NOTE: This is part of a continuing online novel. For those who are new to the work, you can reach the Table Of Contents here.

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At the White House, the President was back on the bridge.

Actually. He was in the cabinet room. And he was not happy.

"I want action, dammit!" George Bush demanded. "I want these sumbitches to back off." He pounded the table with a fist for emphasis.

"And I want a pony," whispered the Secretary of Commerce.

"Mr. President, our reactions are very constrained," said Colin Powell urgently. "Any action by our fleet could trigger a nuclear catastrophe."

"Dammit, you're fired," the President said to Powell. "I mean it. Get out of here. Wolfowitz, take over."

Former Deputy Secretary of Defense, now acting Secretary of State Paul Wolfowitz looked at Powell disdainfully, as the (now former) Secretary of State pulled his papers toward him and walked out in a huff.

"What do we do, Paul?" insisted the President.

"Press the attack in Baghdad. Let Sadr City burn as Fallujah did," Wolfowitz said, without blinking.

"And what would that do?" asked his former boss, Donald Rumsfeld, from across the table.

"Send a message. The United States does not listen to threats."

"How does attacking the Sadrists send that message to China?" asked Vice President Cheney.

Wolfowitz thought a moment. "It's all of a piece," he said finally.

"No it isn't," said Cheney. "Look, George. We're dealing with China here. A financial provocation deserves a financial response. Tariffs."

"Tariffs?"

"Tariffs on imports from China," said the Vice President.

"Do you have any idea how Wal-Mart will react to that?" asked Secretary of Commerce Don Evans. "The sudden rise in the Yuan has nearly doubled their costs already. Our retailers are totally dependent on Chinese imports to keep prices low. Adding to that burden will anger consumers."

"They had their choice November 2," said Cheney angrily. "We have their proxy. The second term hasn't even started, for God's sake. We can do what we want. And before anyone complains, our majorities in both Houses have expanded. We just tell Ralph Reed it's part of a larger struggle." Reed, former strategist for the Christian Coalition, remained an important back-channel to the masses.

"The question is," Evans continued, "what that does in terms of the larger struggle, other than shoot a bigger hole in our foot. As I said, prices for goods from China have already doubled, just in the last week. How would adding tariffs to that improve matters?"

"Let 'em know we mean business," said Cheney.

"But it doesn't do that. It says we can do without their business," said Evans. "Can we?"

The President listened to both men, fingers pressed together, frowning. But calming as he did so.

"Get Greenspan," he said. "Get him on the speaker."

The President's personal secretary pushed her head inside the room just then. "Excuse me, Mr. President? Mr. Greenspan wants to speak with you."

The President smiled. "Put him on speaker." A pause. "Mr. Green Jeans, it's good to hear you!

"Thank you for taking my call," said Greenspan. He paused on hearing the echo from the Speakerphone.

"Cabinet meeting. We were about to call you," said the President. "What do we do about China?"

"I just asked that of my counterpart in Beijing, Mr. President. His answer was one word. Peace."

"Peace?"

"That's what he said, sir. Peace. I think they're looking for a way to back away from confrontation, to save face. All we need do is find a way to let them do that."

"What would you suggest?"

"I'm no diplomat, but I think a halt to offensive operations would be a good start."

The President reddened visibly. Greenspan didn't see it. But he heard it. "Fuck that," said the President. "Excuse me, to heck with that. Can't do it. It would show weakness."

"Toward whom?" asked Wolfowitz, gently, suddenly taking Greenspan's side. "Sadr City will be there in the morning. The moment the Chinese stand down, we can proceed."

Several moments passed. George W. Bush frowned. He shook his head. "No," he said finally. "I won't back down. The offensive goes ahead. Your call, Wolfie. You got that, Green Jeans?"

"May I say something, sir?" asked Alan Greenspan, a note of desperation in his voice.

"Go ahead." The President aimed his voice, loudly, toward the air in the center of the room, above where the speakerphone sat.

"Let me just summarize briefly the state of play," said the Fed chairman. "In barely a week the Dollar has lost one-half of its value against the Yuan. We've spent $50 billion we don't have to halt that slide, without success. In fact, because the Yuan is floating, I'm told the Chinese now have more dollars in reserve than when we started, bought from their own people. We're losing ground against every other major currency -- the Pound, Yen, Euro, the Peso, even the Canadian Loony! We're nearly at par there."

"Par?"

"One Canadian dollar now buys nearly one American dollar," said Greenspan. "Now, to continue," he added. "What this means is we're importing inflation like never before. Prices have risen 50% on goods from China, 25% on goods from everywhere else. The exception is oil, which is relatively cheaper, but President Putin has now broken the link between the Dollar and Russian oil. It may be just a matter of time before other OPEC members do the same. Which means further devaluations will only raise oil prices."

"Bottom line?" asked George W. Bush.

"The bottom line is we're back in a recession, with inflation on top of that. Continue along this course of action and we're looking at mass unemployment, in retail, in imports, in the brokerage and banking industries...that's a lot of pink slips coming over the Christmas holidays."

"Temporary, Green Jeans. I've got a mandate. What can you do to help?"

Greenspan sighed into his phone, ignoring how it would be heard across town. "Sir, the Federal Reserve has limited resources. We can continue to buy Yuan, essentially printing dollars. We've printed 50 billion so far."

"Good."

"But that means inflation. Prices are already rising, and right before Christmas. Every dollar we print lowers the value of every other dollar that's already out there. Prices for everything will go up. And right before Christmas," he repeted. His voice took on a plaintive quality no one in the room had heard before.

"What else you got?"

"Well, we can increase interest rates. That raises the price of our dollar, makes it more valuable. But, to do any good, we're not talking about any half-measures. To have any impact at all on the value of the dollar, we may have to literally double the discount rate, and see the prime double as well. For starters."

"Good," said the President. That was all he said. Good.

"Mr. President," said the Fed chairman. "Mr. President, do you understand what I'm talking about? Do you get my meaning? We're talking about a simultaneous devaluation of the currency, and depression for the markets."

"Let them commie bastards know we mean business," is all the President said in reply.