From the Pelevin's book "
Methuselah's Lamp, or The Last Battle of the Chekists and Masons" (2016)
"... – Our G.D.P., if you look at it, is consumption on loan. You've heard about nineteen trillion in debt – but it's only a direct debt. The total liabilities of the American government are one hundred trillion. Obama doubled the debt. Before him, the debt was doubled by Bush. And this, apparently, can no longer be stopped. Even in order for the growth of G.D.P. to become less and less, it is necessary to borrow more and more. Our Nobel laureates in economics say with one voice that this can be continued without end, because there will always be demand for dollars… But we have a sneaking suspicion - maybe they are saying this in order to be given the Nobel Prize in economics? You know how cynical and calculating people are today…
Kapustin nodded.
"We are not sitting idly by," the Month continued. – We conduct analysis, make mathematical approximations. And they all indicate that there will be a tipping point somewhere in the future. The moment where shit will finally hit the fan. Almost all models agree on this – they only give different terms. There will be a crisis, compared to which all past economic disasters will seem like children's matinees. This will happen when creditors lose faith in our ability to pay debts with money, which remains, as it is in Russian, value. You understand that even in a free society, brainwashing only works up to certain limits. The market is a huge herd of timid sheep. And if all the sheep run away from the dollar together, a financial tsunami will rush over the planet – and wash away human civilization as we know it today. The horror is that we will not be able to stop this wave – and it will most likely start on our own Wall Street… What do you think will happen next?
- A complete financial disaster? The collapse of America?
"No," said the Month. - The war. The same big and terrible redemptive war that will clean up all the books again. And, as you probably guessed, you will be fighting in it again. And, most likely, with themselves. With a good outcome, we will have a new Bretton Woods, and you will have a new Victory Day. And with a bad... with a bad outcome in this war, the whole world will burn down along with the accounting books. But there is no choice.
"It's terrible–" said Kapustin. - Really terrible.
- Do you understand the agenda now, Brother Theodore? If we don't want the world to burn down – and we're normal people and we don't want that, right? – we have to rally around the dollar. This is our new Stalingrad. If we had a hypnotic machine capable of endlessly maintaining humanity's faith in the dollar, we would solve the problem quietly and peacefully. But there are no such cars. Today we live in a bubble of hope, which our heroic media inflate with the last of their strength, but when it bursts, it will crush everyone… Therefore, there is only one way out.
- Which one?
– We can't prop up the dollar from the inside. We can only prop it up from the outside.
– But what exactly are we going to support him with?
"You will laugh," the Month replied– "at the very chaos that your assistants talk about so much. Turbulence. No matter how the dollar is doing, everything else should be even worse. And much more, Theodore.
Kapustin nodded thoughtfully.
– Just where do you think this turbulence should be? The Month asked.
- In the world?
- no. There must be order in the world. Turbulence, as your classic put it, should be in the heads. And for this you need a scarecrow. Scary. And, most importantly, a big one - because baby Kim alone already looks a little funny. You know, Theodore, you understood Star Wars so well that I'll tell you straight out - if Russia didn't exist, we would have to invent it. A bear in a china shop is fine. A hybrid war of everyone with everyone is exactly what is needed. Provocations, all sorts of incidents. And rockets, rockets. More rockets! In one gulp, in one gulp! Europe remains united. NATO is emerging from the crisis. Big-nosed earwigs are trying to finance a new Death Star. And everyone is sitting in the dollar. Wonderful! Keep it up!
– Are you serious? Kapustin asked.
The Month nodded.
"But that's not all," he said, "the most important thing is that we are launching a new round of quantitative easing in the form of Cold War spending. Simply put, you guys are giving us a legitimate reason to turn on the printing press again. Just a gift from the sky. So keep banging your head against the wall, but with a clear understanding that you are serving civilization. Only coordinate on special channels. And so everything is true. Scare humanity, sit in treasuries – and fuck your ballerinas. This will be your business next to ours. And at the same time a place in the modern world order. Unique, special – and unlike anyone else. And if you want more of the Russian world, we will help you here. Do you remember how it was in Moscow under Luzhkov? It was worth a million dollars just to meet and talk, without any obligations. That's what we're going to do now. If you want to talk about something, buy a treasure first…
"It's harsh–" Kapustin said, scratching his chin.
– But why is it harsh, Theodore? As you will not understand: a treasure is very good! But that's not all. We'll probably have to take migrants. What do you have, eleven? Well, probably three million more… If they want to come to you, of course..."
