by Danny Dunn
Tom smiles. Will asks what the secretary thinks would be of concern in implementing such a weapon.
The secretary says well;
The military won’t trust Zaria, ever.
The military won’t trust the president right up to when the President leaves the office.
The military will accept whatever you are offering and then try to reverse engineer the weapon and go back on the deal.
The military will want the weapon and keep its current budget allocation. Sir, they have been fighting off Presidents trying to change the pie chart for so long they wouldn’t know how to respond to another attempt to cut their budget in any other way.
Other than that, I think it will be received with open arms, sir, and smiles.
If you were in my spot, how would you reduce spending?
The secretary smiles, “now I am the one that needs to confirm confidentiality.”
Of course, Tom and Will reply.
I would take over purchasing. In my opinion that has become a good old boy network, and I believe we could reduce our expenses by at least 15%. Tom and Will look at each other.
Then there is another 10% that can be had just by increasing efficiency.
I would start making the countries we are protecting to step up.
We should sell off our soon to be antiquated weapons and replace them with more electronic-based weapons that are smaller and more agile like drones and laser weapons. Lockheed Martin is working on a laser cannon that looks very promising.
Tom and Will are amazed. The Secretary just listed off all of Zaria’s items. Tom says that what the Secretary is describing is what they have in mind, and Tom asks the Secretary if he is willing to fight that very substantial battle.
The Secretary says, yes, sir. I want our country to be great as well, and, like it or not, reducing the military budget has to happen before we can get the country on the right track. I laid my life down for my country many times as a soldier, and I am willing to do it now if it means improving the lives of my children and their children.
While we are dreaming, it would be much easier for the country to see a nice boost in education, veteran care, medical care, and transportation, and of course, the rest would go to reduce the deficit.
Just a thought, sir.
Very well received, Tom replies. The secretary asks if he can speak freely. Tom says, of course. The Secretary says that he is glad they had this conversation and he feels very good about him and Will. I think we can do good things. The Secretary adds that he hopes to meet Zaria at some point. Pictures would earn me huge grandpa points. Tom smiles and says the next meeting. Tom asks the Secretary to tell him about his family. The secretary tells Tom and Will that he has 5 grown children and 12 grandkids. My youngest was killed in Afghanistan. He was a good man and a good soldier. Tom says he is sorry to hear that.
Tom, Will, and Zaria meet and are all very excited about Gerald, the Secretary. Tom tells Zaria that he not only listed your four items but had the percentages the same. He said we could get a 15% reduction from taking over purchasing and a 10% reduction from getting the other countries to pitch in. Hm, he also said that selling off our soon to be antiquated weapons and going with electronic weapons that are smaller and more agile would cut another 10%. Zaria smiles.
Will, someone is feeding him. But that is so obvious. He should have just chosen the top two or picked out two. Well, Zaria says, “maybe it was his way of telling us there is a leak in our group.
Tom says that on the day of the picnic, he will send a unique email to each member in the group, asking them to ask them what they think of a person for a position in defense. Tom says he has given each person a unique position to be filled, a different name, and a unique URL for each one. Tom says if they forward the link to the Secretary, he will know. If the Secretary mentions the name or the position, he will also know.
Tom asks Zaria to estimate how many years ahead of her laser weapon system of the laWS. Zaria estimates 45 years.
Tom says that this is what he is thinking.
We meet with the top brass out of respect and ask them to work with us.
We replace purchasing with 20 bots. Will says, really? 20 will replace all of the military purchasing? Tom says, yeah, you are right, 21. And laughs
They will also balance out our inventory, find ways to reduce shipping and cut expenses without the military ever feeling a thing. They can have their stuff, but we handle the money and get our 15% savings and more.
Purchasing also takes over the sale of antiquated weapons. We modify the older weapons and offer them to the countries we are defending in turn for them handling their own.
Zaria, my lovely wife, launches her own defense contracting company and offers the laser weapons to smaller countries at an amazing price if they give up our involvement there. We keep that money and the reduction in the military budget.
After the bots master purchasing, we expand them to logistic and operations planning.
Will says he would suggest that they find a way to get the Generals to think this was their idea. What a difference it would mean to have them on our side.
Tom calls the Secretary of Defense and suggests that they have a picnic at the White House and for him to bring the whole family. The Secretary is very happy about the idea and asks Tom when. Tom suggests this coming Saturday. Gerald confirms that it would be his whole family. Tom says that his goal is to max out his grandpa-points.
Saturday, two long SUVs pull up at the white house with the whole family loaded into the two vehicles. Zaria is there as is Pong, and they have a picnic outback. Pong and Zaria pose for pictures, and they take a bunch of videos while they play with the younger kids.
They have a nice BBQ and have a good time just relaxing. While they are sitting, the Secretary’s phone buzzes, the Secretary takes a peek at the phone, and the President sees Zaria and tells the secretary he will be right back. The Secretary opens up the message and clicks on the URL. Tom’s phone buzzes and an alert comes up and says that the leak is the republican Senator. Tom shakes his head and shows it to Zaria. She looks at it and says that’s too bad, honey. Tom says, yeah, I liked both of them.
Tom walks back to the Secretary, and they continue their conversation. Tom knows the Secretary just got the message.
They finish up the day, and they see off the family. Everyone is excited to see pong. They all have a very nice day. Pong visits the Pong room with Zaria.
Tom, Will, Zaria, and Pong discuss the leak. They all agree the leak is off the committee, but what about Gerald? Technically, he hasn’t done anything wrong. Zaria says uh, uh, uh. Pong says that Gerald is not innocent in this Tom. He and the Generals are already cooking up a plan and to stop you and will. It has begun, and you need to be careful. Pong's statement stunned Tom. Tom thinks for a few seconds and says ok, understood, and Walks over and hugs Pong and thanks to her.
On Monday, Tom schedules a meeting with the Senator and the Secretary. The three sit down, and Tom asks if they know each other, and they say yes, but they have never met in person.
Tom tells them that the email he sent the senator was confidential. And asks the Senator to leave and that he will deal with him later and excuses him. Tom then asks Gerald if he has communicated their cost-cutting discussions with any generals. The Secretary lowers his head and knows he has been busted and says yes. Tom tells the secretary he is going to resign and can make up his own reasons. The secretary starts to explain why. Tom stops him and tells him to just leave his resignation with my secretary. If I get any flak from you, I will have you charged with leaking top-secret information. The Secretary says he is sorry and leaves. He is escorted to his office and out of the building.
The following Tuesday night, Tom addresses the country.
Good evening. When I ran for this office, I promised you I would pass my platform, and now that my platform has passed, I will begin to take on other areas that I believe need fixing.
Will and I ha
ve spent many hours going over our budget, and we have targeted an area we believe be mined for better efficiency. The defense has somehow been a category that has become this sacred chest that no one dares to touch without the military jumping up and down, yelling that we are weakening our country. Well, I am opening the chest. I will be submitting a bill that will order that all military purchasing and logistics be taken over by a department designed save us 15%, which comes to about $90 billion.
We will then take that 90 billion to put $50 billion into education, $20 billion into taking better care of our veterans, $10 billion into transportation to fix our roads and bridges, and the last 10 billion will go toward reducing our budget.
I understand that there are groups that are going to paint horrible doom and gloom pictures the moment they hear this, but I am hoping that at this point you stick with me as we start to tackle the hard things that none of my predecessors were able to tackle due to our broken system. I am encouraging you to go to my web site, give me a thumbs up on a thumbs down on this issue, and to send me your comments.
The next morning Tom and Zaria sit down and open up his laptop to look at the results. Of the 165 million people to vote, 155 million were positive, and 10 million were negative.
1 thank you for doing what the others never could
2 put even more into schools
3 add even money to other issues
Tom is basically a prisoner in the White House. No one contests that while the people love him, the rich, corporations, the military, military contractors, pharma companies, all want him gone one way or the other. Tom sits down in with Will and tells him that he is going to do one more year and then is going to resign and hand it over to him. Oh great, Will says. Well, then let’s really stir it up before you leave. Tom smiles and says, “that’s the plan, buddy.”
They work on a new budget and a whole stack of new Hyper-track bills.
Tom and Will force the countries we are protecting to pay for our services, or we pull out.
Tom cancels 5 of the top 10 future weapons projects and allows them to choose the top 5
Tom kills are recruitment and allow attrition to reduce the number size of the military.
Tom forces the military to focus on smaller, faster, more agile weapons. Laser cannons and drones of all sizes.
Tom hasn’t left the White House, and neither has Will. They agree that they are marked-men. Zaria goes home to see the family as often as she can. Tom senses that Zaria is unhappy, but she would never complain. While Zaria is gone on a visit home in New Mexico.
Will, you and I have been friends for a long time. I think I have done what I can. I think we have put the country on a good course, and I think it is time for me to go. I want to spend time with Zaria before I am too old to enjoy it. I need to know that you would be ok with handling things from here.
Will says, sure quitter. Wah, wah, ooh, its hot in here, and Will makes a face like he is about to cry. They laugh, and Will says Tom, I just can’t even begin to tell you how amazing you are and how lucky I think you are to have found Zaria. I mean literally, you found her right. Lol. Yes, I will be fine, and I will cultivate our team so that it continues after I am gone. You have been so generous to me by letting me attend all the meetings. I have learned so much from you.
Tom tells Will that this is the last stack and tells Will he is welcome to change or delete any of them. Will says that no, we have gone through those together and that he is fine with them going through as-is. The two percent is about to turn into 20% lol.
Tom agrees to stay 1 more year and then head home.
Tom pushes his last stack of Hyper Track bills. One year later, despite the business world and the rich going ballistic and predicting utter collapse, the economy is on fire, and his approval rating is 92%.
Hyper Track bill #10 – Healthcare
Medicare for all –$0 to $18K income $20/month with no co-pay
$50 per month plus $10 co-pay for $18K income to $50K income
$300 per month plus $20 co-pay for income over $50K
Foreign drug vendors worldwide
No middleman deals for any company 100% direct from the manufacturer
Pharma patents – issuance and retention of pharma patents are dependent on holding a pricing schedule relative to their single-payer price relative to their development cost. Any drug that does not meet the guidelines loses its patent, and new drugs are not issued new patents.
All negotiated drug prices are published
Lowest price guaranty – single pay and Americans get the lowest price, or they lose their US patent.
Drugmakers can charge any price above the American price outside the US
Hyper Track Bill #11 - Fair Trade Act
The US matches the percentage of the tariff a country charges for a product being shipped to another country. If a country charges a 50% tariff on a product, we ship to them. The US is to charge a 50% tariff when the products they export to the United States.
50% tariff on all cell phones, solar panels, TVs, electronic goods imported into the US if 50% is not made in the US.
Hyper Track bill #12 Too big to fail banking act
Banks are to match executive bonuses and income to employees. If the executives are paid $100 million collectively, employees are to share an amount of an equal amount.
The US too big to fail banks are to maintain at least 5% of their loans to students are paid a $100 million per year fine.
Hyper Track bill #13 - cleaner air act
All vehicles are to be electric within 10 years.
All combustion engine vehicles are to pay a tax that increases 10% per year capping at 200% 20 years from next year.
All energy is to be Zero emissions within 10 years
Thermal core heat converters and ocean tide and wave are to receive hyper track approval.
All green energy is to receive dollar for dollar R&D matching funds
Hyper Track bill #14 - Nuclear recycling
Any energy system that uses spent nuclear fuel is to be Hyper-tracked, systems to receive final approval are to be provided current and future used nuclear fuel for free.
Hyper track # 15
All US military contractors are to be based in the US for all aspects of operations, including the manufacturing of military-related products.
Hyper Track #16 - Fair pay act
The minimum wage shall be raised from $7.25 to $9.25 over the next 4 years at an increase of 50 cents per year.
Bonuses to employees are to match the bonuses paid to executives on a 1:1 basis. If executives receive $100 million in bonuses, employees are to share an equal bonus of $100 million.
Hyper bill #17 – Immigration act
Anyone in the country illegally can register and agree to have 10% of their pay deducted until they have paid a $1500 entrance fee.
Anyone who does not register is subject to deportation
Hyper Track Bill #18 – Taxes
Flat tax individual to be deducted from each paycheck.
$0 to $50,000 - 5%
$50,000 to $100,000 – 7%
$100,000 to $250,000 – 10%
$250,000 to $1 million $15%
$1 million to $5 million 20%
5 million plus 40%
Corporation tax 5% of all gross revenue
All foreign companies are to pay 7% of gross revenue generated in the US.
Tom reinstates the ITC (investment tax credit) for all goods made in the US
In his second year, Tom takes on the military and reduces their budget by 20% and more than triples the 2020 education budget while putting the rest into transportation, health care, and electric car rebates.
A year later, Tom addresses the country and announces he is resigning as the President for personal health reasons and will be leaving the country in very able hands to his lifelong friend and Vice President. Tom assures the country that Will has been instrumental in getting us to where we are and will continue on as your Presid
ent.
End Chapter 54
Chapter 55 – This Doesn’t Look Gay Does It?
Tom calls Zaria and tells her he will be home in a few hours. Tom takes Marine 1 to the airport and gets on Airforce 1 to go home. Tom has the Pongettes as his pilot and co-pilot. David and his team are gathering their stuff to get on the plane, and Tom meets them at the door. Tom tells David, “sorry, David, you can catch the next one.” David looks at him in the eye and says, not a chance, Mr. President.”
I am your boss David, and I am telling you, Michael, and Joe to stand down. It is the Pongettes and myself. I know, I should have included Betty and Wilma. We will be fine. And anything that would take us down, you could not stop from inside the plane. Thanks for everything. The press is 100 yards away, catching all this on film. It is obvious to the press who are watching that Tom is not letting them on the plane. Tom reaches for each one of them and gives each of them a big hug. While he is embracing Joe, he says the press is watching. Tom says to Joe, “This doesn’t look gay, does it?” Joes tells him only if you grab my ass, sir.” Tom says he will see them in New Mexico. Tom backs up, and the Pongettes shut the door, and David, Joe, and Michael stand there for a moment, wipe their eyes and salute the president, and the Pongettes shut the door. David and the guy’s head back down the stairs. The rest of the detail finish loading the plane, the president is bringing back his belongings. Not all will fit into the cargo area, and they put in what they can and save the rest for the next flight on a plane Pong sent for David’s team.
Only a few miles from the compound, over a desolate area in New Mexico, several rockets strike Air Force 1. The plane breaks up in the air, and everyone on board is killed on impact. The crash is on the news, and Zaria sits silently as she watches the coverage.
David sends a team out in a helicopter the moment the crash was detected on their radar. Their team arrived just a couple minutes after the sheriff deputies arrived at the scene. Michael speaks to the sheriff there, and they allowed them to take what the needed from the site before anyone else arrived. Everyone knows the US military is behind this, and everyone wants them caught. Well, almost everyone.
