-time was what the evening hours were called in the TV industry, it was the time of day when TV viewership was the highest) on MSNBC for the previous ten years, giving her left-leaning takes on the day’s hottest stories. This was by far her biggest story yet, and she did not disappoint her faithful viewers. She aired scathing stories every evening on her show, as she asked people all over the country to share their stories, their fears, their thoughts of what the EFA would mean for them. “With all this talk about the EFA, I want to hear from you.” Meadows remarked the night she introduced the new segment. “I want to know, and I suspect the American public wants to know, about what you think of this new law.”

She introduced us to many of these people, such as Rita Jones, the government employee from Arlington, Virginia who was losing her job because the Department of Housing and Urban Development was being scrapped. “I have no idea where our meals are gonna come from once April comes. I have four kids, and I’m gonna have no income. And I also worry about the people who relied on our agency to have a roof over their heads. What will become of them?” Another night, Meadows spoke to Gloria Trujillo, an elementary school principal from Riverside, California who was worried about her students going hungry throughout the day. “I can’t stop thinking about the kids, the millions of children from low-income families who would no longer get free or reduced price lunch at school. I have been talking to parents, and setting them up with food banks and food pantries, to ensure their kids can eat. A lot of these families are also on food stamps, which are also going away. I talk to these parents every day, they’re so scared. They call the school office, some of them are in tears about all of this. They worry about their kids. They don’t make enough money to feed everyone. They’re losing their SNAP benefits, AND many of them are seeing reductions in their pay. Just today, I hugged and comforted a mother who has two kids who go to my school. She broke down when we were talking about the family situation. We’re all just so terrified! And there is nothing I can really do about it, other than perhaps point them towards food pantries.” She spoke to some of the seniors that were to be deprived of their hard-earned Social Security and Medicare benefits. “I worked for over fifty years to be able to retire. And now they’re telling me I won’t get Social Security checks or Medicare anymore? I paid into these out of every check I ever got from every job I ever worked, and now they’ll be gone? What kind of life will I have after that? I’m gonna have to move in with my kids, and be a burden the rest of my life! None of us deserve this!” Worried Glenn Lehman, a seventy-year old former factory worker from Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin. Then there was Christine Guyton, a McDonald’s employee from Springfield, Missouri: “My pay is getting cut by half because the minimum wage is getting eliminated. Literally the day after the EFA got signed, the franchise owner, who owns a bunch of locations, called all of us together during a slow time of day. He announced we will each have our pay cut in half. Every one of us, even the shift managers. He said he was going to each of his locations to break the news himself. I have two kids, how will I feed them on five dollars an hour? I am already living with my parents at twenty-nine years old, and my mom’s pay is getting cut at her job too. How are we all supposed to survive this?”

Meadows also would interview those in lower-paying jobs, most of which were to see pay cuts once the EFA kicks in. Such as Melissa Hatchett, of Lexington, Kentucky. “I work as a maid, cleaning houses for wealthy folks on the other side of town. My pay is getting cut a whole 40 percent, as is everyone else on the staff. Some of my coworkers were in tears after hearing that, as we drove to our first house of the day. Several of these ladies are also single moms, a couple of them had recently escaped abusive partners. And they know this pay cut will make things much harder. I know it will get harder for me. I have a little boy to feed, he’s only six. AND I am losing my food stamps as well…..I was at the grocery store the other day, and I pulled out my EBT card to pay. I have gotten snide comments from cashiers and other customers before for using food stamps, people saying stuff like ‘you’re welcome’, as if I’m personally using their money to feed my kid. But it has gotten more brazen lately. The other day, this old man in line behind me hollered, for everyone in the line to hear, ‘How do you feel, knowing that you can’t use my money to buy stuff anymore? You gotta buy your own food now, you lazy a*s!’ Mind you, I was in my work uniform when he said that.”

Each new airing of her show brought several new stories of upcoming misery, much more powerful than any magazine or newspaper article can possibly convey. Night after night after night, millions watched and learned what their fellow Americans are going through. The stories showed the viewer the pain that would hit all across America come April 1st. Meadows’ ratings shot up, at least among the people who didn’t cancel their cable subscriptions in anticipation of a job loss or pay cut. Her show became the highest-rated cable news program, even topping all the shows on Fox News, who had long been the most-watched cable news network. 

All of these daily stories had an effect on me, and worked to make me feel more sure of my dire predictions (and to make myself more depressed). One story, which aired in mid-March, tugged at my heartstrings more than any other. It was the story of Mary Ann Williams, a wheelchair-bound African-American woman in her mid to late-fifties who resided in Washington D.C. Mary Ann was going to lose her housing, and all forms of her income. She had been getting Social Security Disability benefits since suffering a debilitating stroke four years earlier, leaving her unable to work at her longtime job as a city bus driver. She also collected a small amount of food stamps that helped her immensely in obtaining enough food to eat each month, while her daughter Sharice helped out for the rest. She got Medicaid health insurance, which allowed her to get needed medications for pain management and for her heart troubles, and allowed her to make doctor appointments, and even helped her get the wheelchair she uses to get around. Lastly, she got housing assistance which allowed her to keep a roof over her head. The home she lived in wasn’t in the best condition, with dangerous mold and electrical issues, but she wasn’t homeless during those cold D.C. winters. The EFA was, of course, eliminating all the programs she benefited from. “I’m losing all the assistance that I really need to live. There goes my house, most of my food, my medicine, and all my income.” Williams said during her interview, wiping away tears. “I have no idea what I’m gonna do, or how I’m gonna survive. Everyone in my housing complex has similar dilemmas. They are giving us until the end of April to get our stuff and get out, because they know we’re losing our Section 8 vouchers and won’t be able to make our rent anymore…..Some of us will move in with family or friends. Most people are already bunching up in small houses, what with the changes that’s happening, but some of us have nobody else, what are they going to do? Go live in the park? Go…..live under a bridge somewhere? Or on the side of the road in a tent? There’s gonna be a whole lot of homeless people all over this country, all because of Harris and his pals. They are ruining so many lives with this Economic Freedom Act, and they simply don’t care!” I was actually in tears by the end of this story, as it really highlighted how the poorest and most vulnerable members of our society will be the hardest hit by the EFA. Most of those at the bottom of the income ladder will lose everything, or very close to it. The EFA was to be harsh and cruel to the poorest Americans, something we were sure to start seeing everywhere very soon.

On top of the heart-wrenching stories being told five days a week, Meadows had another ingenious idea for her show, a big countdown clock located behind her desk that showed the number of days, hours, minutes and seconds until midnight on April 1st, a clock that she called the Countdown to Chaos. This countdown also was put up on the website for Meadows’ program. On top of her daily stories of impending personal anguish and despair, she also made claims, much like that Fox talking head, that there would be tens of millions of jobs lost. However, unlike her conservative counterpart, she said that there may be no “getting better” from this. This was likely to be the granddaddy of all economic downturns, she said. The Great Depression would be “a walk in the park compared to this”, she said. To her and her viewers, the writing was on the wall, the U.S. economy was facing utter ruin. 

“This country is on the verge of what would be the worst decision it has ever made, and that is saying something, since we have supported senseless wars and enslaved an entire race of people. Each of the changes proposed by the Economic Freedom Act would be disastrous on their own, but when combined, like this abomination of a bill would do, it creates a Voltron that will doom us all. Societies work best when we look out for each other, when we’re all in this together. This bill moves us away from that, and back to the dog-eat-dog, every man for himself ethos that marked past eras. The conservative mentality boils down to ‘I got mine, screw everyone else.’ We can’t go back to that. We mustn’t go back to that. But if President Harris and the Republicans in Congress get their way, we are going back to that. So, anyone who believes in a fair, just society, where everyone gets a chance to live and to prosper, we must fight back against the Economic Freedom Act. Our livelihoods, and for many of us, our lives, they all depend on it. The American people must fight back against this economic weapon of mass destruction.”

As for the public, well, they weren’t happy at all. In the days and weeks following the announcement of the Economic Freedom Act, protests began to break out all over the country. The protests, which were mostly sponsored by the labor unions that would be gutted by the EFA, attracted a diverse group of individuals, from working-class folks, to college students, to seniors, from every social class, every age group, every race, every religion. Indeed, the more people learned about the specifics of the EFA, the angrier they were. In the larger cities, the protests attracted tens of thousands. All in all, it was the largest protest movement in the history of the nation, with an estimated ten million people participating in at least one march.

I even attended a couple of these protests, at least the ones that were held on weekends, so I didn’t have to miss work. My boss was already giving me a hard time for even attending the event (he was a hard-core conservative, a proud Harris voter). “I didn’t take you for one of those whiny crybabies who do those marches” Ken Milton sneered at me when he learned of my plans, which he must have overheard when I told Reggie about them. So if I missed a day at work, I would probably lose my job at the worst possible time to lose my job. One protest I went to was in Downtown Los Angeles, as over fifty-thousand marched through the downtown streets to City Hall. The massive crowd grew even louder as time passed on that sun-soaked February afternoon. The second one was a far smaller gathering in Pomona, which I managed to drag Leann along with me for. The crowd was smaller, but no less boisterous or passionate, as we marched and held signs and hollered slogans. These protests erupted in hundreds of cities and towns, big and small, in every region of the country. While the gatherings were peaceful for the most part, some did unfortunately end in violence. Guess which protests the media covered the most? The violent ones of course. Media outlets, especially Fox News, took some time away from their coverage of the EFA to cover protests that turned violent in cities such as Los Angeles, New York, Baltimore and Seattle, showing scenes of disgruntled young people throwing rocks at police or tipping cars over, or even setting fire to cars or looting businesses. Anything to turn the people against a good, mostly peaceful movement. The media always worked to tamp down enthusiasm for any movement that serves the people.

Regarding the protesters, the always bloviating Rich Hallman remarked the day after the Seattle protest, “These protesters, these thugs, need to put down the rock and pick up a job application. Get over it, you lost. Most people are tired of your stupid little tantrum.” Of course ignoring the fact that many of the protesters were in fact employed (again, conservatives never let facts get in the way of their narrative). After the negative attention the protests got, and a campaign by some large employers such as McDonald’s and Walmart (among others), in which they threatened to fire any of their employees who participated in the anti-EFA protests, even in their free time, the protests began to die down. Even though the protest movement faded away somewhat, the approval ratings for David Harris took a tumble, as most saw the EFA as an affront to this country, and what made it great. Harris’ approval rating tanked, falling down to around twenty percent by mid-February. He had not even been in office a month yet, and many people were calling for his removal from office, as his approval ratings were far lower than any of his predecessors at the same point of their presidencies. Surely many of those people who had voted for him the previous November were now dealing with buyer’s remorse, and hoped for him to get kicked out of the White House as well.

In fact, we did learn about some Republicans who were dismayed at what they voted for. Nationwide, we began seeing television and radio ads, as well as newspaper columns and billboards from a group called Remorseful Republicans. All throughout the debate and implementation of the EFA, we heard stories from former Harris supporters from a wide variety of walks of life, but with a united message: This is not what we voted for. “I was looking for a change in leadership. I had always voted Republican, they portrayed themselves as the responsible party. Not wasteful, but compassionate still. David Harris is not compassionate, and this Economic Freedom Act is not representative of American Values.” Said Melinda S., a teacher from Mississippi. “I worked my whole life, and now David Harris turns his back on seniors. If he said anything about touching Social Security, I would not have voted for him, and neither would anyone else I know.” Remarked Bob H. from Nevada.

As the debate about the Economic Freedom Act began, supporters of the sweeping bill poured millions upon millions of dollars into ads and flyers and billboards, extolling the supposed virtues of the EFA. In the days following the unveiling the EFA, public support for it was quite low, usually around 15 or so percent. Even among Republicans, support for the bill hovered around 40 percent. Even President Harris’ own party was largely in opposition of his signature piece of legislation. To build up support among the American people, various political groups, including Freedom Now, and Americans For Liberty, as well as Restoring American Freedom, poured nearly 100 million dollars into these ads. These slickly packaged ads often spoke of freedom, and boasted that they would lower taxes for ordinary Americans. “It’s time to make America a free nation once again, and return to what the Founding Fathers envisioned” one ad bellowed, with the song “America the Beautiful” in the background. “The Economic Freedom Act will put more money into your wallets, and return your healthcare decisions to you, where they belong.” crowed another. “The Economic Freedom Act will put America on the path to prosperity. Within two years, unemployment will become a thing of the past. We will once again be competitive with the rest of the world.” Said another, in perhaps the most fantastical claim of them all. Most of the ads made an effort to obscure the actual intent of the bill, and the damage that it would surely cause.

One of the ads, which mostly aired in deeply conservative areas, but had a few airing nationwide, played to the racial resentments held by many whites in this country. The ad, which was immediately derided as racist by all reasonable segments of society, continued to air in the South and in rural markets, and was praised by conservatives. “They’re simply telling it like it is” remarked Lance Hallman on his show the day after it first aired. This commercial, which flickered with various images of racial minorities, like a black mother with her children, or a Latino family, had ominous music in the background, and said “For too long, our great country has given too many a free ride. These welfare queens have lived the high life off the hard work of taxpayers. These illegal aliens have taken our job and our tax dollars. The Economic Freedom Act will put an end to that, and give your hard-earned money back to you, and other hard-working Americans. We need you to make sure your members of Congress pass the Economic Freedom Act. Your country, your future and the future of your children is at stake.” Unfortunately, this blatantly racist ad worked wonders, raising approval for the EFA by a whopping 11 percent points among whites, who were the only racial group where any real support for it existed. Whites, especially conservatives, always gladly supported policies that harmed them, if they harmed non-whites as well. I never got how so many valued harming those not like them over helping themselves. As former President Lyndon Johnson once said, and I am paraphrasing, “If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best black man,he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket.Hell, give him somebody too look down on,and he’ll empty his pockets for you.”

The firestorm over the EFA only intensified right before Congressional debate on the bill was to begin. Bradley Comstock, a conservative member of the House of Representative from Colorado who was elected in that big Tea Party wave of 2010, was secretly recorded during a speech he gave at a big-dollar fundraiser with many of the donors who bankrolled the Tea Party revolution in recent election cycles, including the Reed brothers. The comments Comstock made showed the true intent of the far right:

“I know that some of you have been a bit concerned about the contents of the Economic Freedom Act. Some of you have come to me and the other architects of the bill, telling me that maybe we’re moving too fast. Maybe there might be some backlash. Or that we should be phasing stuff like Social Security or the minimum wage out over time. And I get what you’re all saying. However, this is the best chance we will have in a long time to accomplish all of this. This is a momentous occasion for conservatives. We have to act now, despite any consequences we may suffer, because we know full well that this bill is very unpopular. We know that a lot of us may lose our seats in a couple of years, but that’s fine. This is what we believe in, and we have to go for it now. Because if we pare down this bill, and take provisions out, then we won’t be able to do those things down the line. I know there is a chorus of people, drumbeating for our heads on a pike. All our offices are bombarded, every single day, with phone calls, with emails, with letters, begging us not to do this. Even staunch Republicans, people who proudly voted for me every single election, are telling me that they don’t like the Economic Freedom Act. They are saying they do not want this to pass, or that things should be taken out. Not only am I getting this, but everyone in Congress, both Republican and Democrat. But it is still the right thing to do, and I am committed to it, no matter how unpopular it is, no matter how much propaganda and brainwashing there is to defeat it. Our founding fathers, the great men who built this country from nothing…..they knew of the dangers of letting the majority, the mob, govern. This system is not meant for majority rule, it never was. It was meant for us powerful and well-off few to rule, we’re the best of the best. That is what the founding fathers intended. And that is how I intend to legislate. I know that Mitt Romney caught a lot of hell for expressing similar sentiments in 2012, with his 47 percent comments. But he was absolutely right in what he said. There are a lot of people, who simply feel entitled to food, or shelter, paid for with other people’s money. So of course a lot of people are mad about the Economic Freedom Act. Seeing all of the outrage has only strengthened my resolve to see this bill into law. This bill, this is the most magnificent piece of legislation in the history of this great, exceptional country, and it will pass. This bill fulfills the vision and dreams of those men, it captures the spirit of 1776. That is why we must pass it, by any means necessary.”

Predictably, these comments caused an absolute firestorm when they were leaked to most of the major news outlets. It was the leading story on every non-Fox news channel, as well as the evening network news broadcasts. It showed us all the true intent of those who created and supported the EFA. Some far-right economists long believed that the well-off few should have the only say in how the economy is run, and their vision was represented in this sweeping bill. “The Republicans finally felt they can say the quiet part loud, didn’t they?” Quipped James Patton on his show. “This is something they would never have the stones to say to any of us, but it is what they have always thought, and what they say amongst themselves. This, folks, is how these people talk when they think no one else is listening…..The cowards knew full well that the people would run them out on a rail if we knew their true intentions.”

Within days of its announcement, it was time for the debate on the Economic Freedom Act to begin in Congress. As expected, the debate for and against it was very intense, with fiery arguments made on both sides. Conservatives felt that the EFA was exactly what the nation needs, while liberals and moderates decried the bill, claiming it to be national suicide, a mammoth blunder. House Democratic Leader (and former Speaker of the House) Nancy Pelosi of California said that if the EFA passed and was signed into law, that “America was signing its own economic death warrant”. Despite the objections of Democrats, the EFA passed the deeply conservative House of Representatives easily, by a margin of 234-197, with forty-four Republicans deciding to cross over to vote against it, and four others abstaining. I shuddered after watching the news story on the vote, hearing the House Republicans erupt in cheers upon hearing the measure passed while the Democrats yelled “Shame!”. As the Republicans cheered and hooted and hollered, Democratic Representative Raul Grijalva of Arizona gave a speech, against the will of the Speaker of the House, who continuously banged his gavel in a futile attempt to restore order. “What is wrong with you all over there? Have you no humanity? Have you no decency? Do you realize what you are doing with this bill?” At this point, many on the Republican side started to laugh and jeer and give thumbs-down signals to him, but Grijalva continued: “You will deprive millions of basic necessities, just so the rich can have even more? They don’t need more! What about those who will go without food? Or without medicine? Without shelter? Should we just let these people die?” At this point, a few dozen Republican members of the House yelled “Yes!” in unison. Which proved that the GOP indeed had no humanity.

After this vote, it was on to the Senate, where it would be more difficult to pass. Under normal circumstances, it would take a whole 60 percent to get a bill to pass the Senate, and there were only fifty-nine Republicans, not all of which were supportive of the bill. However, since the EFA involved the budgeting process, a process called reconciliation could be used so only a majority vote would be needed. This process was used by both parties to achieve their ends over the previous few decades (for instance, the Democrats used it to pass the Affordable Care Act back in 2010), and this time, Republicans were going to ram a deeply unpopular bill through the Senate with it. Despite boisterous objections from Democrats, and the fact that several moderate Republicans crossed party lines to oppose it, the bill narrowly passed the Senate 52-48, again to the cheers from the most conservative members of the chamber. Within hours of the Senate vote, the bill reached President Harris’ desk, where Harris signed it happily, with his family, several of his aides, dozens of Republican members of Congress, some corporate executives, and oddly, the Reed brothers in the background. All of them had these creepy smiles on their faces, as they were just too happy about this. Both of the Reed brothers had the same s**t-eating grin on their faces, as their life’s work was finally coming to fruition. The fundamental transformation of the United States economy was now fully set in motion, for better or worse. “This is a great new day for this great nation. And I am proud to be the one who gets to make it happen.” Harris stated seconds after signing the Economic Freedom Act into law. I remember watching the signing on the evening news broadcast, a cold chill swept over my body as I saw Harris sign the bill, not unlike the cold chill I got when watching him get sworn in during his inauguration.

The implications of the conservative takeover of the United States, and in other wealthy nations, reached far and wide. Soon after David Harris introduced the Economic Freedom Act, several other nations, which included Canada, Great Britain, Italy, Russia and some others, announced plans to implement similar changes to their economic systems. These nations, which had all elected right-wing or right-leaning leaders in the last several years, were mainly inspired by the EFA, but also the general economic malaise of Europe, which never fully recovered from the Great Recession and, in fact, fallen into another continent-wide recession. This economic stagnation caused right-wing powers to be able to take power in different countries. Newly empowered by the far-right turn that the U.S. took, they felt it was time to do exactly the same. In fact, American economists and business leaders went from nation to nation to help foreign leaders craft their own versions of the legislation, tailored to their nation’s situations. Much to the glee of big businesses worldwide, the Economic Freedom Act was going global, and a new era of business was to dawn. Corporate executives around the world applauded the impending changes, as they surely wanted to get out from under the regulations and welfare states in their home nations.

Led by a man named David Cameron, the British Prime Minister (their head of government) who had been making cuts to the British government for years now, these leaders gathered together in London in early February to announce that they too were going to implement their own versions of the EFA. It was speculated that these leaders were getting their cues from the Harris Administration, as Cameron and the other leaders met with President Harris the day before they announced their plans. All of the international versions of the law, just like the U.S. version, would take effect on April 1st, 2017, and implement nearly identical things. In fact, the Canadian and European versions of the law would go even further than the U.S. version would, as these nations all had more extensive safety nets than we did. These countries all had some version of a universal healthcare system, which would be scrapped. Most had higher minimum wages, as well as mandated vacation time, parental leave for when one had a new child, paid medical and family leave, cheaper or tuition-free college, and stronger unions. Yes, the world was going to follow the United States right off the damn cliff, all together, and the people will all be worse off for it.

Furthermore, since those countries were putting in place far-right doctrine, the pressure was on the wealthy nations that were holding out, intent on preserving their social welfare systems and labor laws. Seeing that their fellow leaders were committing economic suicide, some nations, including Norway, Sweden, Denmark, France, Spain, Greece and others, boldly stated that they would keep their social contracts in place, much to the relief of their citizens. These nations had mostly resisted the turn to the right, especially Greece, which had fallen on especially hard times in the several years preceding 2017. Why were they so hard-hit, do you ask? Well, Greece was greatly affected by the Great Recession, causing their national debt to go out of control. Conservatives the world over pointed the finger at excessive spending on the part of the Greek government as the reason that Greece struggled so badly, when it was actually a housing bubble that popped and caused their issues, as well as the general worldwide recession. Nations such as Germany would go on to help Greece out with bailout money, but only on the condition that Greece enact draconian spending cuts, fairly similar to the level that the EFA was about to enact. As a result of the cuts, as well as tax hikes, Greece’s economy crashed, and it crashed hard. The economy fell into a full-on depression with around thirty percent of the population out of work, and incomes in a tailspin. Any attempts to get out from under the boot of the austerity forced upon them were met with a swift, brutal reprisal from the powers that be.

The European leaders who initially resisted the proposed changes, especially Francois Hollande, the left-wing President of France, used what happened to Greece as a cautionary tale of what would happen if their nations enacted the reforms that their right-wing counterparts were pursuing. “We will not go the way of America, of Britain, of Canada. We believe in a society in which we take care of our own, where we are all in this together…..No civilized nation should even think of making the changes some of our fellow nations are making.” Hollande declared in a speech that was watched by much of the French population.

Despite the bold stand, multinational corporations, like sharks smelling blood in the water, put immense pressure on the holdout nations, to make them put in place their own Economic Freedom Acts. These multinationals saw their opportunity to wipe out the labor laws that they had fiercely opposed for decades. They would get the opportunity to pay the starvation wages that they typically would have to use outsourced labor in poor nations for. Throughout February, and into March, the massive multinational companies, from energy companies to retail stores to automakers and everyone in between, threatened all the holdout nations. They would move millions of jobs out of those countries, and give the jobs to nations that have embraced so-called “economic freedom”, where they can pay the workers far less, pay less in taxes and abuse their workers and the environment all they want. Business leaders finally had the opportunity they wanted all along, to bring back the old order of yore, where they held all the power. And they were not about to let that opportunity to slip away.

Furthermore, those nations who had embraced the mass austerity had threatened to cut off trade with the nations that held out, a move reminiscent of what European leaders had threatened to do to Greece. The nations that refused to play by the new rules would see a horrendous drop in their exports, a move that was sure to annihilate their economies. President Harris proclaimed that “I am so pleased to see so many nations wishing to restore a more free economy, where the possibilities are endless. I hope that the rest of the world can join us. Unfortunately, we are seeing some resistance to these ideas. The citizens in these other nations wish to have the freedoms that Americans take for granted, their leaders should understand what their people want. That is why I urge them to join the United States, as well as many others, in creating a more free world…..And if they continue to behave like this, we may have to take some measures that I’d rather not take. We may have to put in place sanctions to those nations who do not wish to join with America and its allies in economic freedom, which may include suspending trade with these places.”

Before long, these threats, which included public announcements, advertising campaigns, and mass layoff notices to workers, started to wear on the holdout leaders. The holdout nations had to sell out their people. It was either ruin their own economy, or have some giant soulless corporations do it for them. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras vowed to hold the line in the face of this immense pressure: “We will not allow the Americans, the Brits, the Germans, or anyone else to bully us into submission. We know, perhaps better than anyone, the pain that would be inflicted to our population if we passed a so-called ‘Economic Freedom Act’. There is no freedom in that law, only slavery for the people.We have seen the effects of the type of austerity that many nations, led by the United States and their evil leader, are about to inflict upon themselves. And I cannot stand to see my people suffer anymore than we already have.” He said to the applause of much of the Greek Parliament. And the people cheered as well. In nation after nation, polls showed that large majorities of citizens wanted their leaders to stand strong against the pressures. Even those who would stand to lose their jobs wanted their safety nets preserved. “I got a pink slip yesterday, but I hope Hollande stays strong. We cannot let America bully us. This new law they want us to pass, it would hurt so many of us. I do not want France to become like America. The American system is ugly, and treats human beings like garbage.” Remarked a French factory worker who participated in an anti-EFA march in front of the Parliament building. “I remember the days of austerity…..so many of my family, friends, and neighbors lost their livelihoods. Those who still worked, worked for less. Crime grew, and many went hungry and lost everything.” Recalled a Greek protestor who watched his leader give his speech, tears flowing down his cheeks. “I thank Tsipras for not giving in to the Americans. He knows what happened when we were forced into the austerity, the same austerity others are doing willingly now. I fear that we may have no choice to do the same thing.”

Despite leading the charge, France buckled first, as they passed their form of the EFA on March 2nd. The French Parliament wanted to compromise, in order to preserve some of their safety net, including their much-loved universal healthcare system, considered among the world’s best, but when the layoff notices and ads started again, the left-leaning members of Parliament caved. President Hollande resigned in a tear-filled press conference, and a subsequent election led to a new right-leaning government taking power, as voters were angry at the “coward” Hollande. Next was Spain (another country that was crushed by austerity cuts earlier in the decade), whose government gave in on March 7th. By March 24th, the remaining holdouts had given up. The multinationals even went after developing nations, the nations who produced much of the world’s goods and raw materials. Even paltry minimum wage levels and labor rules and anti-poverty programs were frowned upon. Nope, the minimum wage must completely go, or their jobs go. These poor and middle-income nations also had to adopt the policies that big business wanted, so as to maintain their tenuous positions in the world economy. The corporate world showed no mercy, and they had the money and resources to bend any nation to their will. It was a full-on coup by the corporate world, and they won, much to the chagrin of working-class and poor people all over the world. Greed won the day.

This was a stunning development that I even didn’t fully predict. I knew that the election of David Harris portended disaster here in the U.S., but I did not, in any way, think that the rest of the world would go for it. I felt that conservatives and corporations might try to get the EFA exported worldwide, but I didn’t think they would be this successful. “Oh my God, oh my God, everyone is doing it! Have you been watching? This is the worst law ever made, and every country in the world decided to go along with it! Everybody is simply marching off the f*****g cliff. Well, it’s probably game over for everyone! All those things I said…..it’s gonna happen all over now!” I protested to Leann one day over the phone. She had called me when she heard the news, and wanted my take on it, like she often did nowadays. She had even taken to telling her best friends my predictions, in hopes of informing as many people as possible. She was also poring over political news just like I was, if not as obsessively.

The response to the new economic order of the world, people protested furiously. Protests far surpassing anything seen in the U.S. popped up in cities all over the world, from Europe to Latin America to Asia to Australia. The European protests all made the American protests look like a nice afternoon picnic at the park. London, Paris, Rome and Berlin all saw groups numbering in the millions protesting. College students losing their free or lower-priced tuition. Senior citizens seeing their public pensions, which they worked for their whole lives, go up in smoke. Sick people losing their access to medicine. Mothers and fathers losing the maternity and paternity leave they used in order to be with their newborn children. The protesters that filled parks and public squares came from all walks of life, but they all had something in common, they were all going to get royally screwed by these changes. Many protesters burned effigies of the leaders of whatever nation they were in, as well as of David Harris, the man who set this chaos in motion. Unlike in the U.S., the demonstrations overseas continued for months.

And many of these protests turned violent. France, well known for their protest movements, absolutely lost it when their bill passed. In all of their major cities, riots led to damaged businesses, destroyed property, and lost life. In the city of Toulouse, riots persisted for weeks, claiming over two hundred lives, and ended in damage to much of the city. In Paris, the capital city, people wearing yellow vests clashed with police, burning cop cars and looting businesses, especially ones who spoke in support of the bill. At one point, a group of protesters gathered near the French Parliament building with a guillotine, calling for the heads of all who voted in favor of the law establishing their new economic order. In city after city, the National Guard had to be called in to restore order, at the cost of hundreds of lives. All in all, over fifteen-hundred French lost their lives in the demonstrations, and the government put in place a national curfew. Violence and skirmishes happened in other nations, to a lesser extent. From Inverness to Ibiza, from Lisbon to Lodz, and so many places in between, people took to the streets and walked off of their jobs, bringing entire nations to a standstill.

Various political and religious figures did speak out against the new laws, mostly those on the left of the political spectrum. The most famous of which was a speech from Pope Francis, the head of the Roman Catholic Church, the largest religious denomination in the world. Speaking from St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City (the seat of the church, as well as the world’s smallest nation at the time), Pope Francis, who had always been a champion of reducing economic inequality even far before becoming Pope in 2013, spoke to a massive crowd that had come in from many corners of the world.

“The Catholics of the world, as well as all faiths and even those of no faith, must come together against the new economic reorganization laws that are being brought forward in the world’s nations. These laws go against the will of God, and therefore go against the beliefs of our church. God commands us all to take care of the least of us, of those who need help. I have learned of the content of these laws, and these laws go against the spirit of the Bible’s teachings. I fear for what will come in our future. I have spoken to other leaders, who tell me of many stories of impending pain and suffering. Of God’s children who soon will not have enough to eat, who cannot see a doctor when they fall ill, who will fall into homelessness. A great darkness is about to fall over the Earth, a darkness that can be prevented. The world produces enough resources to prevent all of this. So I call upon the political leaders from all corners of the world, to stop this madness and take care of your citizens. Do not let even one extra person suffer. That is God’s command to us. We are supposed to help whenever someone falls down. But now, not only will we not help when one falls down, we will work to push more people down. Remember that Jesus Christ saved his greatest wrath for the wealthy, the money changers. He sees this, and he sees that the rich are the ones who worked the hardest to pass the laws, and hope to become richer as a result. Remember that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God. Please keep that in mind. Please think of all of God’s children, and oppose these Economic Freedom Acts.”

By the beginning of March, people in the United States were beginning to realize the grievous mistake they had made the previous fall. Over two million employees of the federal government, those who worked in the dozens of federal departments that were being shuttered, received their layoff notices. Friday, March 31st would be their final day on the job. Millions of state and local government employees, many of whom worked in social services departments, but others were scattered in other departments that were losing funding, were also losing their jobs, since the services they helped provide would no longer exist. Even more wrenching than that was the notices that tens of millions of senior citizens were receiving with their Social Security checks for the month of March. The notice stated that the benefits they received, the benefits they had paid into their whole working lives, were now being ended, the March check would be their last. Senior citizen advocacy groups such as the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) cried foul at the treatment that older Americans were being subjected to, and tried to make a compromise with the Harris Administration that would allow those already over the age of sixty-five to keep getting their benefits, at least temporarily. The AARP also lobbied for the continuation of the Meals on Wheels program, a program that delivered meals to two million people every year, mostly seniors who didn’t have the means to get out and get their own food anymore. Most of those who benefitted were shut-ins, and those who delivered the food were, in many cases, the only people the recipient would see all day. Surely, a program that provided sustenance and companionship for so many, and only cost a mere twenty or so million dollars a year, can be funded, right?

Unfortunately, all of the pleas fell on deaf ears. The elimination of Social Security and Medicare, as well as Meals on Wheels, would proceed as planned, a Harris Administration official said at a press conference in mid-March. “We all realize that we’re being called irresponsible, heartless even. But all tough decisions will have their detractors. It doesn’t make those decisions any less right.” quoted George Bolton, the White House Press Secretary, answering a media query about Social Security.  And it was indeed heartless what was being done. Many millions of seniors counted on those benefits to maintain a measure of independence in their retirement years, and for many, Social Security was their only source of income. Social Security had been in existence for over eighty years, and had lowered the rate of poverty among seniors from fifty percent to less than ten percent. However, it didn’t survive the ax of the Harris Administration. The GOP had fought against and conspired against the program since its inception in 1935, and they finally emerged victorious.

As for America’s seniors, many had to make do with less income, burn through their retirement savings (if they had any), or reenter the job market, flooding the already tough job market with millions of new job seekers. For half of senior citizens, their monthly Social Security check served as their only income. Those who now didn’t have enough income to make ends meet, even with a job, had to move in with relatives, such as their adult children. I saw the manifestation of this in my own apartment complex. The Jackson family, a kind, fun-loving bunch who lived in the apartment directly below me and rolled out the welcome wagon for me when I moved into my apartment the year before, had to take in Mr. Jackson’s elderly mother starting in April, since she now had no income to afford her rent at the senior apartment complex located on the other end of the city. Lisa Jackson, a sweet, hunchbacked lady in her mid-70’s, was going to share a bedroom in their two-bedroom apartment with the Jackson’s son Dwayne and daughter Nicole, who were fifteen and ten, respectively. Their already crowded bedroom would become even more crowded. Lisa’s son Franklin, a giant but kind-hearted African-American man who was recently promoted to a management position at one of the nearby Stater Bros. supermarkets, was very worried that his mother can no longer afford her medications, which were far too expensive for her to afford now that Medicare would be gone. I noticed him crying his eyes out on the stairs by my front door one cold March night. I put down my dinner plate (I was noshing on some Hot Pockets for dinner), and stepped outside despite the chill. I approached him to talk to him.

“Hey Frank, what’s wrong?” I asked as I made my way down the stairs, not knowing why he was so upset.

“It’s my mom, man…..She won’t have her meds anymore. I don’t know how long she is gonna live once she loses her insurance.” He said, in between his sniffles.

“How much does the medication cost?” I asked. “Maybe she can get some other insurance, that you can pay for. You have that savings, right?” I was trying to reassure him, even I knew damn well what the answer was.

“Her meds without health insurance cost like $500, 600 a month! And she can’t get other insurance. She isn’t allowed to be on my insurance through work, as the insurance plans don’t consider her to be “family”. She is too old and has preexisting conditions, so any insurance plan for her is gonna be way too much. She won’t let me pay for that. She already feels like such a burden because she is moving in with us, she won’t allow me to pay for extra things for her. But I just know that she won’t live for too long without the meds she needs, and I can’t stop thinking about that!” Frank began to break down once more. He had already lost his father to a heart attack six years ago, he didn’t want to bury his mother now, too.

“By the way, how are the kids taking having to share a room with their grandma? I know that can be tough on a child, losing their space. Kids see that as a measure of freedom and privacy, so losing it is hard on them.” I asked Franklin, who was starting to wipe the tears from his cheeks. It was hard seeing anyone like this, especially a good friend like Frank. During the time that I lived here, he has become one of my best friends. He would never hesitate to help out, whether it is helping move furniture or inviting a struggling friend to dinner. I often had dinner with him and his family.

“They’re both little angels, Will. They said they will do anything to help their grandmother. Nicky even said my mom can have her bed and she would sleep on the floor. I told her that wouldn’t be necessary, that we were going to put my mom’s bed in the room too. It’s gonna be really crowded, but my family will manage. We always do.” Frank told me with a slight grin, before getting up to make his way back to the house. “I didn’t wanna let them all know I was crying, that’s why I’m out here despite freezing my a*s off…..Anyways, thank you for listening to me. I needed someone to vent to. I think the wife is tired of hearing me fret so much about all of this. Good night, man.”

Other than tonight, Frank was always an optimist, so it was really alarming to see him break down the way he did. I know there was going to be a lot of adjusting made. The Jacksons weren’t the only family that I knew that was going to take in an elderly family member. At least three workers in my office that I know of were doing something similar. Dave Carlton and Rick Anderson, two of the top employees in my department, were both taking in parents. Rick was taking both of his parents. His father, a decorated veteran of the Vietnam War of the 1960’s, was apparently really depressed that he would have to depend on his son to take care of him in his golden years, according to the parts of Rick’s conversation with Dave that I overheard at lunchtime. I didn’t go and ask him more about it because I was listening to my friend Reggie telling me how he was taking in his wife’s father, who of course was losing his Social Security, and would be unable to reenter the workforce due to a broken hip he suffered two years earlier. Reggie was glad to help his father-in-law Phil, even though Phil didn’t seem to care for him at all. Phil was one of those fathers who felt that no man would be enough for his precious little girl, no matter how successful Reggie was, no matter how bright his future seemed. Reggie was, however, unsure how he was gonna support another person in their household. He was becoming worried how he would take care of the people already in his house, as he saw everything around him unfold. I’m pretty sure my dire predictions didn’t help, either.

“Will, I don’t know how I am gonna do this. Though Melissa’s Pops has some savings to help out, I don’t know how I’m gonna feed another person, since my pay is going down. I crunched the numbers, I wrote down budget after budget, and the numbers just don’t work. No amount of budgeting can fix the fact that I won’t get paid enough!” Reggie told me with a resigned tone in his voice. He would now be sharing a small two-bedroom, one-bathroom house with his wife, their twins and Phil. Things were getting more squeezed.

“So your pay is getting cut too?” I asked. I was a bit surprised to find that even those higher up on the organizational chart were getting pay cuts too.

“Yup, from eighteen an hour to twelve-fifty. Found out just yesterday. Remember when he called me into the office? Yup, that’s when he lowered the boom. This s**t sucks, I work hard at this job, and Mr. Milton treats me this way? It’s depressing.” Reggie said, with a hint of despair and anger in his voice. “So, did Milton cut your pay too?” He asked, looking over his shoulder to see if Mr. Milton was around. He, like most other employers, didn’t like when their employees discuss their pay with each other, especially in a time like this. Can’t have the workers knowing how much they are getting screwed over, I guess. 

“Yeah, I’m going from thirteen-fifty to ten an hour. I think everyone in the office got their pay dropped some.” I said, sounding exasperated. This was exactly what I feared.

“Damn, no wonder everyone has been grouchy at the office lately, Hannah went off on me yesterday, all because I asked her if she had finished her emails to our late customers. She must have got a big pay cut!”

“I don’t know, Reggie, she is always kinda mean. But I will say, she has been meaner than usual. In the last week or two, morale all over the company has gone to s**t. It must be the pay cuts. I wanted to tell Hannah she was partly at fault for all this, since she voted for Harris and all, but she already looked like she might throw her stapler or her coffee at me.” I replied, before sinking my teeth back into my ham and cheese sandwich I made for lunch. I was already trying to pare back my expenses, knowing that I would have less income soon. I had already had my cable shut off, and decided to eat out less, so I can have more stuff like ham and cheese sandwiches and leftovers from the previous evening’s dinner. It turns out that almost everyone at the office, from Accounting to Human Resources to Product Design to Marketing, got a pay reduction of some sort. Only a couple of the most senior employees were spared from a pay cut, at least for now.

Oh yeah, the pay cuts. Despite claims from conservative analysts from the Heritage Foundation and the Heartland Institute that wages for people who were already working wouldn’t go down after the minimum wage was eliminated, tens of millions of American workers learned in the weeks following the passage of the Economic Freedom Act that their pay was indeed going down. Pay went down in every sector in the economy right away, as companies felt they could cut their costs, and therefore, undercut their competition’s prices and gain valuable market share. Once word got out that big corporations, starting with Walmart, McDonald’s and many others were going to cut their worker’s wages in order to reduce their prices somewhat, their competition felt compelled to follow suit, in order to keep up in the resultant price wars. In some cases, workers saw their wages drop sharply, over fifty percent. Perhaps half the workforce, maybe a bit more than that, were getting rather large pay cuts starting April 1st. The most aggressive wage cuts happened in the sectors that were already the lowest paying, such as restaurants, retail sales, and various forms of manual labor. Even higher-paying jobs saw declines, but not as sharp, at least not right away. In my case, my pay fell from thirteen and a half dollars per hour to just ten, which worked out to nearly three-hundred dollars less per paycheck. I would be making three whole dollars less than I was making when I started at Milton Plastics nearly a year earlier, and on top of that, I was losing the health insurance the company provided for me as well, another move that many companies made to cut costs. The Affordable Care Act had mandated that companies with over a certain number of employees must offer health insurance to their employees, and when the ACA was scrapped as part of the EFA, countless firms quickly made the decision to do away with the insurance.

Many companies gave their workers written notices, stating their new pay rate, to be effective on April 1st. I saw at least a few of my Facebook friends posting their notices, something that became a phenomenon on various social media sites in March. “Pay cut letter” became the most popular topic on multiple social media sites, such as Twitter and Instagram. However, posting their letters did come with some serious risks. For instance, my friend Jimmy’s cousin Eduardo actually got fired for putting his on Facebook, since his manager at the Best Buy electronics store where he worked was on his friends list. Many companies didn’t give written notices. Some just told the employees in person, like at my job, Mr. Milton called us to his office, one by one, and informed us. At least he did that for us, as some employers didn’t even tell their workers at all. Some employees didn’t find out about the changes to their pay until March 31st, or even later, when they received their first paychecks with their new pay rate. That sudden news must have hit many of these individuals like a ton of bricks. Imagine getting your check or direct deposit on payday, only to find out that the amount is far lower than you anticipated. That had to do a number on their budgets.

In an attempt to put a positive spin on all of this, large corporations started airing ads on TV and radio trumpeting their “new low prices”. Walmart started with the ads in late February, followed by Target, their main retail competition. Other companies, mainly retailers and fast food giants, followed suit. McDonald’s trumpeted about their “Super Value Menu” items in their advertisements, even though it was largely the same items that were on their previous value item lists, with perhaps a few new additions. The price decreases were rather modest, and often didn’t even apply to all items, but they sure pushed the items they did make cheaper, in an attempt to drum up business. Price decreases were maybe five to ten percent on average, as far as I can tell, when those same companies cut their worker’s pay perhaps thirty, forty, or even fifty percent or more. Despite the sunny ads, people from all walks of life weren’t excited for the price drops, because they would now struggle to afford even the marked-down items. Furthermore, most people knew exactly why these companies can lower their prices, they knew that it came at the expense of the employees, people who would now have a hard time getting enough to eat, or keep a roof over their heads, if they weren’t having a hard time already.

Those in the know, who followed financial news, learned of an even more nefarious reason for the large-scale pay cuts hitting all throughout the labor force: Wall Street pressure. Investors put a lot of pressure on management to cut pay to the bone, in hopes of increasing profits, which in turn would increase returns for investors. After all, all those business courses always taught students that the main goal of a business is to “increase shareholder value”, instead of, you know, producing a good product or service, or improving the lives of stakeholders like employees and customers. That’s what I heard those professors say in course after course while in college (I’m not sure exactly how conservatives believed that colleges were hotbeds for leftist thought). Anyways, Wall Street would respond whenever they saw a firm announce wage reductions. And those responses were positive, stock prices for the company in question would jump upon news of a wage cut. And the bigger the wage cuts, the better for the stock price. Which, of course, is enough proof that the stock market does NOT indicate the health of the wider economy. And when someone announced that there would be no pay cuts? Oh, there was hell to pay. For instance, when Google announced there would be no cuts in their U.S. workforce, their stock was slammed, dropping over 60 percent in just a few days. It got to the point where investors recommended the removal of the firm’s Chief Executive Officer. Finally, the firm relented and said there would be pay cuts, which caused the stock price of Google to jump back up somewhat, but not all the way to where it had been.

It was happening, my worst fears that I had been worrying about over the previous few years were actually happening. The predictions that I had made over the last few months were coming true so far, much to my horror. All this did was make me think about it more, as I couldn’t get it out of my mind. My horrific nightmares grew more frequent as April 1st approached. I found myself growing increasingly depressed, a quality I saw in many others I encountered during this time. I grew ever more inquisitive as to how the situation was affecting those around me. I asked my coworkers, my friends, my neighbors, even random people I saw while going about my day. My coworkers were deeply bothered by the pay cuts they got. My coworker Richard Martin, a quiet, reserved, pudgy white man in his mid-20’s who worked in Human Resources and also started last year (at the same time, even. He was in the same orientation session as I was), felt it necessary to give Mr. Milton a piece of his mind in his office one fine Friday, the day the pay cuts were announced. “With all due respect, I can’t afford my rent making only nine dollars an hour, sir! I don’t know how you expect people to live on these new wages, what about the employees with families? Or do you just not give a s**t because you want to make more money for yourself? Because that is an absolute dick move, Mr. Milton!” I can hear him yelling despite the door to the office being closed, he wasn’t so quiet and reserved that day. The next I saw of him was ten minutes later, when he was cleaning his desk. He had been fired by cruel old Mr. Milton. The rest of us were so quiet as he was gathering his things, you could hear a pin drop. I looked over in Reggie’s direction, he had a grimace and was shaking his head while staring at me. Hannah, the conservative girl who sat in front of me, had her head buried in her hands, sobbing. I think she was rethinking her political philosophy now, as she muttered “This is bullshit, what’s going on?” while at her cubicle. I just sat there, stone-faced, terrified to make so much as a peep. As much as I wanted to tear into Milton too, I needed to have a job, no matter how crummy the pay and how few benefits it had.

I went home after that awful day at work. I knocked on the door of Juan’s house next door to me. There was no smell of enchiladas, which had been customary in the Morales home on Friday evenings. Mrs. Morales made the best chicken enchiladas, but that night was different. Juan told me his pay had been cut too, so they would have to cut on the food expenses. Since Juan saw his pay go down a whole six dollars an hour, from eighteen to twelve. So much for loyalty to a guy who worked his a*s off and had been there for fourteen years (he started at the company when he was seventeen). His younger coworkers saw huge cuts in their wages too, as some were going to make as little as five or six dollars an hour now. Which was absolute insanity. Those guys worked their hands to the bone, upwards of fifty or even sixty hours per week, and some were gonna only get five dollars an hour? And if they spoke up, they would meet a similar fate as my now-former coworker Richard. Some of them not only faced the risk of getting fired, but also kicked out of this country entirely, as they were undocumented immigrants. Employers loved hiring undocumented workers, as they could be exploited easier. And if they spoke up, whether about pay or hours or working conditions, those employers could retaliate by reporting them to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), one of the few government departments that wasn’t eliminated by the EFA (in fact, their department cuts were among the smallest of any department). So the undocumented workers got sharper cuts in pay than the rest, and they just had to bite their tongues.

Juan had a look of despair in his eyes that evening, as he thought of the repercussions of what had happened. “It will be tough, but I can manage this, I can’t show weakness to my wife and my boys. I have to show that everything will be okay, no matter how bad it looks right now. This family has been through worse, and we got through that too.” He told me by the stairwell of the apartment complex, always thinking of how “manly” he looked. The Morales family was cutting back on their food budget, they were going to take shorter showers and keep lights off unless they were needed. They were cutting out new clothing purchases, and there would be far fewer family trips to places like the beach and the aquarium, and they did away with the cable TV, much to the chagrin of the kids, who loved their Disney Channel and Nickelodeon cartoons. One more thing, which hurt Juan the most, he had to pull the boys out of soccer. Apparently at least five of the boys on little Juan’s team had to quit due to their parent’s hardships. “The boys all cried and hugged each other. They just loved playing together, and now they can’t anymore, because their families just can’t afford it now.” Lucia told me as we all talked and ate that night. I went downstairs to ask Franklin Jackson how he was coping. Frank, who had just finished his dinner, came out to chat with me. His family was responding to the new hardship by cutting down on the meals at restaurants, as they previously eaten out about twice a week. Paying for his mother’s medicine really ate into his budget, and he would now hold off on buying the new car he had been wanting. His car, a 2001 Honda Civic, had been acting up on him. He had problems with his power steering that were making it difficult to make turns. Not only couldn’t he buy a new car like he had been wanting for months, but now he would have trouble affording repair work on the car. Frank was also upset that he couldn’t get the new refrigerator or vacuum cleaner that his wife had wanted. He wanted to buy the fridge a few months ago, but when he found out his pay at the Stater Bros. was being cut slightly, and that his mom was going to have to move in with the family, he realized that he couldn’t make those purchases for now. “I wanted to give Jackie the best new fridge and vacuum for her birthday, but I can’t afford them. I got her a cheaper vacuum, which should be fine, she’ll be happy with a vacuum that works, but I couldn’t afford the fridge anymore. That bummed me out, because she deserves these great things, and I went from being able to get them to not being able to. It hurts, man.” Frank told me when we stood outside as I was heading back to my apartment.

The Morales’ and Jacksons were the only neighbors I talked to on a regular basis, so I’m not sure how the rest of the tenants were doing, but I did notice that the family on the other end of the complex from me didn’t have their usual party with friends and family they would have on Friday nights. It was weird not hearing the loud Spanish music playing until midnight, though I will admit that I didn’t mind the silence at all. I also noticed that a couple of the families had to take in family members as well, one of the families took in five extra people. I didn’t speak to them due to a language barrier, but I saw them loading a bunch of boxes into the apartment. Eleven people would be cramming themselves into a fairly small two-bedroom apartment, that had to be tough, I’m sure. I also heard through the grapevine that the son of Phil Warren, the gruff, middle-aged security guard who lived two doors down but I didn’t speak to much, had lost his job at the warehouse for FedEx, a huge package delivery company, and now Phil was considering moving into cheaper housing or doubling up with his sister and her family, like many were now doing. The residents of the apartment complex, which was in a not-so-nice neighborhood to begin with, were sure to be hit hard by the impending downturn. It was these working class neighborhoods that were the hardest hit at the outset of the EFA era, as they contained the largest concentration of low-wage workers who were seeing pay cuts. And I was seeing this on a micro level in my own neighborhood.

I also knew that my family was going to have its struggles. Though I didn’t live at home anymore, I still talked to my mom and Leann on a regular basis. My dad even gave me a call a couple times a week, to ask how I was doing and to see how our favorite sports teams were doing, since he couldn’t follow them as much while out on the road driving. My mom told me that my dad was not only getting a pay cut that amounted to over one hundred dollars a week, but he was going to have to pay more of the family’s health insurance costs too, as the company lowered their contribution to the health insurance plan. They were cutting their cable TV, which was hard on my mom, as well as their Internet access, which was especially hard for my sisters, who practically lived on the Internet. They were also cutting their eating out. No more fast food places or Applebee’s or Chili’s or Black Angus Steakhouse, just cooking at home, and even that food will now be of lower quality than before. Furthermore, my mom couldn’t replace her cell phone, which had given out at the worst possible time. Leann also saw a pay cut at her job at Claire’s. She got her pay cut by close to half, from ten to six dollars per hour. Leann was also upset by the fact that she was, like millions of college students, going to lose her financial aid to go to Chaffey College, the community college she was attending. “With mine and Daddy’s pay getting cut, and losing my aid, how in the hell am I supposed to go to school so I can get a better job?” she said to me, exasperated. “How is anybody gonna build a better life for themselves?”. She had a good point. The younger generations were always told, it was drilled into our heads, that a college education was the way for people to get ahead in life. Now a major route for people to get that education was to be cut off.

My predictions were coming true, alright. There was going to be massive economic dislocation and hardship everywhere. In the words of commentator James Patton, the Harris Administration, and the whole world was “Committing economic suicide. You know the saying, when the American economy catches a cold, the whole world gets the flu. Well, the American economy caught the f*****g Ebola virus this time!” The changes hadn’t even gone into effect yet, and millions of Americans, from all walks of life, were about to see their lives get much, much harder. Those who had some sort of comfort were now going to slip into an existence where they had to scrape by just to survive. They can cut a few things out of their household budgets, but can still manage, at least for now. For those who were already just scraping by to survive, who had nothing else to cut, who knows what would happen to them? How many of them would go hungry, end up homeless, or worse? Unfortunately, we were now about to find out, as the Countdown to Chaos ticked down to zero.