The Great Empire--Bilingual Edition

by Joaquim Augusto Ferreira Barbosa De Melo

  - I’m just like you, speechless!

  - That doesn’t help me, Mom! I have to make a decision!

  - I know! Let me breathe a little to think clearly! I’ve just come out of a narrative laden with strong emotions!

  - How I understand you!

  After the contrast and impact of that news, Lili’s reaction was to hug Sun while tears (this time of joy) flowed down her cheeks without being able to contain them.

  - Sorry! Too many emotions, one after another! We’ll talk about the invitation you got!

  - I have to give an answer by tomorrow!

  - I was caught in total surprise! When you said you had something new, I could think of several situations, but never that one! I think you only have one possible answer - to accept!

  Sun knew his mother’s thoughts well. Even before he asked her the question, he expected an answer of that nature from her. The next day he contacted the Party Secretary General to inform him of his decision. That same afternoon he was summoned to attend a meeting to be held in five days’ time at the headquarters to deal with matters relating to the elections. Sun had no political experience, but his academic experience in Paris had confirmed that he had a great ability to lead. True, he lacked the crowds of followers, but he knew how to convince people thanks to his oratory qualities.

  To Sun’s surprise, the Party meeting took place with great participation from those present. It was clear to everyone that the elections would be contested between two different ways of thought. One traditional, in continuity with the previous line represented by his opponent, and another, to which he gave a face with a strong innovative and reformist component. At the meeting Sun was told that the Central Committee had decided that his book was no longer prohibited, so it could go back to the bookstores again. That decision about his book would be a precious help to the Campaign, and from then on, he felt he was running out of time - never before had time been so scarce for Sun and those who supported him. A real marathon to win; there were so many tasks that needed to be done. With the precious help of his mother, the book was ready again in a few days to enter the printing works, revised and prepared especially to support Sun’s candidacy for the Presidency. Two weeks later, the new edition was already a reality in the bookstores. The publisher held a ceremony to launch the 2nd edition with all due pomp and circumstance. As a result, the opposition candidate filed a complaint with the Party, claiming that Sun was violating the rules of the Electoral Campaign in anticipation of the beginning of the campaign. That polemic fight between candidates ended up favoring Sun, as he not only saw the right to publish and launch his book recognized, but also contributed to greater publicity among the vast public. In a few weeks that special edition sold out. When it returned to the bookstores the new edition became the centre of all attention, now that its author was also a candidate for the Presidency of the Republic. Thus, the editions followed one after another at a dizzying pace. Sun himself was sometimes surprised at the number of the edition when, in political enlightenment sessions, he was asked to sign a book. Throughout the Empire, there was no memory of a book accumulating so many editions in such a short time and its author being referred to by the press with such prominence - all this was not unrelated to the unique support of his mother (the marketing principles learned by her in Paris were now explored to the limit). Sun was now deployed in party contacts and sector meetings throughout the country. The results were to appear, so Sun and Lili spared no effort and expense in an unprecedented advertising campaign aimed at Sun’s election. As a result of this great marketing effort, support for Sun’s candidacy came from all sides and even from where it was never expected, but none matched the uniqueness and significance of one of them (which Sun would never forget). When he arrived at a village in the interior where he had a meeting with supporters of the Party, he was surprised by the number of posters spread all over the place (one could say that the whole population greeted him through that spontaneous way of welcoming him), the posters read: “Sun, Our President”. But the best was still to come. When he was told that all that enthusiasm was the result of one man’s effort, Sun was moved and expressed the desire to meet him personally. At the end of the meeting, he was introduced to the author of the posters everywhere. When Sun looked at his campaign enthusiast (he briefly thought it was a hallucination), in front of him he had the face of the prison guard that once revealed to him, almost in secret, he had read his book - Sun was moved and hugged the other man, thanking him for all his effort and enthusiasm. But the surprise did not stop there, for a few moments later voices began to be heard from outside the building (a little bit everywhere), in an increasingly strong and intense exclamation: “Sun, Our President”; “Sun, Our President”. As Sun approached one of the balconies to thank them for their greetings, he noticed a small crowd that had gathered in front of the building to acclaim him. Sun thanked all the enthusiasm, waving to the small crowd and embracing once again the former guard while whispering: “I will never forget your gesture, this land and that of all your friends. They will be forever kept in my heart”.

  For Sun that event marked his future attitude forever. From then on it became visible in his face the expression of moral victory over all the painful events of the past. And in the future, when facing opponents with different opinions, he would always respond with a smile - he would be firm in the defense of his convictions, but equally tolerant and respectful of the opinions of others. Days later Sun told his mother what had happened, which allowed her to reiterate her previous conviction that the book, because of the topics dealt with in it, would not leave anyone indifferent. Either because it helps to see better the indifference of the political powers constituted on the values of Man, or because it brings the hope of better days to a multitude of people who live in the great patches of poverty. Now, with the campaign coming to an end, Sun was accusing a great deal of physical fatigue, yet everywhere, there was a great deal of support from the people. His mother also contributed a great deal to this success, both in the effort to mobilize the country, in the book distribution actions, and also in the rearguard support given to the organization of the entire campaign.

  When, a few days later, the election results gave Sun victory by an overwhelming majority of the provincial delegates, Sun and Lili were a happy pair (but if the country had won a provider, she had lost the confidant of all hours). In the future, Lili could no longer count on her son’s frequent companionship - he now belonged to another world, more distant and without personal privacy. Days later, Sun made a brief stop at his mother’s house for a hug of gratitude, making a special request.

  - Wish me good luck!

  - Lucky is the country, having you as President...!

  Lili knew that the new challenges Sun would be faced with gave her no alternative, as they were bound to go a long time without seeing each other.

  - Go and may the Gods bless and protect you! I ask you to always be on the side of Justice and those who need it most!

  - You’re damn right, Mom!

  From then on, Lili’s interactions with her son were by telephone and increasingly sporadic, and after his inauguration as President, she followed him only through the media. One day or another she took notes and records on some subjects, hoping that one day she would be able to exchange opinions with him, as if he were an ordinary citizen. As a keen observer, Lili realized that, as the months went by, the country was slowly waking up to a new era. Even for the ordinary citizens, works that highlighted the gigantic effort of the central power were emerging.

  A few years later...

  In a frenzy of unprecedented activities, the Central Power mobilized great financial and human resources to shape the country to a new international status among nations. On one of the occasions when Lili was watching on television another of her son’s many plane departures, she had a strange vision, which greatly touched her. When the presidential plane took off, she briefly recalled the passage described by him years ago - when he w
as still a political prisoner and was forced to stay in one position, imitating an airplane. That coincidence led Lili to think that the previous President might have in his (inhumane) attitude a prophetic prediction about her son’s future. Lili, however, had promised him not to talk about the past again, so she would keep it to herself. That scene would remain forever in her memory and heart. In that visible effort to develop the country and progress internationalization, the cities were now growing at a galloping pace. People from the rural interior were now encouraged to migrate to the big cities, particularly the coastal ones, thus contributing to the transformation of the city landscape into a dense forest of reinforced concrete blocks and glass - giant buildings filled with apartments, offices and commerce. Around the big cities, the factories grew like mushrooms, employing a huge number of people - in just over two decades a quarter of the country’s population had come out of the blatant misery in which they lived, to now take the place of a flourishing middle class. Wealth was thus beginning to become popular, and perhaps because of this, in one of the President’s speeches, he said: ‘enriching is glorious’. For his mother this statement had been an unfortunate exaggeration, but she understood the context in which her son had made it. Probably what he meant was that working for the development and well-being of all was now a great national plan.

  The emerging country was involved in a unique rhythm of growth, assuming an increasingly prominent place at the international level. Its trade balance was beginning to show a largely positive and gradually increasing balance. Large companies from all over the world were looking for their place in the sun in the vast territory. As a result of all this, major infrastructure works were being launched at a surprising rate. Everywhere there was a memorable effort to modernize the country. However, along the way, social injustices and abuses began to appear, which the central power, despite its efforts, could not stop - it was the side effects of progress that were staining the prodigious work! For Sun’s mother, this aspect was the result of some lack of control of the rapid growth of the economy, but it was important to overcome it as much as possible. In one of the few visits from the President to his mother’s house, she reminded him that the country was also made up of farmers, a large part of whom still lived in the same conditions he had known before he took power. However, he quickly answered:

  - Who told you, Mom, that the last ones, someday, can’t be the first?!

  Her son’s prompt and enigmatic answers never ceased to amaze her, so in the next few moments she remained silent. In the room the preparations for a brief snack were completed. At the table there were croissants (the President was addicted to croissants, “the bread of kings” as he called it), especially brought by the staff at his request, on the way back from Paris on a recent trip to New York - “they were a gift for his mother”, as he made a point of saying at the time of the purchase.

  Already sitting at the table, Sun didn’t fail to mention the souvenir:

  - You see, I haven’t forgotten you, I hope you like it! - Said the President with a smile, as he looked at his mother’s guests, they too with their eyes on the tray full of those cakes.

  - At this point in my life, your presence is the best of all presents and I hope that, in the future, it will be a grandchild.

  Sun, not expecting those words, turned to his mother with amazement, while he repeated with emphasis the word she had just spoken:

  - Grandchild?!

  - Yes! It’s time to think about it, don’t you think?!

  For the President that idea was out of context. The remark, though innocent, or perhaps not, visibly bothered him. So that meeting, although pleasant, changed his expectations and, for the small meal in the afternoon, he only expected it to end as soon as possible. Talking about offspring at that time was a politically inconvenient matter for him! He was not in a position to talk about it, much less in front of some of the people there. His mother would not understand his arguments, so the alternative was to divert the conversation from that topic as much as possible and end the meeting earlier on the pretext of official commitments at the palace.

  Between Wheat and Shaft

  21st century

  The morning of that autumn day came cold, contrasting with the excitement inside the Stock Exchange building. Markets reacted nervously to recent news of the day before, that some American banks were about to show strongly negative results following the bursting of the real estate bubble. Investor behavior was unpredictable; any panic movement could result in a sharp drop in stock market indices. Thus, on the 20th floor of one of the most imposing glass buildings in Manhattan, New York, Snu took care to protect her country’s financial interests by converting important equity investments into U.S. public debt bonds.

  Snu10 was living in New York City, for about a decade. Since she entered the University, where she graduated in Economics and later took a PhD in Finance, she had invested a good part of her available time in further training in foreign languages - mastering two in addition to her native language (Chinese). Thanks to her academic training, combined with a good command of these languages, she joined the staff of a brokerage house. First as a trainee and then as a collaborator, she had achieved prestige among the main ones of the Stock Exchange firms. After two years, her work there earned her an invitation and appointment as head of the Business Agency of the Ministry of Economy of her country. Snu knew, by experience, that in periods of strong agitation in the markets, bond investments (although not fully safeguarding the risks), represented a much safer application than shares.

  At lunchtime Snu met regularly with William, her friend and college colleague, also working at the Stock Exchange building and at the service of another prominent American brokerage firm. That day, his absence had been noticed by Snu. William was a pragmatist American for whom nothing comes from chance, everything for him had a well-defined origin, although not always of clearly visible contours to the common mortal. For William, the real estate crisis was a long-awaited catastrophe. Unfortunately, few listened to the warnings of reputable analysts, who wrote that the largest economy on the planet was supported by feet of clay. This was because the expectation of plenty of time, easy, cheap credit and low taxes (induced by poorly responsible politicians and influential economists), pointing to the great dependence of the American economy on consumption, thus justified their unwise positions. As a consequence of all this, a large number of private individuals have gone into debt more than prudence would advise. While the voracity was maintained by the valuation of assets, largely due to the stock market purchase of American papers by prosperous Asian economies, everything kept growing, but at a time when individuals were no longer able to pay their installments and banks had to reflect the defaults in their accounts, the stock market reversed the direction of the rise and everything changed too fast. Thus confirming old fears (read pre-programmed financial disasters): “just as trees don’t grow forever, neither do stock market index”; “one day, the imperative correction arrives, dragging in the torrent, not only what was uncertain or doubtful, but also what seemed to be safe”; “so the stock markets, periodically, on account of this or that, launch the panic, generating devastation and making the “necessary” corrections”; “thus creating space for them to rise again and make the delights of skillful speculators”. William had a clear vision of this problem. According to him, only through speculative interests and a lot of political irresponsibility is the free flotation of stocks on the Stock Exchanges maintained today. He considered that all listed “papers” should be conditioned to daily bands of maximum variation. Thus, for example, a company’s share price in a broad band should not exceed three percent of the last listed value. The same applies to firms in a narrow band, for example, with a limit of variation, not exceeding two percent. In this way the perverse effect of speculators would be contained, avoiding emotional waves with sharp falls, often with disastrous consequences for local and world economies. As an economist, William considered that to manage
is to predict and therefore, with the appropriate knowledge, prudence and wisdom, it would achievable, as far as possible, the guidance of business along safe paths. In his opinion, many of the world’s financial disasters were due to individual, political, unwise and inconsequential action, of an always insufficient and late correction. Most of the time the public cause follows at the flow of some personal and partisan interests (often petty), completely forgetting the duty of public service. In his opinion, there was a lack of politicians with a sense of the State at the service of the common cause and juridical reinforcement: “the Constitutions should incorporate more Legislation with Limits of Indebtedness of the States”; as well as a “Body of Effective Control of General State Budgets”. Representative democracies are a benefit of modern times, based on the Law, but they should not fall into the constant mire of cyclical crises caused in most cases by inconsequential individual decision-makers (read as Irresponsible Heads of Government). It is always known how a crisis or war begins, but it is difficult to foresee how it ends or what damage it will produce. The real estate crisis in the U.S., like so many others in the past, was not restricted, but spread, like a shock wave, to all economies. Although anti-crisis instruments were triggered by governments and central banks, seeking to stem the side effects of bankruptcies - the repercussions on the world economy were vast. The formula found in this case by the U.S. and other countries was the issuance of public debt, reaching worrying levels in some states (as always the crisis of some is opportunity of others).

  In the office, Snu had just received instructions from the Ministry of the Economy to invest large sums of money in public debt obligations. The fact in itself was not strange, were it not for the expression used and in great prominence - “Long Range Strategic Investment”. The condition of a classified document inhibited Snu from having access to the strategic reasons associated with it. The meeting with William at lunch the next day allowed Snu to relax a little from all the tension.