Andrew Watts
The War Stage
“Give me control of a nation’s money and I care not who makes its laws.”
Prologue
“How much do you know about how money really works?”
She shrugged. “I’m sure very little, compared to you.”
He nodded. “You are not alone. Most people don’t know very much about what happens to their money after they place it in the bank. Or how it is valued. Many people today who live in first world countries — especially you Americans — have never even experienced the terror of rapid inflation.”
She placed a recording device on the table and pressed the button with a red circle. She asked, “Do you mind if I begin?”
“Do we need to record this?” He squirmed in his chair.
The reporter looked at him. She sat in a small wooden chair across from him at the room’s only table. Her legs were crossed and her skirt parted just above her knee. She was pretty. Long black hair. Big, beautiful eyes. The kind you saw on billboards, staring back at you when you crossed the street.
“It would help me to make sure I don’t misquote you.” A polite smile. Her voice melodic.
He shook his head. “And here I was, thinking that no one would ever find me. Perhaps I was being naïve.”
“So what is it that you were just saying? You believe that most people are ignorant of how the global monetary system works? Is this a source of frustration for you?”
He looked out the window. The clean oceanside city of Osaka, with its majestic mountain views, had been his home for the past thirty years. He wondered if he would be able to remain here, now that his identity would be revealed.
He said, “No. I do not take issue with someone not understanding the complexity of money. Nor do I expect the common person to understand the complexity of physics. All people are bound by the rules of physics, yet most don’t truly understand it. But the laws of physics were not created by man. There are, however, men that created monetary policy. There are today men who are in control of monetary policy.”
“And you don’t like that?”
He watched her. She didn’t take notes. Just looked at him as she spoke. She didn’t strike him as a reporter. Her expressions, her tone, the look in her eyes. There was something there that he would not have expected in a reporter, but he couldn’t identify what it was.
He replied, “I take issue with the idea that some men have the right to create a system of rules that all others must abide by, whether they agree with them or not.” He smiled. “You are an American. Surely you can agree with that concept? The idea that all people have inalienable rights — to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
She smiled. “I’m interested in what you think.”
“I think that people should be free. I think that the proliferation of the Internet is much like the proliferation of the printing press. The spread of information is changing our world. I believe that the Internet has helped advance the rights of the common man. But their wallets are still bound by regulations that they do not understand. And these regulations are not always in their favor. Their wallets need freedom, too.” He smiled back at her, wrinkles forming on his forehead.
“And bitcoin will provide them that?”
He slapped his knee and shot her a wide grin. “I can only dream.”
“How would you describe it?”
“Describe what? Bitcoin?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
He frowned and looked at the floor. “One of the benefits of my seclusion and anonymity has been that I have not had to explain it to people that were not fluent in the languages of money and cryptology.” He let out a heavy sigh and then looked back at her. “Let me ask you for your help. How would you describe it, knowing what you do?”
She said, “I would call it the world’s first widely adopted digital currency.”
“Widely adopted? I think that you are being generous.”
She shook her head. “They say that by 2014, over one million people will possess bitcoin currency. It’s hard to get that many people to agree to anything. And now they are all agreeing to use a new form of money.”
He cocked his head. “Your accent, where is it from? Where did you learn Japanese?”
The reporter said, “America.”
“Of course. You speak Japanese very well. But were you born there? In America?”
She said, “No, I wasn’t.” She shifted in her chair and leaned forward to adjust the recording device on the table. “Now it’s your turn to answer. What is bitcoin? Your words.”
He looked back out at the city. On the busy streets below, crowds of men and women in suits walked on crosswalks. “It’s a means to an end.”
“And what end is that?”
He motioned out the window, toward the skyscrapers of Osaka. “Three years ago, the world’s financial system almost collapsed. All those people in suits were ready to jump out of windows. Then the men in control realized that they had become too greedy, and began to make changes. It got better for a few years, but the markets will collapse again. This cycle happens over and over. History is repeated by those that do not learn from it. And the young generations rarely remember their forefathers’ lessons well. You can argue over the reasons why each financial crash occurs. But the world’s financial system is still regulated by national governments and global entities supported by those governments. A very powerful few, with mixed motives.”
The reporter asked, “What does that have to do with bitcoin?”
He said, “I was born in Japan. But I ask you, what if I don’t agree with everything that my government says? I can tell you right now that I don’t. What if the global economic and currency regulators make decisions that I disagree with? Once, there was nothing that one could do. But we have reached a turning point in technology. A turning point in the rise of peer-to-peer networking. Today, the individual has the freedom to use a currency that is unregulated by any government. Prior to this technology, that was not possible.”
The reporter looked skeptical. “So you are saying that bitcoin will free people from the bonds of government?”
The man laughed. “No. But it is a start. Let me ask you one question. What is the global reserve currency?”
“The US dollar.”
“Correct. The US dollar. Do you know what it means for a country to wield such a power? It means that the United States holds an economic advantage over every other nation in the world.”
“Are you anti-American?”
“Not at all. I have been to America. A wonderful country. But the system is not fair. If one nation can control the global reserve currency, it can raise the largest, most powerful military. That same nation can create wealth beyond the wildest dreams of all other nations. The United States is a leader in technology, in industry, sports, and media. Its culture is dominant. People from all over the world envy America, whether they admit it or not.”
She smiled. “Is that really all due to the dollar being the global reserve currency?”
“Oh, yes. Look at the history books. The Roman Empire, the British Empire… all empires rule in part by establishing a dominant currency. Americans don’t have to worry about real inflation. Bread might cost a few percent more next year, but not twenty percent more. Not fifty percent more. Not so much that children can no longer eat three meals each day. Or that parents must sell their home or pick up another job.”
“The United States has battled inflation before, hasn’t it?” She looked uncertain.
He raised his chin. “Yes. But overall, its status has been significantly better than that of the rest of the world. Other countries bow down to the United States. Perhaps not publicly. Not in their words. But in their policy, and in their action, countries around the world behave as if they are subservient to America. For instance, could you imagine what the US president would say if South Korea or Germany or Spain or Brazil wanted to place a military base in California? They would laugh. And yet the United States has military bases in many countries around the world. The American Empire.”