Andrea studied the dolphin again. “Yes, I could do that. I have the clay, the colors and the glaze on hand. How soon would you need them?”
“How soon could your club make them?”
“Let me make some phone calls. I’ll let you know later this afternoon.”
“Perfect,” Willa replied. Her cell phone chirped and it was from Chelsea, her daughter. What now? “Chelsea?”
“Mom, I just got a call from Dakota. She’s at the mall in Astoria. She says the mall is being mobbed. People are emptying the shelves of everything. What’s going on?”
Willa covered her phone. “Andrea, I’ve got to go.” She walked out the door. “Chelsea, listen to me. I’ve talked with your Aunt Elizabeth. All products imported from China have stopped. There won’t be any more, probably for years.”
“Is our economy crashing?” Chelsea asked, a definite tone of panic in her voice.
“No.” Willa replied. “But you need to get Dakota out of there — she could get hurt. Tell her to leave, now.”
“Could you call her? She won’t listen to me. If I tell her to leave, she’ll camp out there. Please?”
Just what I needed in the middle of this emergency: an emotional teenager! Willa tried to calm herself. “I’ll call her. How did she get to the mall?”
“Friends’ parents were going. They dropped the girls off at the mall while they went to appointments,” Chelsea said.
Great, so they can’t actually leave. “Chelsea, don’t panic, I’ll take care of this.” Willa brought up Dakota’s name on her screen and connected.
“Gramma?”
“Dakota, honey, listen. Get your friends and get out of the mall. I don’t want you to get hurt. Do you understand me?”
“But everything’s disappearing! There won’t be anything left. We’re all going to starve.”
“Dakota, nobody’s going to starve. There’s plenty of food. It’s only things from China that are going to be out of stock for a little while. It’s all going to be fine. Now please get your friends and leave the mall. Do you have a place where you are meeting your friends’ parents?”
“At the east entrance,” she replied. “Don’t you want us to buy something before it’s all gone?”
“No, honey, everything in the stores will be restocked. We’re not going to be out of anything. It’s just stuff from China that will take a little longer to be restocked. Don’t try to buy anything. Just go to where you are going to be picked up and wait there.”
“You’re sure we aren’t going to be out of everything?”
“Honey, I talked with your Great Aunt Elizabeth in Washington, D.C. She’s taking care of the situation. Everything’s going to be fine, now please get your friends and leave the mall, okay?”
There was no immediate reply. “You’re sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure. You need to leave now, honey. Can you do that?” Willa waited through another awkward pause. “Dakota?”
“Whatever,” Dakota replied.
“Not whatever, honey, you need to leave, right now. Okay?”
Willa heard the sound muffled. She’s probably discussing it with her friends. I hope someone there has some sense. The sound cleared. “Okay, we’re leaving. Bye Gramma.”
I sure hope Elizabeth knows what she’s doing, because people aren’t going to settle down until the store shelves are full again.
CHAPTER 26
“The chair recognizes Senator Elizabeth Bechtel from the great State of Oregon. Senator, you have the floor.”
“Thank you, Mr. Vice President, and thank you for being here. We are facing the greatest political challenge in the last several decades. As you are aware, something drastic has happened in our relations with China. Even the most optimistic appraisals of the situation estimate it could take several years to resolve whatever is causing China to act against us the way it is. While our military is certainly able to protect us from an attack, our most immediate concern is what China’s actions are doing to our economy. All trade between China and America has come to an end, and it will not resume in the foreseeable future.
“We must act, and act now, if we are to prevent a major disruption to our economy. The reality is that one of every thirty-five dollars in this country has gone to China. That’s half a trillion dollars, every year. Yes, that’s trillion, with a T. One in every five products on American shelves comes from China. While we have considered China a Most Favored Nation for international trade, China has routinely ignored our patent laws and violated the patent protection we provide to American companies, which has resulted in the loss of sixty billion dollars every year to China in patent, trademark and intellectual property rights violations.
“Now that China has unilaterally ended trade with America, it is time to reset our trade policies with China. The proposed legislation will return all patents, trademarks and intellectual property rights owned or controlled by Chinese companies to America. This will free American companies to produce millions of products for American businesses that currently have no viable suppliers for their customers. We have struggled with a sluggish economy for the last eight years and I am sick and tired of hearing comments that this is a jobless recovery. This legislation will put two million Americans back to work, supplying billions of items to fill the empty shelves in our businesses, where eager Americans are waiting to buy them.
“We are the answer to this economic crisis. Any American company that wants to produce an item that has previously been made in China, can apply for, and be granted, exclusive rights to make that item through the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. This legislation will bring our manufacturing jobs home, where they belong. If China doesn’t want us in their country, we don’t want their products in ours. It’s time we took back control of our own economy. Pass this legislation. The American people are relying on you, and our whole economy hangs in the balance. We have to act now.”
She looked around at the standing ovation her speech received. The Bechtel Bill, as it was known in the Senate, had 23 co-sponsors and was gaining bipartisan support by the hour. The House version, which contained the financial incentives and grants for American businesses to quickly replace Chinese companies in the supply chain, had 87 co-sponsors with another 43 Representatives committed to signing on later in the day.
Eight years of economic stagnation and political posturing, she thought, and all it took was bringing our country to the brink of war. What an elegant solution. “Carpe facultas,” she whispered to herself. Seize the opportunity, the means, while they present themselves. This is the gateway to greatness.
Senator Elizabeth Bechtel’s Chief of Staff had arranged a press conference to follow her speech in the Senate.
“Thank you for being here today,” she began. “We are facing what some are calling ‘an economic crisis.’ Some of our citizens have panicked and store shelves have gone bare. I understand your concern. But I do not view this as a crisis. It is certainly an economic challenge, but with every challenge comes an equal opportunity, and it is that opportunity I believe we should be focusing on today.
“Let’s look at this challenge more closely. One in five retail items have come from China in the past. That has stopped, and is not going to resume any time soon. This is not cause for panic. The bulk of our food does not come from China. Grocery store shelves are being restocked as we speak. There is no shortage of food. Gasoline stations still have plenty of gasoline with more on the way. There is no shortage of gas. Our heating fuel for winter does not come from China. We have plenty of heating fuel to keep us warm all winter long.