Chapter 671 315: Reshaping the United States

"A local mayor dared to collude with energy oligarchs and cut the power supply to the nation's critical infrastructure!"

"This is a blatant challenge to federal authority! It is a grave threat to public safety!"

He raised the report in his hand and waved it forcefully.

"Look at these losses! That was R&D data for life-saving medicine! The hope of cancer patients! And because of that arrogant mayor, it's all been destroyed!"

"We must take action."

Another Senator from California took the microphone.

"We cannot allow this energy blackmail to continue. If he can cut Pfizer's power today, he can cut the White House's power tomorrow!"

"I propose that the committee immediately draft an emergency bill."

"To demand that the Federal Department of Energy and the Department of Homeland Security intervene."

"To take over dispatch control of the PJM Grid."

"To declare the energy facilities in Western Pennsylvania as federally-controlled assets, stripping local governments and private companies of their dispatch authority."

"We must put that madman in prison! And put his accomplices, those greedy energy tycoons, on trial!"

"Seconded!"

"Seconded!"

The conference room was in an uproar.

These elites, normally so refined and full of talk about righteousness and morality, now revealed their ferocious true colors.

They were afraid.

Leo Wallace hadn't just hit their patrons' bottom line; he had also demonstrated the power to physically destroy them.

This power must be eradicated.

...

The rotunda of the Congress Building, connecting the two houses of Congress, is a hub where information converges.

Just then, two groups of men in expensive suits met in the center of the hallway.

The group on the left was impeccably dressed, their cufflinks glinting. They were lobbyists for the pharmaceutical and insurance industries.

The group on the right also wore suits, but their ties were looser, and their builds were more imposing. They were lobbyists for energy and heavy industry groups.

In the past, these men were friends. They were golf buddies, members of the same exclusive clubs.

In the swamp of Washington, though they served different interests, they all worked together to protect the profits of capital.

When they met, they would shake hands, trade information, and exchange pleasantries.

But today, they faced off like sworn enemies.

"Move, Williams."

The leader of the pharmaceutical lobbying group—Pfizer's director of government relations—stared coldly at the towering man across from him.

"We're going to see the Majority Leader. We're applying for a federal takeover order."

The man, Williams, was a lobbyist for the All-America Coal Association.

He didn't move. Instead, he took a step forward, blocking the center of the hallway.

"Takeover?"

Williams let out a sneer.

"Take over what? Our power plants? Our pipelines?"

"George, have all those drugs your company makes fried your brain?"

"Private property is sacred and inviolable. That's in the Constitution. You want the Federal Government to confiscate our assets? Are you trying to bring in communism?"

"You're the ones who started with the terrorism!" George roared. "You cut our power! You destroyed our labs! How do you plan to settle that score?"

"That was load shedding!"

Williams roared back, his voice twice as loud.

"You're the ones who stopped shipping medicine to Pittsburgh!"

"You cut off the workers' insulin and their antibiotics. The workers got sick, so they couldn't maintain the equipment. The plant's output dropped. That's just physics!"

"You made the first move!"

"You tried to starve Pittsburgh and strangle our clients."

"Now you get a taste of it? Starting to hurt, is it?"

"Serves you right!"

Williams jabbed a thick finger into George's shoulder.

"Let me tell you something, don't even think about passing some bullshit takeover bill."

"The Energy Commission is ours. The Commerce Committee is ours. Even if you get the bill to the floor, we have a hundred ways to kill it."

"You want the power back on?"

"It's simple."

"Send the shipments to Pittsburgh."

"Send those damn drugs over there, every last box."

"The moment Leo Wallace confirms he's received the shipment, the power will come back on."

"Otherwise."

A scoundrel's smile spread across Williams' face.

"You can go back to working by candlelight."

"Maybe it'll help you save on your electric bill. After all, you're always going on about saving the environment, aren't you?"

George trembled with rage.

He looked at the human wall in front of him.

He realized that the once monolithic alliance of capital had completely shattered.

Leo Wallace had driven a wedge deep into the cracks of Washington, prying this massive coalition of interests apart.

The energy tycoons, for a piece of that multi-trillion-dollar industrial pie, had turned against the pharmaceutical giants.

This was a bloody civil war, pitting capital against capital.

"Fine."

George gritted his teeth and took a step back.

"You just wait, this isn't over."

"We'll have Wall Street sanction you. We'll send your stock prices to hell."

"Go ahead," Williams shrugged. "We sell a basic necessity. As long as the factories are running, we're making money. Stock prices? That's for you guys who play with imaginary money."

Williams took a step forward, his face almost touching George's.

"And don't think you're the only ones with friends on Wall Street. The energy trading desks at JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs are holding massive positions in our futures contracts."

"If you want to start a war on the financial markets, bring it on. We'll see just how solid our petrodollars really are."

The two groups parted on bad terms.