Summoning America

Chapter 17: The Envoys of Mu

Third Foreign Affairs Office, Esthirant

Kaios skimmed through an informational packet while the two men across the table set up some sort of folding device. He eyed the device for a quick moment then returned to reading about the basic statistics of the United States, from population to the size of their territories and average military spending. One piece of information that caught his eye was the sheer number of firearms present in the United States.

"Ah, Ambassadors..."

Anders looked up and allowed Rodriguez to continue setting up the video. "Yeah?"

Kaios rubbed his temples while he found the right words to express his doubt. "I'm familiar with exaggerations and propaganda, but 400 million firearms? Couldn't your government come up with a more believable number? Or perhaps, is this a translation error?"

"Oh," Anders said with a smirk, "I agree; that number isn't believable. Honestly, it should be way higher, but what you see written in the packet is the truth. There is no translation error. Americans own 400 million firearms, and with a population of about 330 million that comes to about 120 guns per 100 people. And that's just our civilian population. You can imagine how well-armed our military is."

"I— I see..." A cool breeze swept through the room, causing Kaios to shiver slightly.

Anders looked up in recollection as he explained further, "To put things into perspective, the average firearm in the United States is about $500, with some being as cheap as $100. Meanwhile, our military spends about $700 billion a year, but this has ramped up to past a trillion due to eh, let's just say that getting transferred into another world is a dangerous situation. I don't quite remember how this translates into your currency, but there should be some exchange rates listed on the packet."

"Hmm, yes I see it. One kilogram of pure gold is worth about $60,000–"

"It should be about $57,000, but the recent transference had an impact on our economy. A lot of people drove up the price of gold as they sought to put their savings in something reliable."

Kaios wondered about American currency. "Sir Ambassador, what do you mean 'drove up the price of gold?'"

"Ah, your suspicions are correct. The United States dollar once operated under a gold standard, where vaults of gold backed the value of our currency. We stopped a few decades ago, and now the dollar is a fiat currency."

"Hmm," Kaios nodded, thinking that such a change was unthinkable. He wanted to ask how the currency survived without being backed by any precious metals or even any physical commodities, but held off on that. He instead returned to the previous topic, informing Anders of the equivalent price of gold in Parpaldian currency.

"Okay. What's your nation's Gross Domestic Product? For reference."

"I don't recall the exact number," Kaios said, "But it should be about 13,000 kilograms of gold."

Rodriguez chimed in, his eyes and fingers still glued to the laptop. "That's like, triple that of Napoleon's empire. Double that of the British Empire in the late 1800's.

Kaios felt a tinge of pride upon hearing the comparison to what he assumed to be well-known empires throughout their history. However, this positive feeling soon turned negative as Anders continued, "Oh, cool. Well, Mister Kaios, our annual military budget is just a bit over your nation's total Gross Domestic Product."

"How... quaint. Thank you for the elaboration Ambassador Anders."

"Anytime, Mister Kaios."

"Alright," Rodriguez said. "Ready to go." He moved the laptop to the edge of the table and centered it horizontally so all three could view the screen.