America 1982-Chapter 62 - 18: Leaders Must Have a Spirit of Contract
"It’s already the fourth day, Tommy, are you sure you still don’t want to try to understand how the Prime Minister is addressing the nation’s issues?" Prime Minister Madoff saw Tommy Hawk lounging like a lazy man on a deck chair outside the government building, soaking up the afternoon sun, and approached with a smile, "Not every high school student gets this chance."
"I’m not interested in politics, Prime Minister, just keeping an eye on this bunch and making sure they don’t stir up too much trouble already gives me a headache," Tommy said.
This was the daily conversation that had been happening between Prime Minister Madoff and Tommy for the past seven days, but Tommy showed no interest in Madoff’s invitations each time.
"Alright, Tommy, then I’ll temporarily use your Prime Minister’s office to deal with some real public service," Madoff let out a breath, patted his belly, and turned to walk towards the government building.
The Prime Minister and His Excellency the Governor were both considered good-natured gentlemen by the students; they spent these days having fun with the students without putting on any airs.
Kevin had completed his national athletics event plan, and Dennis had organized a rock festival. Most of the interns had recovered from the craziness of the first three days, gradually calming down. No longer were there bizarre incidents of chaos, as they started to learn and understand how the country operated like adults.
"Tommy, you better come here," Chris called out with a serious expression, poking his cowboy-hatted head out of the government building.
Tommy walked into the meeting room on the second floor, where Chris and a few interns interested in tax issues were whispering and rifling through piles of documents: "What’s up? Is the casino you and David are working on about to officially open?"
"No," Chris closed the room’s door, then handed over a document filled with dense arrays of numbers. Tommy looked clueless for a moment and then asked, "What’s this?"
Chris pointed to several figures on the document and explained to Tommy, "We originally wanted to study how much tax would need to be collected if we opened a casino, so we consulted the nation’s tax information. Then we discovered that Bolton Sugar Industry might be evading taxes. Yes, I suspect Bolton Sugar Industry is taking advantage of the nation’s lack of tax knowledge."
"They only pay the basic corporate income tax, but there’s no record of them paying the value-added tax for agricultural products. Plus, the reports they submitted show very low net profits for the sugar factory. I asked the former Minister of Taxation, and he said that ever since Bolton Sugar Industry built their factory here three years ago, they’ve been paying based on these numbers. The reason for the low profits, according to Bolton Sugar Industry, is that they provided too many job positions and their expenses were high. They hired over six thousand local people to work in the sugar factory. However, in reality, I’ve learned those who cut cane or work on the assembly line aren’t getting the salaries that were reported," another intern interjected, raising his head to address Tommy.
Tommy looked at him, "How do you know all this so well?"
"Three members of my family have been county tax commissioners, Prime Minister, and I’m preparing to become the fourth. I believe no one here has a higher sensitivity to tax matters than me right now," the intern stated seriously to Tommy.
"Just suspicions, no evidence?" Tommy flicked the document in his hands and asked.
"Prime Minister, in the United States, such level of suspicion would be enough for the tax department to pay a visit and investigate the sugar factory’s records," the intern replied.
"Ashley said you were here, Tommy." Pam, about to be tanned brown by the Caribbean sun, walked in from outside, "The wastewater from Bolton Sugar has even poisoned the wild boars..."
"Poor devils, I’m going to lead the armed forces to blow up Bolton Sugar’s refinery!" Before Pam could finish, an infuriated Catherine burst in, "Tell me! Where do I get the explosives!"
Tommy Hawk looked at Pam and Catherine, "Your Majesty, calm down, let’s first clarify what has happened and why you’re all set against Bolton Sugar."
"Do you know, I have four capable and beautiful servants, no, subordinates, handpicked by me. I’ve never had much interest in them before, but today my favorite black girl didn’t come to keep me company because her mother was sick. She had to go work in her mother’s place at the refinery. And guess what I found out next? Nearly all the local workers at Bolton Sugar owe the factory money. Their salaries are nowhere near enough to make ends meet. That goddamn refinery launched a loan service, lending workers money so they don’t starve to death... Quick enough..." Catherine was visibly emotional:
"Quick enough... Every worker is in debt. They work hard all month, and their earnings aren’t enough to cover the interest they owe, forcing them to keep borrowing from the factory. The factory tells them if they work hard, the debt won’t be collected, and they’ll continue lending them money to get by. But if they quit... they’d have to repay everything, including interest. They’ve turned the workers into goddamned slaves who will be in debt for generations, worse than during English colonial rule!"
"Hey, everyone, I could hear you all the way from the next office." Zoey pushed the door open and threw a contract on the conference room table, speaking softly, "Look what David and I found. This is a contract where the United States, to support Saint Vincent’s independence and admission into the American-led coalition in the Americas, promised to provide twenty million US Dollars of aid, under the condition that American sugar factories could invest and set up shop here, monopolizing the only profitable industry, the sugar business. Monopoly might be too direct a word, it’s called an exclusive cooperation right in the document. Within half a year of the contract’s signing, Bolton Sugar set up their refinery here. Yet, the twenty million dollars of promised aid, nearly three years on, has not been delivered."
David Schafer also stepped in, his face expressionless as he looked around the room, "The United States had promised Saint Vincent financial support after independence, to develop healthcare, education, and other systems, ensuring the country could get on the right track post-independence. But what happened? This nation lost the colonial support previously provided by England, and the Americans haven’t given them anything. They practically robbed this country of its most valuable sugar industry without giving Saint Vincent a cent, leaving this poor nation played by the United States, helpless to do anything."
"That’s the real reason everyone in this country is sucking up to us. They hope that once we’ve had our fun, we might notice the burdens lying beneath their masks of joy and help them out," Zoey said.
Tommy Hawk let out a weary sigh, "Now I understand why Prime Minister Madoff was unwilling to share the profits; it’s much more complicated than a mere split. They know despite being the head of this nation, in the eyes of the United States, they’re even less significant than a bunch of high school students. That’s the real reason the people of this country play and have fun with us, they see us as true student leaders, but in reality, if we return home, we wouldn’t have any standing to speak to Washington."
"Tommy, even if we’re not qualified to go to Washington, we still have to do something," Chris said as Tommy walked toward the door.
"I know, but I have to ask the former Prime Minister first if this is what he wants to see." Tommy swung the conference room doors open, only to see the true leaders of the nation—the Prime Minister and the Governor, two old men standing forlornly at the end of the corridor, their gazes complex as they watched Tommy and the American high school students behind him, clearly indicating that the conference room was poorly soundproofed.
"Sorry, kids, we’re very sorry..." Prime Minister Madoff said, his head bowed in shame, but then he looked up, "This is the plight of a small nation, no one wants to hear our voice."
Tommy Hawk lit a cigarette, turned to look at the high school students in the conference room looking at him, "He calls us kids, I want to say, we are more than kids. Let’s show them what American teenage student leaders are all about. We still have three days left in our term, within those three days, we’re going to teach America what it means to fucking honor a contract!"
