Chapter 418: Chapter 193: Expensive Jerusalem
On the third floor of City Hall, the door to the Mayor’s Office was shut.
The clamor outside, the reporters’ camera flashes, the praise from left-wing academics—all of it was sealed away behind that heavy door.
Quiet returned to the room.
Ethan and Sarah had already left to handle the follow-up press releases and scheduling.
Leo was now alone in the office.
He walked to his desk, where two starkly different documents lay.
One was the folder Ethan had been holding, containing the documents originally prepared for briefing the media on the model project’s finances.
Its charts were brightly colored, the growth curves soared upward, and every data point celebrated the great success of this social experiment.
And next to it lay another document: an unadorned internal financial statement.
Leo picked up the real report and stared at the "-65%" input-output ratio.
Leo began to speak slowly, as if to himself, or perhaps to the Roosevelt in his mind.
"-65% means that for every 1 US Dollar of public funds we invest in this district, we only generate 0.35 US Dollars in economic benefits."
"The remaining 0.65 US Dollars have all evaporated."
"That’s the portion devoured by inefficiency, excessive welfare, and administrative overhead."
"This isn’t an economic cycle at all."
"This is just burning money."
"We’ve built a perfect utopia in this district, but the fuel sustaining this utopia is Pittsburgh’s public finances."
"This district is like a critical patient on a ventilator. It looks rosy-cheeked, but it’s all thanks to a blood transfusion."
"The moment the transfusion stops, even for a single day, this place will immediately collapse."
This was Sanders’s plan.
This was the miracle they had created in that district.
If you didn’t look at the ledgers, it truly was a paradise.
Everyone had a job, rent was cheap, and children went to school for free.
But the ledgers didn’t lie.
Leo saw the enormous, unsustainable cost behind this model.
He was, in effect, using the future of the entire city’s taxpayers to support this one model project.
’This is the price, Leo.’
Roosevelt’s voice echoed in his mind.
’You want to build a Jerusalem here, a place of pilgrimage for Progressives across America.’
’But holy lands have always been expensive.’
’You’re constructing a spectacle.’
’Its sole purpose for existing is to prove that Sanders’s theories are correct, to prove that the Green New Deal is viable.’
’This is a political advertisement.’
’If you ask an advertising agency what the return on investment is for the millions they spend on a Super Bowl ad, they’ll tell you it’s negative.’
’But as long as that ad sells the product, it’s worth it.’
’Right now, Pittsburgh is that ad.’
’And that two-billion-US-Dollar bill that hasn’t passed yet is the product we’re trying to sell.’
Leo knew very well that the excited media was praising the very air here, praising the light of its humanity.
They couldn’t see that -65% figure, or even if they did, they would choose to ignore it.
Because they needed this dream.
Sanders needed this dream.
Even Leo needed this dream.
’Mr. President,’ Leo asked in his mind, ’you knew it would be like this all along, didn’t you?’
’You knew all along that this theory of Sanders’s could never actually work in reality.’
’Leo, Daniel Sanders is a good man.’
Roosevelt said slowly.
’He has a heart of gold. He truly cares about the poor and truly despises the greedy capitalists.’
’But he’s a distributor, not a creator.’
’All his theories are built on a beautiful assumption: that the country has an infinite amount of money, or that if we just levy taxes, the rich will obediently hand over all their wealth to fill the hole.’
’He thinks that as long as the money is distributed, the problem is solved.’
’But reality is cruel.’
’Money is finite.’
’The rich will flee.’
’And human nature is lazy.’
Roosevelt guided Leo’s gaze, as if peering through the walls toward the Hill District.
’Look at those street sweepers.’
’Where one municipal sanitation worker used to be enough to sweep a street, you’ve now hired four.’
’They’re earning above-market wages to do a quarter of the work.’
’You think you’ve solved unemployment? No, you’re just creating another form of welfare dependency.’
’When work loses its competitiveness, efficiency disappears. When efficiency disappears, the creation of wealth stops.’
Roosevelt’s voice grew somber.
’This is a greenhouse flower, Leo.’
’It’s beautiful, delicate, and makes people yearn for it the moment they see it.’
’But you can’t expect to turn the entire Appalachian Mountains into a greenhouse.’
Leo listened to these words, his eyes on the report on his desk.
This wasn’t just a matter of money; it was a matter of policy direction.
If he truly continued down this path, Pittsburgh wouldn’t be revitalized; it would just become a welfare ward that could only survive on external transfusions.
"So..."
Leo looked up. "We have to be clear-eyed about this."
"This pilot program can only ever be a pilot program."
"It’s a display piece in a shop window for Washington to see."
"It’s the badge of honor we use to prove we’re Progressives."
"It’s a tool for attracting media attention, for pleasing Sanders, and for winning a voice on Capitol Hill."
Leo’s gaze turned cold.
"But it can absolutely not become our core policy."
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