by David Archer
He touched his index finger. “Number two, rising prices—especially on food products. One of the reasons for this was that an awful lot of farm produce was shipped through some of those towns that had disappeared in riots, but it was also related to the fact that there were a lot of genetically modified fruits and vegetables on the market that were still under patent. Those cost more, and there were a lot of efforts by their creators to make sure there was no natural organic competition available. These companies literally bought up farms that grew non-modified crops, in order to make sure that if you wanted a banana, you would darn well buy their banana!”
The next finger. “Number three was education. We had reached a point where less than thirty percent of our public education graduates could even read properly, so their prospects for going to college and getting any significant education that would allow them to support themselves properly were pretty slim. Our entire educational system would have to be overhauled, and the panel used models from other countries that had exemplary educational programs.”
He tapped the tip of his ring finger. “Number four was healthcare. We ranked near the bottom of the list of countries when it came to healthcare, despite several different attempts to create some form of national healthcare program. The majority of Americans had little or no health insurance coverage, which was a way to make sure you got to see a doctor when you needed to. Hospitals were turning people away because they couldn't pay, so a lack of money was literally killing off a lot of our citizens. Something had to be done about our healthcare.”
Carson touched his pinky. “Prison overcrowding was number five. There were so many people locked away, or trying unsuccessfully to fit back into society, that they were a major drain on the country's resources. A program to eliminate this problem had to be created, but in order to work in one country, it had to be able to work in all of them.”
He made a fist. “Number six was taxation. The American tax rate was so high, at least for the lower classes, that it significantly impacted their ability to survive. Every president elected in the last ten or so elections had promised to reduce taxes, and some of them even tried, but the net result was that more and more of the average citizen’s income was taken out of their paychecks. Tax refunds seemed to give the money back each year, or at least a healthy share of it, but the reality of the situation was that the refunds themselves only added to the monumental national debt. The nation's spending was so out of control that even by collecting every tax dollar owed, there wasn't even enough money to pay just the interest on the money that the country borrowed, so each year saw the nation borrowing even more. The national debt kept rising, and the people were ready to rebel.”
Carson pointed at Raul Rodriguez. “Raul, what was the solution to problem number one?”
Raul grinned. “The elimination of the use of deadly force, except in extreme circumstances. They took guns away from almost all of the police officers in the world, and gave them nonlethal weapons that would stun and subdue a suspect without causing any serious or permanent harm. Once the people were no longer afraid that the police would be killing them or their children, but could still perform their duties when it came to stopping crime and apprehending criminals, then the attitude of the police that they were some kind of absolute authority over the people seemed to fade away. Of course, it was only a short time later that firearms were outlawed for all purposes other than military and emergency use by special law enforcement groups, and for hunting in special hunting preserves. That caused an uproar, because people had always believed in America that they had the right to have guns, but those first few months after the police lost their guns, things went pretty crazy. Pretty much everyone agrees now it was the right decision.”
Carson smiled and nodded. “Excellent response, Raul,” he said. He looked around the room and pointed at another student, a girl. “Stephanie, what about number two?”
“Well, the first thing they did was make it illegal for those companies to buy out the competition, calling it a conflict of interest. That was a start, but then they began subsidizing food production companies of all kinds. With a single, global currency, it was possible to reduce prices drastically that way, and it wasn't long before pretty much everyone could afford a decent diet. Oh, and they also created a number of programs for people who were living below the poverty line, to make sure that they got access to food, as well.”
“Very good,” Carson said. He pointed at Jerry Goddard, one of his brightest students. “Jerry? Take number three?”
Jerry shrugged. “First thing they did was raise the pay that teachers got, which meant that an awful lot of people suddenly wanted to be teachers. Of course, it also meant that a lot of teachers who had left the field in order to get a job that would pay better suddenly wanted to come back, and that alone helped improve the educational system. There was more to it than that, though, because they also had to improve discipline in educational settings. They solved that problem by hiring retired military personnel as teachers' aides. Students seemed to be willing to behave better and pay more attention when there was somebody in the room who could kick their butts. In classes with younger children, corporal punishment was reinstated, because even though Americans had started thinking that spanking a kid was some kind of child abuse, many other countries knew better. Their kids still got spanked, and their crime rates were a lot lower than ours. When all of this got put together, the results of our educational system seemed to improve drastically, and within just a few years we were leading the world in that department.”
Carson nodded and gave him a thumbs-up sign. “Good job, Jerry. Annie, number four?”
The girl he had addressed looked at him blankly. “Um, what was number four again?”
Carson made a loud buzzing noise with his voice. “Wrong answer. Jennifer, how about you?”
“Healthcare was one of the easiest problems for them to solve, or at least that's what the history books tell us. They created a trust by taking some of the biggest insurers and combining them, and then feeding a certain amount of money each month into that trust to be invested and multiplied. The monthly investment was calculated by multiplying the number of people in the country by a specific amount of money. This way, the invested funds produced enough return to be sure that any medical treatment or procedure that any citizen needed could be had. In addition, they bought up hundreds of hospitals and hired almost every doctor and nurse they could get, signing them to contracts that would keep them working directly for the GU for ten to twenty years. The salaries were good, but even so it would save the healthcare trust an incredible amount of money to use those doctors, first. That system worked so well that today all medical school graduates spend the first ten years of their career in public hospitals. After that, they can go into private practice if they wish, but most of them simply renew their contracts and stay. Everyone in the whole world can now get any medical care they need.”
Carson nodded and pretended to applaud. “Excellent, excellent,” he said. “Who's up for number five?”
Donald Morton, a student whom Carson often considered lazy but brilliant, raised a hand, and Carson nodded.
“The GU panel looked at our penal system and basically threw up their hands. It was such a mess that nobody believed there was any hope other than to just scrap it and start over, so that's basically what they did. The thing is, they did a study on different types of penal systems throughout history, and strangely enough, they came to the conclusion that one of the biggest drains on any national economy and purpose was always found in a penal system that housed and fed large numbers of the criminal population. The most effective penal systems, on the other hand, were those that eliminated the criminal population, and the best historical example had been found in some of the early European cultures. Rather than keep prisoners locked up, they literally forced them to fight to the death in public duels. This not only eliminated a lot of them, but it also served as a highly visible deterrent to
future crime among the population, and that's what led to the creation of what we all know as Justice Net.” Another smattering of laughter was heard around the room, since just about everyone over eighteen probably had bets on some of the Justice Net fights that were currently scheduled. “The whole point of Justice Net is to completely eliminate the need for a penal system. Since we no longer have to house and feed criminals for years and years, there has been a terrific savings in the form of money that is not spent on those things, but the greatest impact of Justice Net has been the fact that the criminal element is slowly eliminating itself from our societies.”
“Very good, Donald. And of course, that only leaves number six.” He looked around the room and pointed at a young man. “Jeffrey, how about you?”
“Taxation was eliminated completely by the GU,” Jeffrey said. “Instead, the GU created several programs that allow people to invest money for a healthy return, or gamble it directly with the government. Justice Net, besides solving the incarceration problem, became one of the greatest sources of government revenue when it began allowing people to place bets on the fights in its third year. With eight-and-a-half billion people in the world, more than half of whom tend to make regular bets, the GU takes in more money on this one program alone than the total tax revenues of all of its subject nations in the past, especially when you remember that every nation's tax system had loopholes and regulations that would allow the wealthiest to avoid paying any taxes whatsoever. Between Justice Net and the special investment programs that pay steady but moderate returns, taxation became a thing of the past.”
Carson was nodding. “Very good, Jeffrey. So as you can see, the GU solved the vast majority of America's problems, as well as those of its other subject nations, by simply thinking outside the box. Law enforcement became less deadly and more respectable, food production returned to being more privatized and less corporate, and therefore more affordable, education returned to the high standards it had enjoyed for the first century and a half of America, quality healthcare became available to everyone, and Justice Net solved not only the national financial crises, but resulted in a dramatic reduction in crime throughout the world.”
“Sure doesn't seem like it,” muttered a student in the rear of the room, which set off another bout of laughter.
Carson pointed at the student who had spoken. “You, there, Mr. Bennett? You had a comment?”
Bennett, who had a penchant for interrupting whatever he might be listening to at the moment, rolled his eyes. “I said it sure doesn't seem like it. Seems to me like they've got more new criminals being arrested and put into the fights every day.”
“I'll admit that sometimes it seems that way,” Carson said, “but let's look at the facts. Mathematically, what you just said is an absolute impossibility, and here's why. Justice Net began less than a year after the formation of the Global Union, and was ratified by a majority of subject nations within six months. It took almost a year to get all of the infrastructure into place, during which time we continued to use the old national prison systems to hold the criminals, even though many were already sentenced to the number of fights they would be required to survive in order to be released. Now, in that first year of the program, there were nearly four hundred thousand criminals who were either sentenced to participation or volunteered for it in order to get out of their lengthy prison terms, but the vast majority of criminals simply don't survive their first few fights, so the numbers got smaller in a hurry. By the end of that year, about ten percent of them had been released, but most of them were dead. And it was effective; today, only a very small percentage of those who are sentenced to the program are repeat offenders.”
Bennett shrugged. “Hey, as long as I keep making money on those fights, that's all I care about.”
Carson laughed. “You're not alone in that, Mr. Bennett,” Carson said. “And of course, that's exactly what the Justice Net administration is counting on. If you'll take a look at the schedules, you'll find that there are a lot of people serving long sentences, up to the maximum of seventy bouts. Those people have to go up against one another, and those are the ones everybody likes to bet on. These are matches between men who have already survived dozens of bouts, and each of them is highly favored in the odds. What do you get when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object? You get bets that can range into the billions!”
The laughter and hollering ran through the room once more, and more than one of the students winked knowingly at another. There were a number of such fights scheduled for that weekend, and it was likely that most people had at least some money down on one of the fighters involved.
A chime went off through the intercom, and the students began gathering their notes and materials. “Quickly, now, I want all of you to prepare your own argument for tomorrow, identifying what you believe to be the most damaging situation faced by the United States prior to the Great Disaster. And yes, this will count toward your grade for the semester, so don't come in here and just tell me that it was all the fault of conspiracy theorists. Have a great afternoon, and I'll see you all tomorrow.”
Carson tapped the wide band on his left wrist to activate his holo-tab and cleared the video display. His fingers poked at the holographic display that rose from the band as he checked his schedule quickly. He saw that he had a couple of student conferences that afternoon, then looked up when Professor Curran entered the room. The holo-tab vanished as soon as his eyes left it.
“Carson,” Curran said, “have you managed to knock any sense into these young heads today?”
The two men shook hands. “Oh, Professor, I can't go bragging about my teaching methodology. Besides, all I teach is history, the old stuff. You're the one who has to convince them that the future is going to be bright.”
“Yes, well, that's what I get for letting myself be roped into teaching Contemporary Morality this year.” He leaned close and whispered conspiratorially. “You know, if you and I were to join forces, we could probably convince these youngsters in the physics and engineering departments that they need to build us a time machine so we can go back a few hundred years and live in the golden ages.”
Carson chuckled. “That depends on how far back you really want to go,” he said. “Politically, the best times were before the advent of any modern technology, but then you had to put up with rampant disease and inhumane working conditions. If you can figure out a way to take some gold back with us, then I suspect we might want to go back to the heyday of Ancient Rome. As long as we could avoid becoming slaves, we could live pretty good.”
“Rome? Rome? Good heavens, no! If I took you back to Rome, you'd probably manage to get yourself elected to the Senate, and then you'd find a way to displace Caesar. At least in our world, we've managed to eliminate the possibility of dictatorships!”
THREE
Carson shrugged and walked toward the door as Curran took up his own position at the lectern. His students were beginning to trickle in, and it was time for his own class to begin.
Exiting the amphitheater, Carson tapped the Google Motion app on his holo-tab, and a moment later a blue, floating egg marked “Uber” stopped in front of him and settled to the floor. One side opened up, and Carson slid into the seat.
A pleasant-looking but animated female face appeared on the screen in front of him. “Good afternoon, Professor Pace,” it said to him. “Destination, please?”
“My office, please, Gigi,” Carson said. “Do you need the address designation?”
“No, thank you, Professor,” the AI said. “It is keyed to my facial recognition algorithms. You will arrive at your office in seventeen minutes.” The egg lifted on its magnetic repulsor field and began moving. “Would you like to listen to music during the journey?”
“No, thank you,” Carson said. “I need to call my DP. Her number is…”
“I have it, Professor. Connecting in four seconds.” The AI face suddenly shrunk down and moved to the lower left corner of the screen, and
he heard the chime that meant Charlotte's holo-tab was ringing. A second later, her face appeared on the screen in front of him.
“Carson!” Charlotte said, her face breaking into a huge smile. “Are you done already?”
Carson shook his head. “No, I'm afraid not. I've got a couple of student conferences this afternoon, so I'm probably a few hours from being free. How's your day going?”
She gave him a wry grin. “I have been very busily jabbering away at my holo-tab, trying to get the outline done for the new book. Do you have any idea how hard it is to come up with names for three dozen characters, most of whom will only appear in the book once or twice? It's maddening—maddening, I tell you!”
Carson smiled and blew her a kiss. “Well, let that hold you over until I get there, and then I'll kiss you properly. Think you can hold out until then?”
Charlotte laughed with delight. “Oh, I'll try,” she said, still chuckling. “You know those kisses are all I live for, don't you?”
“Same here. Listen, I'll get finished up as quickly as I can. I don't want to be away from you one minute longer than I have to.”
The two of them said goodbye, and Charlotte's image faded from the screen. It was replaced with a view of the passing scenery, though the AI's image remained in the corner. Carson watched the display as the vehicle maneuvered through the commonways, the great, three-story hallways that served as streets in the massive building that stood on what had once been the city of Kankakee, Illinois and its suburbs.
As a history professor, Carson understood how the concept of the arcology had come about. It was first put forth by architect Paolo Soleri, who defined it as a three-dimensional structure that would serve as a complete and self-sustaining environment for an independent community. Many examples had been planned since his first use of the phrase in the late 1960s. A few of them had been attempted even back then, with varying degrees of success, but it was only after the Great Disaster that arcologies genuinely came into existence. This one, only sixty miles and fifteen minutes from the center of the Chicago District, was one of the very first to be truly successful.