June 7, 2059
WASHINGTON DC–Federal District Judge Lydia Peezer today handed down her much-anticipated Final Judgment in the landmark U.S. v. U.S. anti-trust case. As widely expected, Judge Peezer endorsed the Department of Justice’s complex divestiture plan, calling for the country to be divided into three independent geographic regions, each consisting of four autonomous “operational units.”
Speaking from the bench and citing the Findings of Fact she issued in the case last November, Judge Peezer declared that the “[United States] Federal Government has consistently abused its monopoly control of U.S. currency to the detriment of consumers, both foreign and domestic.” The 132-page Memorandum of Final Judgment cited in particular an earlier finding that U.S. control of worldwide wealth amounted to “monopoly power through market dominance,” and that the U.S. had abused that power by eliminating capital flows to competitive countries and industries.
“The U.S. has a long history of politically motivated spending internationally,” explains Edgard Tree, Director of FRONT, an international coalition of governments and non-governmental organizations. “There are better, more efficient governments and ideologies out there that get stifled because of U. S. control of international capital. New ideas can’t get any backing unless the U.S. approves, and nobody dares to break ranks for fear of retaliation.”
Analysts identify two key turning points in the three-year-old case: the emergence last year of a “smoking gun” report, and the evasive testimony of Senate Majority Leader Freddie Prinze Jr. The report in question, issued by the U. S. NSA, identified “transnational ‘gypsy,’ nomadic, and ‘open source’ social organizations” as the “most tangible present threat to U.S. political hegemony” and called for associated U. S. agencies to “cut off their air supply” by isolating the “vagrants” from world financial markets.
The complex divestiture plan calls for division of the U. S. into three new sponsored jurisdictions, the Microsoft Northwest, the GE Seaboard, and Enron MiddleAmerica. Governmental power in each region is further to be segregated into four units, each with independent representational structures and taxing powers. The four “operational units” include a Division of Labor and Correctional Services, an Inter-Non-Governmental Regularization and Exchange Bureau, a Ministry of Consumers, and an Intellectual Property Preservation Trust. At the time of the decree, Judge Peezer issued a stay halting divestiture pending appeals review of the decision.
Mainstream critics of the decision point to its impact on the “separation of powers” written into the U. S. Constitution. “What this decision seems to say is that the courts have the power to rewrite the Constitution,” exclaims DNC Chair Arthur Pile. “This is judicial activism of the worst sort.”
Others identify U. S. corporate interests behind the decision. “The ‘judicial activism’ thing is a red herring,” explains Julie Priest, director of the U.N. Project on Corporate Sovereignty. “It’s really more a question of executive pacifism. Why is it that the President is permitting the Justice Department to pursue a case like this? Well, Microsoft has been pushing this thing from the beginning, including unprecedented spending during the last election cycle. The break-up plan gives those guys what they’ve always wanted: their own country.”
U. S. citizens with questions concerning the divestiture should direct them to the Transition Office at the Federal Trade Commission in Washington DC.