299 Days: The Collapse Read Online Free PDF Page B

borrow money and were massively creating it, they decided to start cutting programs. In one stroke of the pen, they got rid of the annual cost-of-living increase for Social Security. That was a big deal with a real inflation rate of about 50%. They also capped Medicaid and Medicare payments to levels that no doctor could take, which effectively eliminated those programs. Grant figured Lisa would now start to care about politics.
    Predictably, the tens of millions of people dependent on government programs came out of the woodwork. It only took a few hours for them to assemble. They protested like nothing the country had ever seen. Gigantic crowds surrounded federal and state office buildings in every major city. Since Olympia was the state capitol, it had massive protests.
    Olympia and cities like it were overrun with pissed off people. The Baby Boomers were the angriest. They had been promised an easy retirement and free health care. What had happened? Who had taken it from them?
    The protests in the other cities were getting ugly. Throwing bottles, breaking windows, riot police in every city, and clouds of tear gas. The vast majority of the protestors ran like scared children when the police showed up, but some stayed and fought it out. And lost. The police couldn’t fit all the arrested protestors into the existing jails. They just gave them stern warnings and let them go, which only encouraged them to come back the next day and do it all over again. The system could not remotely handle this level of dissent.
    The sheeple with their hands out weren’t the only ones protesting. The Tea Party and some large tax protestor groups also rallied. They had put up with giant government for years and had finally had enough. They were not violent, although some radical elements of these groups tried to fight the police. And lost. Of course, the news showed the Tea Party arrests, but not many of the welfare protestors.
    WAB’s office was a few blocks from the state capitol. When the protests started, Tom told everyone to go home. The traffic jams were horrible. Tom pulled Grant, Ben, and Brian into his office.
    “Given that WAB is a household name in this state with the libs, and how much they hate us,” Tom said, “I expect some protestors to vandalize our office. I don’t want our people here when that happens. Our insurance is paid up, so let’s get people out of here.”
    Wow. Another amazing moment. Tom was getting ready for WAB’s offices to get vandalized by a mob. This was really happening. Being a WAB staffer, and especially being on Rebel Radio, was a dangerous thing. Was Grant really thinking these thoughts? Oh, God.
    The WAB guys were leaving the downtown Olympia area as the protestors were pouring in. They had seen plenty of protests before, but there was something much different about this one. There was an uncontrolled feeling to these protestors, like they were angrily screaming “it’s finally happened.” The protestors were meaner than ever before; furious, and egging each other on.
    Grant got home early. Lisa, who hadn’t been going into work after her boss told her not to even try, was out running errands. Unarmed. Grant was terrified for her. He had to put a stop to this driving around town when riots were about to start.
    Manda was surprised to see Grant at 3:30 p.m. “What’s up, Dad?” she asked.
    “A bunch of dirtbags are protesting,” Grant said.
    “Oh.” She paused. “Hey, Dad, when are we going to the cabin? This is getting scary.”
    That pierced Grant like a knife. “Yes, honey, it is getting scary. Do you think Mom will want to leave yet?”
    “Nope,” she said. “But I do.” There was a long silence.
    Cole came in and asked if he could have some pancakes for an after-school snack.
    “Sure, lil’ buddy,” Grant said. How much longer would those pancakes be in the stores?
    Thinking about the stores, Grant decided to venture out and go get some food for the cabin. He told Manda