A robotic waitress rolled to their table. The bottom half of the robot was a tapered block, covered with a dark dress, four wheels underneath. The top half looked like a female torso, with arms and a human-size head. The titanium and aluminum frame was covered in silicone, with wavy dark hair to her shoulders. She didn’t look perfectly human, nor was she meant to for this purpose. She was made to replace servers, but her model was only used in high-end restaurants. Most restaurants used a boxy waist-high robot that looked like a small van. Customers had to remove their food from the tray atop the robot.
The waitress took their orders, sending the message automatically to the robotic cooks. Then she moved on to another table.
The Roth men spent most of the meal talking about Mayer’s and Eric’s families. Wives, children, and vacations. To the unaware, the Roth brothers looked like three successful middle-aged men out to dinner with their father.
During dessert, Mayer asked Jacob, “How are David and Ethan?”
“They’re good,” Jacob replied, glancing up from his crème brûlée. “Lindsey’s doing well too.”
Nathan grunted at the mention of Lindsey.
“How old is Lindsey now?” Mayer asked, trying to recover from his faux pas.
“Sixteen,” Jacob replied.
“She wasn’t at the last family reunion, was she?” Eric asked.
Jacob set down his fork with a clang, staring through his circular glasses. “She couldn’t make it.”
Eric nodded, as if he were just figuring something out. “She was with her father, right?”
Jacob clenched his jaw, unresponsive.
“I don’t know how you do it. I certainly couldn’t.”
“Do what?”
“Raise another man’s child.”
Nathan blew out a ragged breath, the old man no longer eating, as if the idea of Jacob raising another man’s child made him sick.
Mayer scowled at his youngest sibling. “That’s uncalled for.”
Eric showed his palms. “I was complimenting Jacob. He’s a bigger man than me.”
“How’s Rebecca doing?” Mayer asked, trying to change the subject.
“She’s great,” Jacob said. “Has her hands full with the boys, but she loves being a mother.”
“Not much to it these days,” Eric said. “Abigail lets the nanny bot do all the domestic chores. She still has plenty of time to be a great wife, mother, and pursue her passions. She’s actually writing a romance novel.”
“Is she better than the robot writers?”
Eric chuckled. “Touché again, brother.”
“I read a robot-written thriller on the plane ride over,” Mayer said. “It was a little formulaic, but it wasn’t bad.”
After dessert and bourbon, the restaurant was empty except for the Roths. Jacob hoped with the relative privacy and the relaxed inhibitions, he could complete his mission.
Jacob cleared his throat. “Housing Trust could be a good investment.”
“Not yet,” Eric said, grinning.
“The stock price is reasonable since the last downturn. If I can turn it around, it’ll be—”
Nathan set his bourbon on the table. “No. We’re not buying American companies at the moment.”
“Since when?” Jacob asked.
“The socialist agenda of the New World Order is bearing fruit,” Eric said.
“Really?” Jacob narrowed his eyes in disbelief. “I know some democratic socialists were elected in the midterms, but the US is still a capitalist country.”
“Not for long, according to the trends,” Mayer said. “Based on the demographics, death rates, and the trending preferences, we think the US will be a socialist country before 2060.”
“We’ve done quite well under socialist regimes,” Jacob said.
“No doubt about that,” Mayer replied. “We’re simply trying to avoid the inevitable crash during the final transition. We’ll buy important land and companies when the time is right.”
“When there’s blood in the streets,” Eric added with a crooked grin.
“Have we been selling US securities?” Jacob asked.
Eric nodded. He would know. He was the head of Roth Holdings North America. “Slowly. We’d rather not cause a panic.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I’m telling you now.”
Jacob rubbed his temples. “Then I’m going down with the ship.”
“The Chinese are still buying,” Mayer said. “They might be interested in an equity position. Eric could get you a meeting with Zhang Jun.”
Jacob turned to Eric.
“I suppose I could,” Eric said.
Jacob nodded. “Thank you.”
“Arranging deck chairs on the Titanic,” Nathan said.
“I’d rather help you at Roth Eurozone,” Jacob told his father, “or I’d take a position at the World Bank or the BIS.” The BIS was the Bank of International Settlements in Switzerland.
Nathan shook his head. “No.”
“I’d be willing to work for Mayer in Hong Kong,” Jacob said.
“No. You’re right where we need you to be.”
“I’ll be out of a job soon.”
Nathan shook his head again. “Stop being so melodramatic. The US government won’t let a GSE fail. Too much is at stake. They’ll nationalize the company.”
Housing Trust was a Government-Sponsored Enterprise, receiving federal subsidies and loans in return for partial ownership and adherence to regulations to maintain their preferred status.
“They’ll give us a bailout or subsidies, but they can’t outright nationalize,” Jacob said.
“Semantics,” Nathan continued. “Bailouts are de facto nationalizations. You know that. We create the money, and the US government doles it out. The US government will own Housing Trust, but we own the US government. If all goes well, you’ll likely find yourself as the treasury secretary. And you’ll be in the perfect position to make sure the one-world-currency survives the transition.”
“What makes you think I’d want to be treasury secretary? I make fifteen times what the treasury secretary does. You’re making these plans that include me and my family without even telling me.”
“We weren’t sure of the direction of the US, but, after what we saw today, we are now,” Mayer said. “We didn’t want to alarm you until we knew for sure.”
Jacob stared at his father. “What makes you think I want to be front and center of this shitstorm?”
“You’re welcome to do as you wish, but I don’t have to give you a job in this company or at any of the major banks,” Nathan said.
Jacob opened his mouth to speak but shut it instead.
Nathan leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table, glaring at Jacob. “If you ever want to take over Roth Eurozone, I suggest you pay your dues. We’ve done very well in communist and socialist countries, but the timing has to be right. We have to be out of the US markets before the downturn, and we have to do this without triggering a crash or a major spike in precious metals. Then we have to be in position to buy strategic businesses, land, and resources at the bottom. This often requires cooperation with the government as markets are illiquid in these situations. Ideally, the socialist government survives the transition, but whatever government arises from the ashes, whether it be free-market capitalist or communist or anything in between, it uses our money and only our money. To ensure our business interests are protected, we need people in key positions of power within the US government.”
“This isn’t 1930. Americans aren’t self-sufficient anymore. Half of them would be undernourished without UBI.” Jacob looked around to make sure nobody was listening. “If this happens, millions—no, tens of millions—of people will die, and nearly everybody will be impoverished.”