It's Just Business

We're from the government, we're here to help

As the lawyers left his office Michael struggled with himself not to throw something.  It seems that every week brings a new threat.  He liked to think of himself as a resilient man, he liked to think of himself as a problem solver.  His business success would seem to support this view of himself but week by week and month by month his legal team kept losing ground with the regulators.  Last month pressure was put on his bank to deny him basic services, he remembered hearing firearms manufacturers had been dealing with this as far back as 2012, but to his own chagrin, he didn't really think it was his problem.  Well last month his bank decided since his new 3D printers could be used to manufacture firearms that they would deny him services unless he specifically locked that application out of his machines at the hardware level.

He thought he had resolved this issue by simply shifting his business into crypto currencies.  The big announcement had gone out and had set off a firestorm in Washington DC.  Every lawmaker, on both sides of the isle, was screaming that it couldn't be legal to refuse to accept US Dollars.  "Legal Tender" they shouted, it seemed to be the only thing that they could all agree on.

Sure enough fast forward three weeks and his legal team is notifying him that the IRS was beginning a full scale audit of all of his business dealings for the past six years.  Mike couldn't take it anymore he did snatch up the crystal "Innovator of the Year" award off of his desk and hurled it at the door. 

It made a satisfying thud as its angled lines stuck into the hollow core of the office door.  The satisfaction didn't last for long though, he needed a plan and just sitting here crying about the unfairness of it all wasn't going to save his company or his future.

Home

Tattianna saw the look on his face as he came in the door and knew it was going to be another one of those nights.  She wished she could fix what ever it was this time but she wasn't a business woman, or a lawyer.  So she took a deep breath and went to meet him at the door.  She might not be able to fix it but she could listen and be his sounding board.  It didn't seem like much but it was what she could do, and to do any less after the stress he's been under these last few months would be cruel.

"I take it that it wasn't a good day?" she asked moving in for a hug.

Michael took her in his arms and let out a long sigh, trying to relax and put a brave face on it all for her.  "Oh just an IRS investigation."  He hugged her close, as much for his comfort as hers.

"Is this because of the Bitcoin thing?"  she asks.

"Yes and no, this is because I won't let them tell me how I must cripple my printers, so that they feel better about it." Michael growled.

"First world problems, my love."  She hugged him back.  She wished he would just give in and make all of these problems go away but she would never say so to him.  She understood how deeply he felt about this, even if she didn't precisely understand why.

He chuckled.  It was a gruesome thing with absolutely no mirth in it.  "I know.  If I would just comply and give them what we want, we could end up the wealthiest couple in America.  Demand for the printers now that I solved the resolution problem is greater than it was for PC's at the height of the dot com craze when we were kids."  He thought about her childhood.  Orphaned in the Ukraine, during the annexation of the Crimea, she had overcome all of the odds to have a successful career in fashion modeling.  He'd met her when one of his printers was malfunctioning and couldn't get her dress right.  In their short marriage she never really spoke much about those early years and he shuddered to think about what she had to go through to claw her way up out of those circumstances.  Still in his mind, if he caved on this, he would be dooming another portion of the world to living like the homeland she left behind.  If he could be forced to change his product because of the irrational fears of politicians, there was no end to the sacrifices that would be demanded next.

"I'm not asking you to do that."  She pulls back to look him in the eye.  "You are a good man Michael Shultzinger, and if this is a bridge too far for you to cross, I will support you in doing the right thing."   Then she gives him a wicked grin, "Even if it means I have to put off buying that private island I was dreaming of."

Merger Denied

A Family Meeting

David Rosen had spent the whole of his adult life building North American branch of the family bank.  At fifty two years of age he had become the consummate financier that his parents had groomed him to be since he could talk.  This bank had been in his family for over three hundred years, but it wasn't one of the big names you would recognize.  Oh sure they had hundreds of billions in deposits and assets on three continents but they weren't in the right clique.  No matter how successful they were for their depositors or share holders, they didn't have the right access.

David was listening to his older brother explaining to the gathered family why they had been denied the ability to acquire the floundering crypto exchange.  It was truly frustrating.  Sure all of the leading banks had a crypto trading desk and Goldman even had it's own exchange now but for the Rosen family it seems the regulators deemed it too likely to create an inequitable market.  David couldn't help himself he let out a small snort.  It would allow them to finally compete against the likes of Citi, JP Morgan Chase, and Goldman, which is exactly why they were denied. 

His brother looked over to him at the quiet snort.  David realizing he had drawn the attention of the room sighed.  "You're allowed to be this tall and no taller is what it comes to isn't it Hyram?"  David growled.  It came out gruffer than he meant for it to.  He waved away his frustration with one hand.  "Sorry for the interruption."

Hyram nodded.  "I'm sorry to say but David has the right of it, even if it was rather uneloquently put."

The rest of the room rumbled something between a low grumble and a rueful chuckle at David's expense.  Still thankfully the meeting didn't last much longer.  After that what more was there really to say.

As he left the office David thought back on the family rumor that they were on the outs with the rest of the banking elites because an ancestor of his had convinced Napoleon to sell the Louisiana Territory to the Americans to fund his war effort when the other banks had refused him additional funding.  Just another case of doing the right thing for your client costing far more than you could anticipate at the time.  Almost worked for Napoleon too, but who knows maybe it is better it didn't.

David decided now was the perfect time to break in that new bottle of scotch he had been gifted last Chanukkah. 

No Such Agency

Nothing New Under the Sun

John Stuttsman had just tossed out of his office the most weaselly little rat faced man.  He slammed the door behind him and fumed.  This was just completely unacceptable.  Social Media and Search companies of the last couple of decades might have been willing to spy on their customers and provide all of that to the government goons, but privacy was more important the more endangered it is.  With the power of his latest model of AI assistant about to come online there was just no way that could be allowed to become a personal snitch for every man woman and child on the planet.

John sank back into his comfortable chair and rubbed his face with both hands.  That man, he hesitated to humanize the rat faced creature, was completely despicable but he wasn't wrong in his fears.  With all of the new modern technology being developed average people were starting to have access to tools only first world militaries had even twenty years ago.  It was only going to get more dangerous, but spying on the innocent wasn't the answer.  Hell it was likely to spark the very rebellion they feared.  Then to use that one experimental brush with homosexuality he had back in college as a threat to him now...

Well it proved more than anything why these people couldn't be trusted with everyone's secrets.  They had the emails and they had the text messages.  If they want to release them there is damn little he could do about it now.  He thought about his deeply religious parents, they would be so disappointed.  All because of a very confused time in his freshman year of college when taking that damn diversity class.  The last thing he would want is to hurt anyone but they made him take the class, it was all the rage back in the late nineties.  In an attempt to fit in and "discover" himself he had a three month fling with another student.  Now thirty years later it was going to be used to cause pain for his family if he doesn't dishonor all he believes in.

"Mary?"  John asks over the intercom.

"Yes Mr. Stuttsman?"  A warm feminine voice answers.

"Please clear my calendar for the rest of the day, and book me a flight back to Texas.  I need to visit my folks for a couple of days."  he tries to keep the despair out of his voice.  "If anyone asks, I'm just a bit under the weather.  Okay?"

"Of course Mr. Stuttsman."  Mary said her voice full of compassion.  "Feel better soon."

Shrug

Inspiration

Don MacAllen was a decorated British Marine and a loyal subject of the crown.  Well he had been.  See Don MacAllen was also a Bitcoin Billionaire.  Buying in as a lark in the early two thousands, Don sold off half of his holdings and was instantly the richest man in northern England.  He cringed at what the crown thought was their fair share of windfall he began an improbably successful career as an angel investor.  This was hard work, oh sure much of it was disguised behind hype and showmanship but these small companies really were bringing life altering products to market.  His wealth continued to grow despite more taxation from London, and more regulatory hurdles from Brussels. 

Don had become a bit of an icon.  Doing an internet show for would be inventors seeking investors.  The pod cast was a hit.  At a time when jobs had all but dried up due to automation, Don MacAllen was actively employing creative people to invent new things.  Using a combination of his own money and crowd sourced money he was able to turn out new viable companies at the unprecedented rate of six a year.  Brussels crack down on ICOs had hurt his crowd funding channels but even so he was still the most prolific entrepreneur in all of Europe.

The new Labour party government had just taken control of parliament and were promising a government job to everyone.  Of course as Ms Thatcher pointed out, that works only until you run out of other people's money.  Seeing the writing on the wall, Don decided it was time to do something about it.  He had watched the floundering attempts at seasteads for the last dozen years, with fading hope.  It just didn't seem like it was going to work the way they were going about it.  Most were trying to build platforms and then build traditional houses on those floating platforms.  There had to be a better way. 

While he was musing over this problem an alert came up on his computer.  Seems one of his ventures moving icebergs to South Africa for drought relief was running afoul of the new regime there.  It was bad enough that they failed to learn from the evils of apartheid and were now just doing the same evil in reverse.  Seems the government was demanding only black crewmen for his ice breaking ships. 

You just couldn't make this stuff up, even if he were willing to become a racist son of a bitch himself and allow such a demand to be met, where would he find that many competent people in such a specialized field.  Hell if the damn thing wouldn't melt, I'd chuck it all and go live on the damn iceberg myself, he thought.  Then stopped, he looked over to the dog eared and battered copy of Atlas Shrugged that he always kept on his desk and it hit him.  He needed an iceberg that wouldn't melt.  He even had a sneaking suspicion of where he could get one.  Oh it was a crazy thought but as they always said in the service, if it is crazy and it works, then it isn't crazy.

He jammed his hand on the intercom, "Molly!  I've got a new project.  I need my three top project managers to my office asap.  Tell them I don't care if they are working on the cure to cancer, this new project is hotter!"

A startled voice comes from the other side, "Understood Don.  You want me to prep them with any info?"

Don grinned wickedly, "No this one I'm surprising them with all on my own."  This was going to be fun.

Partners, Everyone Needs Partners

Planning on the Fly

Michael Shultzinger was a bit surprised by the request.  Don MacAllen was well known enough, by reputation anyway, but meeting him at the airport personally seemed a bit of an odd request even from a figure as unconventional as Don MacAllen. 

Still it also was just unorthodox enough to be irresistible.  He had had an itch in the back of his head for the last three days since the meeting had been arranged.   So it was with a gnawing curiosity that he boarded Don's private plane.   Initial impressions did not disappoint.  Meeting the man was just like meeting the media personality in many ways, the accent, the larger than life hand gestures and the pointed sense of humor.  Michael actually felt quite at ease as he settled into the chair on the other side of the desk.

"Thanks for coming Mike, you don't mind if I call you Mike?"  he asked with a grin.

Mike waved his hand, "I'm not one to stand on formality much."

"Good because if this works out, we'll be too busy for formalities."  Don said with a face that looked as if he had just stolen the last cookie from the jar.  Mike started to ask what this was all about but Don put up a hand to stall him.  "Go ahead and strap in, we've just gotten clearance from the tower.  We'll be wheels up and feet wet in about ten minutes.  You want something to drink while we wait?"  Mike just shook his head.

Soon enough they were airborne and security personnel swept the cabin they were in quickly and professionally.  Then they nodded to MacAllen and took their leave sealing the door behind them.  Mike coudln't contain himself anymore.  "What's with all the cloak and dagger?"

"Eh, ah, just so.  Necessary I think.  I think you'll agree too here in just a minute."  Don was literally twitching with excitement as he pulled an old school hard copy manila folder from his desk drawer and placed it on the desk between them.  "Enough delay.  I think it comes as no surprise that I have many and deep contacts in what most would call the world of corporate espionage."  He hesitates long enough for Mike to give him the nod that he had heard the rumors.

"Well, I've been fighting an uphill battle on my side of the pond trying to just run a business and my sources have provided me with a list of names of those who seem to be fighting the same kind of battle on your side of the pond."  again waiting for the nod from Mike to reassure him everything was tracking.  "What if there was a better way?"

Mike shrugged, "I'm all ears."

"Well we're going to need more than that as we go on, but your name came up on the top of my list for two important reasons.  One, your stunt with the Bitcoin, let me say I love it, I practically danced home when I heard it on the news, but the IRS is serious about hitting you on that one.  At least according to my sources.  The second reason is you have the tooling we'll need."

Mike shook his head, this was all coming at him pretty fast, "Tooling for what?"

Don pulled out a hand drawn sketch of floating block with the insides all given over to apartments and factories.  "Our own floating island.  Not seasteads as they've been floated so far, sorry for the pun couldn't help myself, but an enclosed ship the size of a moderate sized island. Printed with your printers.  Big enough to be self sustaining.   This time Atlas doesn't shrug, he doesn't drop the world, he just props it up and gets on with his life.  It ceases to be his concern."

Mike shook his head, "Great theory, any idea what it is going to cost?"

Don took this moment to grin widely, "Take a look at the rest of my pitch before you worry about that."  With that he pulls out eleven smaller packages.  Each one containing a prominent businessman and the recent beating he had just taken from the powers that be, just for trying to run his business as he saw fit.  "Eleven here, plus us two.  Many hands makes for light work.  Review the files.  I'll leave you in peace to do so, while I grab a bottle of the bubbly for we may have much to celebrate."

Mike growled, this was crazy.  As he went through each of the files though, he saw injustices and abuses of power.  By the time Don returned, Mike had the folders in two piles.  Don raised an inquiring eyebrow at him.  Mike puts his hand on the smaller pile, "These two, we don't want.  Feel free to have your people dig into it to be certain but these two are in bed with organized crime.  These other nine,"  He took a moment to sigh, "Yeah if we can get a little over half of them, then this is possible."  Mike rubbed his eyes.  "I want time to think, but I think I'm in.  Details are important of course but assuming we can hammer them out..." 

Don growled, "The world turned upside down all over again."

Mike laughed at the Revolutionary War reference coming from a Brit but then irony struck him too, "I've got the perfect place for our meeting.  We present it to them on Jekyll Island."  Don looked at him a bit odd.  Mike started to explain but the irony hit him too hard and he couldn't stop the harsh laughter.  "We'll even use code names just like the first meeting there."  Mike wiped his eyes and looked back over to his new partner, "You get to be Hula Girl though."  and with that collapsed back in the chair enjoying his own wit.  He knew when MacAllen looked up the reference later, he'd appreciate the joke.

Secret Meetings

The Pitch

November twentieth was a crisp cool day even in Georgia.  Jekyll Island was still bustling with tourists so the eleven attendees of the meeting were all having quite an amused chuckle at the theme.  Many of them playing up the cloak and dagger nature to the hilt. Only the head of the biggest solar power innovator was having trouble with his code name, "oil can".  Everyone seemed to be playing along good naturedly though.  The invitations had come from prominent enough figures that no one chose to simply skip it.

Mike  grinned, this boded well.  Oh the plan was still outrageous, but not beyond the technological capacity of the men in this room.  Yes there would be challenges of scale, but this was something that could happen, if only the determination and enthusiasm could be kindled.  It really was much more likely than putting a man on the moon back in the sixties.

Don MacAllen stood up and called the meeting to order.  "I want to thank you all for taking the time to be here.  I will assume, despite the code names, introductions are not really needed at this level."  A low chuckle went around the room.  "If you're here, it is because we want and need your talents and expertise to make this project a success."  He held a hand up to quell the inevitable questions.  "Before we go into the project and the solution it provides, I think it best to address and define the problem."

In true salesman like fashion, Don went around the room addressing each of the members, listing the abuses of power and injustices they had suffered.  He showed just enough compassion to let them know he respected the difficulties of their position without airing their dirty laundry before their peers.  By the time the circuit was complete the atmosphere in the meeting had changed.  Anger and resentment could be felt from each of the attendees.  They each looked at the faces of their peers and shared indignity of it all. 

"I'm here because I too, have felt the boot of the government and the legacy industrial base working together to grind me down."  he shook his head and when he spoke again emotion cracked his voice.  "They act together, and they pick us off one by one.  As most of you in the room are Yanks, I think it only fitting to quote one of the brightest and most innovative minds of your nation.  Mr. Franklin said it so eloquently, "We must, indeed, all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately."

The whole room growled as one.  The emotion was reaching just the right point, frustration gripped them yet had not tipped over into despair.  "So now for what I see as the solution.  We're innovators and problem solvers one and all, we just need a way to hang together outside of their narrowly defined rules set.  We need to disrupt their business as usual model and make all of their seeming authority and power, redundant."  With a wave of his hand the lights dimmed and the projector started up the presentation.  "Gentlemen, I give you the hope of tomorrow."

Reactions

The lights came up but the whole room was silent for the space of twenty heart beats while the enormity of what was being proposed sank in.  John Stuttsman was the first to his feet, "If there is anyway that this is really remotely feasible, I'm in.  If it costs me my last nickle, I'm in."

Mike checked that box off in his mental list.  He had seen the face of a man pushed too far in the past, and John Stuttsman had that same wild eyed look.  He would be a determined ally.

Across the table from him, David Rosen was a roil of mixed emotions.  He wanted nothing more than this plan he had just seen, but he also remembered his ancestor and his ill fated choice that the family is still paying for.  "Is it feasible?  This is the kind of shot once taken, can't be taken back.  This is the hill you die on if you are wrong."  His face was determined, but not opposed.

Mike saw another check hit that list in his head.  Mike cleared  his throat, "That's why we are all here.  The more of us who cooperate on it, the less likely it is to fail."  He waved his hand across thee room, "we've all been using smart contracts for a couple of years now.  We have seen crypocurrencies normalize and stabilize and are equally viable for most of the same uses as national fiat currencies, and usually where they aren't it is because of government regulation, not a flaw with the currency."  He shrugs and turns his eyes to John Stuttsman, "We know we can build both transparency and accountability into the system, while maintaining privacy.  Hard coded into very systems.  A Constitution that cannot be violated without it rendering the very thing they want unusable."  Mike waves around the room, "Each of you know what I say is true.   Each of you know from your own expertise that you can apply it to this project and make it work better than any of the evolved systems that exist now.  As for Shultzinger Enterprises, we're in."   Mike couldn't hold back the fierce grin as he saw determination begin to spread across the faces of those gathered.

Don raised his hands for quiet, "I think we have enough information now to go to the break out segment.  In the now unlocked section of the tablet in front of you, you will find cost projections, as well as design ideas and risk projections for each phase of the project."  Don stretched, "Lunch will arrive in approximately twenty minutes, break into groups of three and four to go over the packets during lunch and we'll reconvene in two hours to address questions that have arisen."

With those words the meeting did break up, men mingling, finding others who's options they valued.  Mostly just to absorb the magnitude of what was being proposed.

Tomorrow begins Today

Freedom is often self selecting

Over lunch, three attendees approach MacAllen, they each thank him for being included, wish him the best of luck, and depart.

Don is frustrated.  "Can't they see that unless and until they do this they are only volunteering for the abuse they have suffered."

Mike shrugs, "Only three lost so far, it's better than I feared.  We're asking a lot of men who have spent their whole lives building up something that they now fear to gamble."

Don continues in a harsh whisper so as not to be over heard, "If entrepreneurs and risk takers like these cannot be convinced, what hope have we for the public in general?"

Mike sighed, "By providing them a trail to follow.  Our first island is going to rattle everyone.  The second will threaten the powers that be down to their core."  Mike stretches, "By the third island, we have no idea what they will be willing to do.  Hopefully we will have populations such that they can't take direct action and maintain the support of their own population."

"Sounds like you've thought about this?"  Don says.

"Have to be foolish not to.  I checked the history of similar 'do it yourself country building.' and it isn't encouraging."  Mike grins at him, "I've already put word out to a couple of contractors I've used in the past for security when I was overseas.  We at least won't be completely open to the criminal element."

Don wrinkled his brow, "I guess I didn't think that one through as far.  I thought we would be out on the ocean and protected by that.  Well that and the Swiss model of arming every citizen"

Mike nods, "That will take care of a lot of it.  Just remember the people who will live on this island and the resources that they command, not to mention all of the cutting edge tech research that will be going on."  Mike shrugs his shoulders, "Someone is always willing to steal what they are too lazy to create if they think they can get by with it."

"Next week you and I should review the short list of candidates before we present them to the others." Don said.

 Mike just nodded and then pointed back to the main conference room, "It's that time.  Let's see if we're going to have what it takes."

The next iteration of self government is at hand

The meeting went long into the night.  Governance models and competing technologies were hashed and rehashed by men who had somehow over the last twelve hours had grievance fused into purpose.

Calling the meeting to a close Mike Shultzinger stood before the crowd.  "We have one last order of business.  What shall we call our new home?"

The cacophony of voices made hearing any of them impossible, but through it all Atlantis was heard and the idea caught fire.  Maybe it was because it was suggested, maybe it just occupies a deep spot in our cultural psyche.

"Gentlemen, I see that the overwhelming support seems to be going toward Atlantis, but may I remind you that this Island will be in the Pacific Ocean?  Perhaps we should name it after the lost continent of MU, instead?" said Sam Jamison from the back of the room.

The rumble went around the room and before it threatened to get side tracked with another potential name, he called for the vote.  Just like that, on a six to two vote,  the new project of MU was official.  Oh there were years of work ahead of actually making her a reality but it had started, a new nation was conceived and struggled to grow and be born into this hostile world.  A small seed of hope tossed upon the face of the deep.  Waiting to greet the new Dawn