"Maybe Avis can throw some light on that," Chung suggested.
The girl twisted her fingers together. "Not me," she said. "I'm no politician."
"But you were home not so long ago. You talked with people, read the news, watched the 3V. Can't you at least give an impression?"
"N-no—Well, of course the preliminary guns of the election campaign were already being fired. The Social Justice Party was talking a lot about ... oh, it seemed so ridiculous that I didn't pay much attention."
"They talked about how the government had been pouring billions and billions of dollars into space, while overpopulation produced crying needs in America's back yard," Chung said. "We know that much, even in the Belt. We know the appropriations are due to be cut, now the Essjays are in. So what?"
"We don't need a subsidy any longer," Blades remarked. "It'd help a lot, but we can get along without if we have to, and personally, I prefer that. Less government money means less government control."
"Sure," Avis said. "There was more than that involved, however. The Essjays were complaining about the small return on the investment. Not enough minerals coming back to Earth."
"Well, for Jupiter's sake," Blades exclaimed, "what do they expect? We have to build up our capabilities first."
"They even said, some of them, that enough reward never would be gotten. That under existing financial policies, the Belt would go in for its own expansion, use nearly everything it produced for itself and export only a trickle to America. I had to explain to several of my parents' friends that I wasn't really a socially irresponsible capitalist."
"Is that all the information you have?" Chung asked when she fell silent.