"Bureau of Economic Subversion!" Moncure said indignantly. "What in the
name of all that's holy is the Bureau of Economic Subversion?"
Tracy pointed at him with the pipe stem. "I'll ask a few questions
first, please. How many branches of your nefarious outfit are presently
under operation?"
The other glared at him, but Tracy merely returned the pipe to his mouth
and glowered back.
Finally Moncure snapped, "There is no purpose in hiding any of our
affairs. We have opened preliminary offices only in Chicago and New
York. Freer Enterprises is but in its infancy."
"Praise Allah for that," Tracy muttered sarcastically.
"And thus far we have dealt only in soap. However, as our organization
gets under way we plan to branch out into a score, and ultimately
hundreds of products."
Tracy said, "You can forget about that, Moncure. Freer Enterprises comes
to a halt as of today. Do you realize that your business tactics would
lead to a complete collapse of gainful employment and eventually to a
depression such as this nation has never seen before?"
"Exactly!" Moncure snapped in return.
* * *
It was Tracy's turn to react. His eyes widened, then narrowed. "Do you
mean that you are deliberately attempting to undermine the economy of
the United States of the Americas? Remember, Mr. Moncure, you are under
arrest and anything you say may be held against you."
"Undermine it!" Moncure said heatedly. "Bring it crashing to the ground
is the better term. There has never been such an abortion developed in
the history of political economy."
He came to his feet again and began storming up and down the room. "A
full three quarters of our employed working at nothing jobs,
gobbledygook jobs, non-producing jobs, make-work jobs, red-tape
bureaucracy jobs. At a time when the nation is supposedly in a breakneck
economic competition with the Soviet Complex, we put our best brains
into advertising, entertainment and sales, while they put theirs into
science and industry."
He stopped long enough to shake an indignant finger at the surprised
Tracy. "But that isn't the worst of it. Have you ever heard of planned
obsolescence?"