DEBTOR NATION is a novel set in the not-too-distant future in the United States of America. The course of American democracy has lead to a society run by the Central Bank and its chief operating officer, Ragnor Wolfe, with few people, the board of directors of the Central Bank, possessing nearly all of the wealth and power of the nation, leaving the scraps for the remainder of the population. Only one person outside of the Bank's circle of borrowers, the entrepreneur and inventor, Edsel Ford XIII, has amassed wealth nearly equal to that of a Bank board member. The Bank has eroded and usurped he power of the traditional branches of government and has been gradually exercising more and more control over the general population. The President, Madelyn Harris, is a mere figure head. Congress is controlled by the Bank and serves only to pass legislation requested by the Bank and its board of directors. Major cities have Bank enclaves where the wealthy are housed and protected, with the rest of the population - the uncollectables and other lower classes - living in shanty towns. Society is divided into clearly defined castes, with the "financials" and the "administratives" comprising the elite upper classes. The cost of all goods and services to the consumer is determined by class and credit number. The Bank Security Guard, the "BSG" is growing into a private army which is better equipt and better funded than the country's traditional military. The populace outside of the Bank enclaves are policed and led by the Debtor Nation Movement, the "DNM", headed by Carmelita Esposito, known as "Commander Epps". The DNM has for years kept the general population under control, for its own good, and through the leadership of the DNM, armed revolution has been avoided. The second in command of the DNM, Ryan Noland, has been arrested for the alleged murder of a BSG arising out of an incident at the Money Honey Club, a decadent night club located outside of the Bank enclave in Manhattan. The Bank is using his case to place criminal matters involving Bank property under the jurisdiction of the Bank's arbitrators. Colonel Gregory Stone of the Texas National Guard senses that the nation is on the brink of a melt down. He assembles a clandestine group which ultimately includes Edsel Ford, Senator Daryl Dobbins of Texas and the president, Madelyn Harris herself to reinvigorate the armed forces of the United States to take on the BSG and the Bank. Our story details these developments and the resulting military conflict to save the country through the eyes of those who lived it.
About the Author: Jim Staack is a graduate of New York University School of the Arts and Stetson University College of Law. He is a practicing attorney living in Florida.