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the week after the previous inauguration. Sonny had been with Paul Randall for over three and a half years now. He had done great work on getting information about the timing of the other candidates’ announcements to run for the office of President of The United States. All of the strategies, social media campaigning, and even a large part of the fund raising had been coordinated by Sonny Foster.
    The television sprang to life and "News Alert" scrolled across the bottom of the screen. CNC reporter Patrick James was reporting from the White House Rose Garden. "We are awaiting a statement from the President any minute. This morning, millions of Americans who depend on SNAP,  the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, to meet their basic needs went to their grocery store to find only half of their usual benefits had been reloaded to their EBT cards. No advance warning of the cuts had been issued by any government agency. Wall Street saw the biggest two hour plunge on record. About a half an hour after the market opened this morning, the Dow lost 975 points. This represented an eight percent decline and the SEC made the decision to close the markets at 11:00 today. Among the stocks hardest hit was Howe Clancy. Howe Clancy is the investment firm co-founded by Governor Anthony Howe's father, Porter Howe. The firm processes all the transactions for the SNAP program and earns a transaction fee for every swipe. With the huge withdraw from corporate and individual investment accounts over the past few years; the loss of the SNAP benefit revenue could be catastrophic for Howe Clancy. Their stock was down 31% when the SEC made the decision to invoke the circuit breaker rule and close the markets at 11:00 today.
    Beyond the woes of Wall Street, Main Street is seeing troubles of its own. Main Street is without a circuit breaker rule and life goes on despite the calamity. Reports are flooding in of violence erupting in grocery stores all over the country. Police have been called into several big box retailers and grocery stores in major metropolitan areas. There have been eleven shootings at food retailers and grocers reported across the nation, all in large cities. There have been numerous arrests and too many reports of violence to count. The reports continue to flood in and we are still waiting for the President who was scheduled to issue a statement at 2:00 pm EST."
    "What happened?" Paul Randal said with a look of shock.
    "My source at the Treasury says there was a deal to get the program funded by midnight last night and it didn't happen.” Sonny answered.
    "You mean they have been running things that close to the edge? Why didn't they let the people know there would be a benefit reduction?” Paul quizzed.
    Sonny explained, "They’re still scrambling to get it funded. From what my source understands, Treasury Secretary Melinda Chang is consulting about an emergency bond auction. Her advisors are telling her there aren't enough buyers and it could spike interest rates on the 10 year Treasury note to 16%."
    Paul put his hand on his mouth in utter dismay. As his hand dropped he said "The 10 year is around 13.25%. They believe one auction could push it up 275 basis points? What about the Fed, they won't buy the emergency bonds?"
    "Fed Chairwoman Jane Bleecher would do it in a heartbeat, but there is no consensus. Including Bleecher, there are three doves and three hawks. NY Fed President Sydney Roth is a tossup. Roth would be the tie breaker.  The Fed independent oversight committee is screaming 'Armageddon' if they raise current levels of monetary creation even one more dollar. Roth tends to follow their advice." Sonny rambled.
    "I have to hand it to you Sonny; you certainly have your finger on the pulse. I couldn't do it without you." Paul complimented. Sonny would never admit it, but compliments were very important to him.
    "You would never have to sir." Sonny stated faithfully.
    Paul continued "We are printing a total of