The Mandela Effect

Chapter 78

The tailor came and left. The clothes were delivered at 6pm that evening. In the intervening time, Jon went down to the spa and had a soak, a massage, and a style. He felt like a million bucks by the time he was changing into the suit for his date.

Promptly at 8pm, he was waiting out front when Anika came out. She had clearly used the hour since she was off to get dressed. Jon was shocked to see her. She was beautiful when she was in work-wear during the day. She was stunning when she was dressed to impressed.

The car appeared from nowhere and they were both swept off to an amazing night.

Early in the AM, the driver reminded Jon that he had a decently early morning. Jon asks him to make one more stop, and he did. Then, they dropped Anika off at her place and were heading back to the hotel.

At 9am, a wake-up call, that he didn't ask for, rang him awake. He got up, realizing that it was likely Wolfe, and he started getting ready for the day.

At 10, there was a knock at his door. He was already ready and just sitting on the bed watching TV. Predictably, it was Wolfe.

"Oh," Wolfe chuckles, "you're ready."

"Yea?" Jon questioned, "wasn't that the point of the wake-up call?"

"Yea, but still. Good for you," Wolfe continues, "did you have a good night?"

"I had an excellent night," Jon smiled, "but that's all the details you are getting."

"Fair enough," Wolfe smirked, "don't like to kiss and tell. I got it."

Jon just stared at him.

"Mmhmm," Wolfe added before stepping back in the hallway, "well, anyway, let's go."

Jon stepped out and closes the door behind him. They went down the hallway and headed down to the convention.

"I assumed," Wolfe says, "that you'd want a sprinkling of everything?"

"Sure?" Jon offered, "I don't even know what the options are really."

"Well, hopefully," Wolfe added, "you'll have a better idea at the end of the day."

When they got down to the convention center, Wolfe immediately walked towards a door with a sign outside that read: Economics.

The two men opened the door, Jon closing it slowly behind him. The room was darker than the hallway, but not dark. It had a stage area at the front that was lit by spotlights. Wolfe led Jon to an empty row of seats at the back.

At the very front of the room, there was a screen with a slideshow on it. Currently, there was a line graph with different points highlighted.

Under the screen, there were five groups of people sitting at five different tables. At each table, there was a sign with a number on it. Well, it was partially a number; Jon thinks it was hexadecimal: an ID number made up of 0-9 and the letters A-F. The guys at table 1462EB2C089F had the floor.

In front of this area, there was another long table. Jon could only see the backs of the heads of the people there. There were seats for maybe 12 or 13 people, but only 4 or 5 were sitting there.

Behind that table, the rows of chairs started which led backward to where Jon and Wolfe were sitting. He tried to figure out where in the argument the 'teams' were and what they were talking about.

"Coming into the twenty-first," one of the 1462EB2C089F men says, "there is consistency with 9/11 and the downturn after it. Historically, we have 99% alignment. One large aberration is that there was a bailout related to that '01 downturn, but not the 2008 downturn. This might lead one to concern about the security of the markets and risk."

"However, what we discovered is that the relative collapse of '08, without a bailout, meant that the government was 90% more likely to bailout in the future. That deviation, and the fallout, means that risk is 67% lower in the markets today in C089F. With a depression just over a decade out, the market is 22% larger than in 1."

There is a rabble amongst the people in the room.

One of the men at the front table pressed a button. A red bulb in front of him lit and everything on the stage stopped. Every head turned towards the table.

"I know this is not your forte," the man asks, "but are their socio-economic impacts based on that lack of bailout."

Another man from the 1462EB2C089F team spoke up, "a decade ago, I would have says absolutely. In fact, there is a reason that C089F hasn't been on the short-list before. But, we have reached a magical place in C089F where, coming out of a slowdown but not stoppage from 2020-2022, these bailouts are seen as necessary and proper. There is wide support for them."

There are a few moments of silence. Just as the first man from 1462EB2C089F was about to speak, another red bulb lit up. Everyone turned to that man who spoke.

"Let's cut to the chase here, assuming all other things being equal, C089F has 22% increase from 1. Is anyone higher than 22%?"

The groups at the tables look back and forth at each other. No one speaks.

"And that 22% is that an upward trend, downward, or steady?"

The responder from C089F spoke again, "steady, sir."

The man then turns to the other tables, "is anyone on the rise or holding steady within 5% of that? 10%?"

A man from the table with the ID 109EEC187EE3 spoke up, "87EE3 is sir."

The man turned towards the table, "say more."

"Well frankly, sir, the market is down 40% in comparison to 1," the man says.

"40%!," another man at the table exclaims, "Jesus Christ."

"It is a place for opportunity though, sir," the man continues, "the aberration in 87EE3 is in the 2020-2022 period. The economic shutdown was nearly total, but it also lasted for nearly the full two year period. This meant that an artificial bottleneck was created. People kept working, and earning, but couldn't spend. The capital available in the market seems to be small, but that's not the case. Our projection models show that, over time, the growth potential is over 100%."

"Over 100%," the original question-asker offered, "doubling?"

"Yes, sir," the 87EE3 representative says, "and that's not the liberal end of projection, that's down the middle. It will likely take more than the year that we typically discuss, but I think 87EE3 will put us on a path to find similar streams with even more growth potential in future years: with the Directors' guidance, of course."

"What's the timeline on that?" the man at the front asks.

"To doubling?" the 87EE3 representative asks.

"Yes," the man at the front continues.

"Within five years," the representative added.

"Is anyone else prepared to look that far out?" the man asks, "I know we usually tap out at twenty-four months."

There are discussions amongst the groups within their tables. Each one shakes their head negatively.

"Let's do this," the man answers, "let's take a twenty minute break. Can everyone run their estimates out to five years? I know we don't usually go that far, but I think this is an interesting proposition. We'll discuss more when everyone can comment on their models."

The groups at the tables all nod. Nearly simultaneously, the people in the front row stands up.

Wolfe tapped Jon on the arm and motioned towards the hall. He stands and moved that way and Jon followed. When they got to the hallway, Wolfe turned to talk to Jon.

"That's basically how they all go," Wolfe explained, "presentations interrupted by questions and then breaks to reassess."

"It was a little confusing," Jon admitted, "but I think I get it."

Wolfe looked down the hallway and then turned back to Jon, "let's head down to environment. I bet that will be interesting."

Wolfe moved that way and Jon followed.