Alan's Dying - The Economy's Dead
As time passed I settled into the reality that even though I was armed with the truth everybody had already settled for a pack of lies. I calmed down about the knowledge of the treason and settle into my new reality. The government was the terrorists, at least some of the rogues. Mom and dad both worked for the government and I know damn well they wouldn't have anything to do with this. I figure most bureaucrats are just like my parents - well meaning, compartmentalized dupes just doing a job for a country they really believe in.
After awhile I came to realize the media was in on the cover-up including the paper. Worse yet, I learned that before the World Trade Centers had been blown up, a now defunct elevator company was doing extensive work on the elevators. Many of the explosive experts and eyewitness seemed to suggest that many of the explosives were placed into the elevator shafts. This really worried me as the elevators in the building had just started to be renovated at the Post. Was another false flag be launch at the paper? I genuinely worried about it. I even went as far as to discuss it with the guards. The Post security guards and I always had good relations. I talk to them like friends do and they really appreciated it. So they listened to me when I explained how the towers were most likely blown up. Virtually all of them came from other countries where everybody knew the governments were crooked. So they heeded my warning and kept an eye out for funny business. That made me relax further even though some aspect of my situation were worrisome. The paper sure had way too many high priced employees. I didn't want to become a name on a memorial wall to victims of another terrorist attack blamed on Arabs, patriots, Martians whoever but committed by domestic traitors foisted on a duped public.
I sat down and logged onto the network. Immediately Crystal rushes over and says, "Did you hear about Alan?" I responded, "No." Crystal continued, "He's got cancer." I shook my head. "How bad?" A more worried look came across her face and she answered, "Pretty bad." Alan had been out of work quite a bit recently and I was wondering about it. But with everything going on in his mind he'd been occupied with those matters.
As the two spoke about Alan they notice him across the room coming to work. "There's Alan now." I remarked surprised to see him walking in. "He's out of sick leave now." Crystal explains as she's been in contact with Alan. "The paper will docked his wages if he doesn't come to work." Alan walks by smiling though he appears to have aged ten years since we saw him a month or so ago. "Hi everybody." Alan says with a weak smile as he is passing by. "Hey Alan. Good to see you back on the job. Still not much work though." I comment to Alan who is getting settled at his desk. Crystal and I whisper in hushed voices about Alan as we watch him begin to go about his job. Everything was laborious and very difficult for Alan to do. He looked like he was already halfway dead and the two of us wondered how he had the will to even make it to work. Watching Alan reminded us how lucky we are just to be healthy and alive. Being alive was not something Alan would be the following week. When he left work at the end of his shift he would never return again. Next week when Villi, Alan's manager, called the staff over for a stand up meeting she was holding back tears. "I just wanted everybody to know that Alan passed away yesterday."
And that was that for Alan. As far as the staff knew it appeared Alan went from being healthy to being dead in about a month. Surely he had suffered much longer but would not let it show. He never complained once about his fate. The staff had to carry on after learning of Alan's demise and many lost it for a while and cried uncontrollably. Eventually everyone settled back into the grind of the usual routine. That meant not doing much work. It also meant not screwing up when anyone did have work. The staff was warned on more than one occasion to not give up any write-offs. It seemed like every few months the paper was having some grand send off of long time workers, usually managers. These buyouts were getting less rewarding which was obvious during the festivities honoring their forced departure. The look on the faces of the forced retirees said it all. They didn't want to go. They just couldn't afford to go. They had no where else to go. Ronnie was one of the final exceptions. He retired on his own terms and the paper threw him a grand shindig. Even Donald Graham personally presided over faire to send Ronnie off into a comfortable retirement. Everyone thereafter in management would go kicking and grumbling out the side door. Donald Graham seemed a nice enough person the few times we spoke. As for his part in the 9/11 treason I came to believe he had to know about it or be much stupider than his accomplishments would suggest. But who knows about the whole situation? His father died supposedly from suicide but then again lots of people who know too much meet the same fate. Suicide by proxy. So I can't say what pressure Mr. Graham may have been under.
With Ronnie gone and replaced with Tom, things were going to change. If it even appeared someone was doing something wrong they were in Tom's office explaining themselves. That was especially so for me, more so for Tumbleweed and extremely so for Randy. Everyday Tom would ride Randy's ass about something. Tom's management style was intimidation which fit with his large stature. He wanted to be liked at the same time and would attempt to joke with the staff who responded with forced laughter and painful smiles. When Amy, a small Filipina lady, thought she was being helpful Photoshopping more hair onto the head of the "after" picture in a hair restoration ad, Tom went off on the sale woman whose account it was. "You have no integrity madam and you have dishonored the paper!" He shouted into the phone on her voicemail. The sales lady was so angry she immediately deleted his message out of anger. That was a fortunate thing for Tom since he had leveled many vile allegation at the woman who never had anything to do with helper Amy adding hair to the after picture. The sales lady complained to upper management about Tom but since she had deleted the voicemail Tom denied he'd ever said those things. He knew when to lie and where to deflect blame so he would be safe from harm. That was a close call for him. Needless to say Amy was warned never to add hair to hair restoration ads.
For the other workers in advertising there were other more pressing worries. The paper had gone from a bustling 24 hour operation with people rushing around everywhere, to a ghost building. Most nights we spent chatting the shift away until quitting time. What was on everybody's mind as well was the price of gasoline. In 2007 the price began going up and now it was going through the roof. Randy complained blaming the liberals naturally. "The reason gas is so high is the liberals in Congress and the environmental whacko wing-nuts refuse to allow drilling in the ocean. On top of that there hasn't been a new refinery built in America in decades." Most of the staff, especially the upper management were the limo liberal types and counter arguments flew at Randy from all directions. Amy complained in her slight Filipina accent, "We need more alternative energy." Someone else nearby shouted, "More windmills!" That got Randy to start shaking his head in disgust. He heard another worker chime in, "Tax big oil." Finally I been sitting by idly listening to the standard arguments foisted by the mainstream media and I couldn't restrain myself any longer even with the risks that came with conveying ideas at the paper or "instigating conversations" and whatnot. "You're all wrong. The reason gas is so expensive is the value of the dollar is dropping. The Federal Reserve is printing up lots of fiat dollars but since you can't see it you don't understand how your money is being devalued. Add to this fact, Bush has just advanced us some of our tax return money for next year and we are also getting our regular tax refunds now. The oil companies are just jacking up the price of gas because they know we have it now. You watch. About July or August the price of gasoline will start to drop which is when the tax return gravy train ends for the oil cartels. It will continue to drop right up until Thanksgiving when the oil monopolists will jack it back up to gouge the holiday travelers. Quit being suckers for the MSM."
My shellacking everybody on economics has quieted the staff as no one knows how to counter such arguments. As usual they have that bobble head dog in the rear window look about them. My arguments do not fall into the usual left right spectrum of arguing points. Worse yet, many feared this talk about Federal Reserves and printing up money that I was going on about had a ring of truth to it. Ooo pretty scary stuff! It was easier to think me crazy instead for most. Everyone went back to their computers doing what pleased them. For some that meant listening to music or watching a movie since Tom had gone home making his movie ban at work effectively null and void. A few started Google searching to see if I might be onto something. But most shopped or scanned prices online. The prices for almost everything except large screen TVs had been going up, not just gasoline. Everybody wanted to know why. I'd seen it before in the Seventies so when some on the floor actually spoke of government price controls on gasoline I groaned. I explained to them about the gas lines and odd even rationing. Still some were unconvinced and were willing to chance the risks that they'd have to line up at four in the morning for a fill up.
After awhile I came to realize the media was in on the cover-up including the paper. Worse yet, I learned that before the World Trade Centers had been blown up, a now defunct elevator company was doing extensive work on the elevators. Many of the explosive experts and eyewitness seemed to suggest that many of the explosives were placed into the elevator shafts. This really worried me as the elevators in the building had just started to be renovated at the Post. Was another false flag be launch at the paper? I genuinely worried about it. I even went as far as to discuss it with the guards. The Post security guards and I always had good relations. I talk to them like friends do and they really appreciated it. So they listened to me when I explained how the towers were most likely blown up. Virtually all of them came from other countries where everybody knew the governments were crooked. So they heeded my warning and kept an eye out for funny business. That made me relax further even though some aspect of my situation were worrisome. The paper sure had way too many high priced employees. I didn't want to become a name on a memorial wall to victims of another terrorist attack blamed on Arabs, patriots, Martians whoever but committed by domestic traitors foisted on a duped public.
I sat down and logged onto the network. Immediately Crystal rushes over and says, "Did you hear about Alan?" I responded, "No." Crystal continued, "He's got cancer." I shook my head. "How bad?" A more worried look came across her face and she answered, "Pretty bad." Alan had been out of work quite a bit recently and I was wondering about it. But with everything going on in his mind he'd been occupied with those matters.
As the two spoke about Alan they notice him across the room coming to work. "There's Alan now." I remarked surprised to see him walking in. "He's out of sick leave now." Crystal explains as she's been in contact with Alan. "The paper will docked his wages if he doesn't come to work." Alan walks by smiling though he appears to have aged ten years since we saw him a month or so ago. "Hi everybody." Alan says with a weak smile as he is passing by. "Hey Alan. Good to see you back on the job. Still not much work though." I comment to Alan who is getting settled at his desk. Crystal and I whisper in hushed voices about Alan as we watch him begin to go about his job. Everything was laborious and very difficult for Alan to do. He looked like he was already halfway dead and the two of us wondered how he had the will to even make it to work. Watching Alan reminded us how lucky we are just to be healthy and alive. Being alive was not something Alan would be the following week. When he left work at the end of his shift he would never return again. Next week when Villi, Alan's manager, called the staff over for a stand up meeting she was holding back tears. "I just wanted everybody to know that Alan passed away yesterday."
And that was that for Alan. As far as the staff knew it appeared Alan went from being healthy to being dead in about a month. Surely he had suffered much longer but would not let it show. He never complained once about his fate. The staff had to carry on after learning of Alan's demise and many lost it for a while and cried uncontrollably. Eventually everyone settled back into the grind of the usual routine. That meant not doing much work. It also meant not screwing up when anyone did have work. The staff was warned on more than one occasion to not give up any write-offs. It seemed like every few months the paper was having some grand send off of long time workers, usually managers. These buyouts were getting less rewarding which was obvious during the festivities honoring their forced departure. The look on the faces of the forced retirees said it all. They didn't want to go. They just couldn't afford to go. They had no where else to go. Ronnie was one of the final exceptions. He retired on his own terms and the paper threw him a grand shindig. Even Donald Graham personally presided over faire to send Ronnie off into a comfortable retirement. Everyone thereafter in management would go kicking and grumbling out the side door. Donald Graham seemed a nice enough person the few times we spoke. As for his part in the 9/11 treason I came to believe he had to know about it or be much stupider than his accomplishments would suggest. But who knows about the whole situation? His father died supposedly from suicide but then again lots of people who know too much meet the same fate. Suicide by proxy. So I can't say what pressure Mr. Graham may have been under.
With Ronnie gone and replaced with Tom, things were going to change. If it even appeared someone was doing something wrong they were in Tom's office explaining themselves. That was especially so for me, more so for Tumbleweed and extremely so for Randy. Everyday Tom would ride Randy's ass about something. Tom's management style was intimidation which fit with his large stature. He wanted to be liked at the same time and would attempt to joke with the staff who responded with forced laughter and painful smiles. When Amy, a small Filipina lady, thought she was being helpful Photoshopping more hair onto the head of the "after" picture in a hair restoration ad, Tom went off on the sale woman whose account it was. "You have no integrity madam and you have dishonored the paper!" He shouted into the phone on her voicemail. The sales lady was so angry she immediately deleted his message out of anger. That was a fortunate thing for Tom since he had leveled many vile allegation at the woman who never had anything to do with helper Amy adding hair to the after picture. The sales lady complained to upper management about Tom but since she had deleted the voicemail Tom denied he'd ever said those things. He knew when to lie and where to deflect blame so he would be safe from harm. That was a close call for him. Needless to say Amy was warned never to add hair to hair restoration ads.
For the other workers in advertising there were other more pressing worries. The paper had gone from a bustling 24 hour operation with people rushing around everywhere, to a ghost building. Most nights we spent chatting the shift away until quitting time. What was on everybody's mind as well was the price of gasoline. In 2007 the price began going up and now it was going through the roof. Randy complained blaming the liberals naturally. "The reason gas is so high is the liberals in Congress and the environmental whacko wing-nuts refuse to allow drilling in the ocean. On top of that there hasn't been a new refinery built in America in decades." Most of the staff, especially the upper management were the limo liberal types and counter arguments flew at Randy from all directions. Amy complained in her slight Filipina accent, "We need more alternative energy." Someone else nearby shouted, "More windmills!" That got Randy to start shaking his head in disgust. He heard another worker chime in, "Tax big oil." Finally I been sitting by idly listening to the standard arguments foisted by the mainstream media and I couldn't restrain myself any longer even with the risks that came with conveying ideas at the paper or "instigating conversations" and whatnot. "You're all wrong. The reason gas is so expensive is the value of the dollar is dropping. The Federal Reserve is printing up lots of fiat dollars but since you can't see it you don't understand how your money is being devalued. Add to this fact, Bush has just advanced us some of our tax return money for next year and we are also getting our regular tax refunds now. The oil companies are just jacking up the price of gas because they know we have it now. You watch. About July or August the price of gasoline will start to drop which is when the tax return gravy train ends for the oil cartels. It will continue to drop right up until Thanksgiving when the oil monopolists will jack it back up to gouge the holiday travelers. Quit being suckers for the MSM."
My shellacking everybody on economics has quieted the staff as no one knows how to counter such arguments. As usual they have that bobble head dog in the rear window look about them. My arguments do not fall into the usual left right spectrum of arguing points. Worse yet, many feared this talk about Federal Reserves and printing up money that I was going on about had a ring of truth to it. Ooo pretty scary stuff! It was easier to think me crazy instead for most. Everyone went back to their computers doing what pleased them. For some that meant listening to music or watching a movie since Tom had gone home making his movie ban at work effectively null and void. A few started Google searching to see if I might be onto something. But most shopped or scanned prices online. The prices for almost everything except large screen TVs had been going up, not just gasoline. Everybody wanted to know why. I'd seen it before in the Seventies so when some on the floor actually spoke of government price controls on gasoline I groaned. I explained to them about the gas lines and odd even rationing. Still some were unconvinced and were willing to chance the risks that they'd have to line up at four in the morning for a fill up.
posted by Tomás Estrada-Palma at
5:17 AM
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