"William W Johnstone - Ashes 33 - Enemy in the Ashes (txt)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Johnstone William W)

there, he could rearm and have another twenty-five thousand fanatical
followers before you know it."

"That's a good point, Mike," Ben said, his brow fur-

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rowed in thought. "Tell your sources to keep a sharp lookout for any
news El Farrar is trying to raise another army."

"Roger," Mike said, making a note on his legal pad.

"Now," Ben continued, "what of the U.S.? How are the conditions up there?"

Mike shook his head. "Simply terrible. There are shortages of
everything, from food to gasoline to heating oil. The country is in the
worst depression since Claire took office. I'm told half her army is not
being paid, and the government is so short of funds they've actually cut
their welfare payments by twenty percent."

Ben snorted. "Damn! That means the poor folks up there might actually
have to go to work and do something useful to help their country's economy."

"Hah," Jersey said. Her feelings about people refusing to work and
accepting welfare were well known. "That'll be the day. Expect a revolt
anytime if the layabouts are cut off from the government tit."

"Actually, Jersey's not far wrong," Mike said. "My sources tell me there
have actually been food riots in most of the major cities, and the
university students have been so vocal in opposition to the cutting of
welfare that Claire has actually gone so far as to suspend classes until
the situation clears up."

"That won't hurt the country much," Cooper said with a sneer. "From what
I hear, about all they teach in those colleges are blatant socialism and
other liberal bleeding-heart nonsense."

"How did the schools up there get so bad?" Beth asked.

"You know the old saw? 'Those that can, do; those that can't, teach'?"
Ben asked. "Well, after the initial wars that decimated the world and
caused us to split off

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from the U.S., men and women with skills found themselves much in
demand. Others, mainly those who spent most of their time on the
sidelines carping about peace and love and sharing the bounty, went into
teaching. Those were the only jobs whose only requirement was a loud
mouth and lots of opinions, none of which had to be realistic."