The marketing of bottled water: For the spirit of this scene, see Elizabeth Royte, Bottlemania: The Marketing of Bottled Water and Why We Bought It (Bloomsbury, 2008), http://books.google.com/books? id=LwUUAQAAIAAJ
More from Chapter 3:
Tsunami warning system inadequate: Laura Smith-Spark, “Indonesia Tsunami System ‘Not Ready,’” BBC News, July 19, 2006, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5191190.stm
Virtually the entire speech that Arthur Gardner gives in the boardroom is based on fact; of course, in keeping with his character, he presents his own version of those facts. Here are a few specific examples:
Committed $8 trillion to those that engineered the financial crisis: David Goldman, “The $8 Trillion Bailout,” CNNMoney.com, January 6, 2009, http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/06/news/economy/where_stimulus_fits_in/index.htm
Social Security is a Ponzi scheme: Jeff Poor, “Cramer: Social Security a Bigger Ponzi Scheme than Madoff’s,” Business & Media Institute, December 18, 2008, http://www.businessandmedia.org/articles/2008/20081218091211.aspx
A hundred thousand billion dollars: Also known as “$100 trillion,” this is a chilling estimate of our unfunded Social Security and Medicare liabilities. Pamela Villarreal, “Social Security and Medicare Projections: 2009,” National Center for Policy Analysis, June 11, 2009, http://www.ncpa.org/pub/ba662
Nationalizing General Motors: Kimberly S. Johnson, “GM to reorganize in government-led bankruptcy,” AP Foreign, June 1, 2009, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/8535026
$17 billion in underfunded union pensions: Nick Bunkley, “Automaker Pensions Underfunded by $17 Billion,” New York Times, April 6, 2010, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/07/business/07cars.html
We’re borrowing $5 billion a day from Asia: Statement of C. Fred Bergsten, Director, Institute for International Economics, February 2-4, 2005, http://www.uscc.gov/hearings/2005hearings/transcripts/05_02_3_4.pdf
In Chapter 10 we meet Molly’s mother for the first time as she gives a speech at the bar. Much of what she references is accurate, including:
“The happy union of these states…”: James Madison, edited by Gaillard Hunt, The Writings of James Madison (New York, NY: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1910): 357, http://books.google.com/books?id=V7jGAAAAMAAJ
“The most basic question is not…”: Thomas Sowell, Knowledge and Decisions (New York, NY: Basic Books, 1980): 79, http://books.google.com/books?id=4kqTMrEKWXoC
Carroll Quigley’s book Tragedy & Hope makes a few appearances in this novel, and for good reason: the premise that he outlined, Mutually Assured Destruction, is now a reality. But it’s not just military destruction that we’ve got to worry about, it’s economic destruction as well. Economies have become so intentionally intertwined that a collapse anywhere else in the world has major ramifications for us. Quigley’s book is a must-read if you want to really understand the theories of a man who was inspirational to many leaders, including President Bill Clinton.
Carroll Quigley: Carroll Quigley, Tragedy & Hope: A History of the World in Our Time (G.S.G. & Associates, 1975), http://books.google.com/books?id=KQZxAAAAIAAJ
Herbert Croly: Herbert Croly, The Promise of American Life (New York, NY: The MacMillan Company, 1909), http://books.google.com/books?id=EoxIAAAAYAAJ
Thomas Jefferson: “Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God”: Willard Sterne Randall, Thomas Jefferson: A Life (New York, NY: Harper Collins, 1993): 275, http://books.google.com/books?id=jxh4rGiz7GgC
35,000 registered lobbyists: Jerry Kammer, “A Steady Flow of Financial Influence,” Copley News Service, August 25, 2006, http:// www.pbs.org/now/shows/234/money-politics.html
Spent almost $3.5 billion last year: Oxford Analytica, “Lobbyists’ Sway in Washington,” April 13, 2010, http://www.forbes.com/2010/04/12/lobby-politics-elections-washington-business -oxford.html
The incredible 67,000 page tax code: “67,204-Page Code Confounds Taxpayers, yet Congress Sits By,” USAToday.com, April 4, 2007, http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2007/04/post_7.html
IRS involved in the health care legislation: Kim Dixon, “U.S. budget office: 4 million likely to pay health fine,” Washington Post, April 22, 2010, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp- dyn/content/article/2010/04/22/AR2010042204286.html
Treasury enforced Prohibition laws: “Narcotic Bill Now Law: Hoover Signs Measure Creating a Bureau in the Treasury,” The New York Times, June 15, 1930, http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html? res=F30910F73D5C14738DDDAC0994DE405B80 8FF1D3
“The power to tax involves the power to destroy”: “The Supreme Court: The Power to Tax,” Time, March 17, 1958, http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,863135,00.html
100,000 federal employees owe back taxes: Devin Dwyer, “Tax Scam Uncle Sam? You Oughta Be Fired! Says Utah Rep. Chaffetz,” ABC News, March 18, 2010, http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Tax/100000-federal-employees- owe-irs-back-taxes/story?id=10125860
Treasury Secretary owes back taxes: Jonathan Weisman, “Geithner’s Tax History Muddles Confirmation,” The Wall Street Journal, January 14, 2009, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123187503629378119.html
John Adams: “A government of laws…”: David McCullough, John Adams (New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 2001): 378, http://books.google.com/books?id=GHMnz8G0GTcC
“No lie can live forever”: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., edited by James Washington, A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr., (New York, NY: Harper-Collins, 1986): 230, http://books.google.com/books?id=k8uPHtrU8BsC
In Chapter 11 we hear from spirited conspiracy theorist Danny Bailey for the first time. Danny is the kind of guy who likes to string together a variety of facts in an attempt to make something crazy sound plausible. His speech is important because it shows how selected facts and truths can be used as the foundation for an overall thesis that is entirely fictional.
Bailey starts by citing some unemployment data that differs significantly from the official government estimates. Those statistics, and a lot more, can be found at a website called Shadow Statistics that is run by economist John Williams.
Real unemployment past 20%: John Williams’ Shadow Government Statistics, Shadowstats.com, http://www.shadowstats.com/ alternate_data/unemployment-charts
The job ad that Danny cites is a great example of how fact can fuel conspiracy thinking. Is there really a job ad posting for an “Internment and Resettlement Specialist”? Yes-and it’s right there on the public goarmy.com website. Why would they list such an incriminating job publicly? Simple… because it’s not incriminating at all. The Army has detention facilities all over the world that need to be staffed. If they posted a job opening for an “Experienced Sniper” would people jump to the conclusion that they want to assassinate Americans on U.S. soil? Of course not, yet that’s what some people immediately think when they read “Internment Specialist.”
Internment and Resettlement Specialist: Job listing posted at goarmy.com, http://www.goarmy.com/JobDetail.do?id=292
25% of world’s prisoners in U.S.: Jim Webb, “Why We Must Fix Our Prisons,” Parade, March 29, 2009, http://www.parade.com/news/2009/03/why-we-must-fix-our-prisons.html
Army Regulation 210-35: Civilian Inmate Labor Program, http:// www.army.mil/usapa/epubs/pdf/r210_35.pdf
In 1987, as Oliver North was testifying before a Congressional Committee on the Iran-Contra affair, the Miami Herald ran a series of articles detailing North’s participation in emergency-response contingency planning. In a piece published July 5, 1987, the Herald wrote about a memo outlining emergency plans that apparently bore a resemblance to a college paper written by the then-FEMA director:
“The scenario outlined in the Brinkerhoff memo resembled somewhat a paper Guiffrida had written in 1970 at the Army War College in Carlisle, Pa., in which he advocated martial law in case of a national uprising by black militants. The paper also advocated the roundup and transfer to ‘assembly centers or relocation camps’ of at least 21 million ‘American Negroes.’”
