11.30.2015
She set her notes down and brought up a large poster board from behind the desk in front of her. “The first of these changes is a new fee on those who are either unemployed or have elected to withdraw themselves from the workforce. If you have not worked for the last 6 months or more, a fee of 2% of your last working salary will be billed to you each month.” The people in the room scoffed and stirred in their chairs. “You have to be shitting me,” came from a man up front. Tern guessed that man was unemployed just like himself. The woman (Linda) continued, “This fee is for the disadvantage at which these people put the economy. It is not possible to grow our economy with vigor if many hundred thousands or millions of people opt out, but still require other federal and state benefits.” A lady in a puffy boat near the back spoke up, “I’m not unemployed because I chose it.” Many others in the room spoke affirmation. “We’ll have time in a little bit of the time toward the end for questions and feedback. Now,” she looked back to a note card which must have been taped to the back of the poster board, “the funds raised from these monthly fees will go toward helping place the unemployed, distributing literature about these fees, and raising awareness of the importance of economic growth on our country’s long term prosperity.” She took another look around the group and shook her head at a few people in seats who had raised their hands. “Later.” At this point, a man who must have been silently standing at the back of the room walked up the center aisle and joined Linda behind the desk. They shook hands and they both thanked the other. Linda took leave of her spot and walked around the desk, down the aisle, and took a spot at the back of the room where she leaned against the wall and wiped her brow with the back of her hand. A rivulet of sweat had rolled down her forehead as she walked back. The man arranged some papers on the desk to align their sheafs before he spoke up. “We just heard from Linda about what we around the office have taken to calling the ‘nonecome tax’. It’s certainly an exciting way for us to incentivize our working age people to help strengthen our country, wouldn’t you say?” This was a rhetorical question, apparently, because he continued without any pause. “And my name’s Johnny Fairschwartz, and I’ll be discussing the incentivizations we are considering for another group of workers: those who have not received more than a 2% raise over the past two performance review cycles, respectively.” Linda had lain her poster down on its face when she turned to shake Johnny’s hand. He now moved it from the desk top to the place behind the desk where it had started this meeting. Tern tapped his thumbs on the desk, bored. A glance around the room told him he wasn’t the only one. People had taken to staring at the ground, ceiling, the person in front of them, or at their hands. The rest watched with skepticism or derision at Johnny as he brought out another poster board from behind the desk. He glanced quickly at the note card on its back, but then launched into the description. He seemed much more practiced and at ease than did Linda.