Childe Cycle 11- Antagonist by Gordon R Dickson & David W Wixon

Author:Gordon R Dickson & David W Wixon [Dickson, Gordon R & Wixon, David W]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction
ISBN: 9780812521689
Publisher: Tor Science Fiction
Published: 2008-03-04T00:00:00+00:00

"With the help of the worlds we've already got in our pockets,"

Bleys said. "Any faction on Ceta not initially willing to go along with us will likely jump at the chance to get a larger share of trade with, say, Newton. In fact, we can probably encourage the growth of a planetary' government on Ceta—which would make our control less complicated—by using whole-planet most-favored-nation sorts of incentives."

Dahno looked unconvinced. "What you're saying," he said, "is going to cost a lot of money, because most of those actions will be running a deficit."

"What kind of deficit?" Toni asked.

"Those kinds of trade manipulations have always been carried out only by governments seeking political gains," Dahno said. "Which is of course exactly what we'd be doing, too. But that kind of manipulation almost always runs counter to the normal workings of trade, and results in making everything more expensive for everybody. What Bleys is suggesting is that we draw on the resources of the planets we control to artificially deprive the Exotics and the Dorsai of wealth, a kind of economic warfare."

"I think what you're saying," Toni said thoughtfully, "is that we'd be using the capital built up on the worlds under our control to change the normal ebb and flow of trade—as if we were building a breakwater along a beach—"

"A breakwater made of bales of old-fashioned money," Dahno said.

"Well, I can see how that will take trade away from the Exotics and the Dorsai, and hurt them," Toni said. "But how does that help put those other planets into our camp?"

"On every planet there are always people who instantly understand that a program like that means the goods are being made to go elsewhere only because government money is pushing them about, and they'll want a piece of that money," Dahno replied. He seemed to have forgotten his earlier skepticism, and to be wrapped up in contemplation of the strategy he was exploring.

"They'd sell their souls for opportunities like that," he went on, "and turning their planets over to us, to get those opportunities, won't worry them until later, if at all."

"We can afford it if the Younger Worlds we control begin to run big deficits," Bleys said, "if in the short run it helps us get the uncontrolled worlds under our thumbs—because in the long run it won't matter."

"It ultimately comes out of the pockets of the people," Dahno said. "In the mid-term, that might be very unpopular."

"There will be ways to handle that, once we're firmly in control," Bleys said. "And we can alleviate those effects a bit by forcing the Exotics—and the Dorsai, too—to pay even more ruinous prices for the things they need to import. That will recover some of our losses, while impoverishing them ... for them, it will seem as if a depression has set in."

"We'll have to be very, very adroit to carry out a complicated scheme like that," Dahno said, shaking his head. "You're essentially buying the support of some elements on each

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