"The more you look America, the more you realize how unfair it is. We have people living in the ghettos of Detroit, Dayton, Cleveland and Springfield living paycheck to paycheck, and we have other people who have so much money in their pockets that the Bank of America doesn't have enough capacity to store it so they're left with no other option than to store it in Switzerland." President Bowmore delivered his speech with a hint of humor in his voice, and he made sure to stare directly at the CEOs and CFOs of the bigger banks in his country. "And the reason we have these unimaginable wage gaps are simple but with deep roots; our education is either poor or expensive, our country is sadly still ridden by racism and sexism, there is still corruption among companies especially in the construction industry with the many cartells, most of them remaining undiscovered, but also in politics, in smaller places where you need to 'know a guy' to get in, and there is tax fraud - especially of the rich - on a national level. We're currently living in a country that's economy is declining and that's debts are increasing by the minute." He paused for a second and switched his gaze from the economists to the journalists present. "But I still have hope for our country. In the last six years we have strived - and we will continue to stive towards carbon neutrality, we have supported human rights on a international level, something America has always-," his voice cracked and he cleared his throat, "practiced." Human rights where and when we need them. America is just as big and bad a company as all those tax-evading, lying...but President Bowmore pushed the negative thoughts away and smiled his perfect, authoritarian smile. "Our country still serves as a role model to many other countries, especially third world countries. And I promise on behalf of the entire American government, that we will do our best to stay on course with the good things, and that we will change the things that need changing. Thank you very much. I'll take the questions now." President Bowmore ended his speech with a nod, then stepped down from the talk console, a Presidents podium, and took a seat next to Vice President Gibson behind the large half-circle desk that probably had costed more than the monthly rent of the room would have. The first time he'd sat there he'd run his hand over the light wood, it was almost soft to the touch, even though it was glossy.
His spokesman gestured to a male journalist from the back who stood up and was immediatly passed a microphone. "Good afternoon Mr. President, I'm Mathew Bailey from Times Science. In the past few months you've stopped visiting StartUp companies - what is the reason for that? I used to follow your visits once or twice a month, and in the past three there have been none. Thank you." He sat back down still gripping the microphone as if he was ready to object or press another question if the President didn't answer.
"I cannot give you just one reason Mr. Bailey, all I can say is that I have been very busy with other things the past few months and I have not had the time to do these visits. They are definitely something I will continue and if I'm not wrong," he glanced over at Lottie Gibson, "correct me if you have to Lottie, but I'm quite sure I have another planned on the coming Saturday." A nod from the Vice-President confirmed it. "So there you have it, Mr. Bailey."
Mathew Baileys second 'thank you Mr. President' was cute short as the microphone was snatched away from him and handed to a tall and slavic looking journalist two rows closer to the front. She cleared her throat before commencing, "Dear Mr. President, I wish you a good afternoon," he couldn't match her slight accent to a country, but he leaned towards Slowenia. "I am an independant Journalist, Maya Novak. You spoke about differences in wages, about corruption and so on and so forth. I mean this question very seriously, is your money in Switzerland as well? You wouldn't be the first President with multiple bank accounts."
"First of all," he said with a chuckle, "if I had money oversea I would never admit it. Actually," and here he laughed even louder, "my wife Monica and I have a bank account in France. But I don't activly put money over there: it's mostly what we both earned and saved up while living there together. It's under her name as well, I'm mentioned somewhere in the contract. But no, Miz Novak, I do not have money in Switzerland and I don't plan to put any there. The worth of the dollar fluctuates but it hasn't crashed in years and I have good reason to believe that it will hold it's average worth in the near to distant future."
The mic was passed on to an editor for the financial times. "Mr. President," he said with a curt nod, "I'm Joseph Laynon from the Financial Times, I'd like to ask you about the US' debt."
"I assume you're asking if I think we'll be able to pay it back?" He asked with a small smile. The editor nodded. "Well, let's look at it with a sober gaze. No. We are not even on track to paying it off. In the next few decades it will be impossible to get it even to a percentage of our GDP where we can say it's in control. This will not happen. I don't want to be pessimistic, but this is just a fact. Eventually I trust that we will have it under control, but those days are too far off to even dream about. We have more important issues on the clock today. Thank you, Mr. Laynon."