The mayflower phoenix

The Mayflower Phoenix is a 2012 novel, written by Mark John Ennis and Katerina Ennis. It is the second novel in The Mayflower Saga ( first novel - The Lincoln Legacy, second novel - The Mayflower Phoenix, third novel - The Washington Witness) The novel features the main characters Matty and Kayoko, who were introduced in the first novel. The Mayflower Phoenix is set in 2022, two years post the collapse of the worlds financial systems. Within those two years, America, free from its colossal debt has rebuilt itself to become the world’s economic and military powerhouse. The Mayflower Phoenix in fact symbolizes the destruction and rebirth of America. The year 2020, when the authors predict the financial collapse, is in fact the 400th anniversary of the original Mayflower ship sailing to America. The novel is both current and relevant, especially in todays challenging world economy. It has raised a considerable amount of thought and discussion on the general topic of world debt, in particular American debt, and how this debt can be managed, if it can at all. The authors give an interesting and thoughtful prediction of how our economic future might actually materialise. The authors for dramatic effect have an underlying thread in the novel, whereby a group of influential Americans actually cause the financial collapse, as they know that the only way for America to regain its economic supremacy is to wipe out its debt obligations, covering their tracks by the use of cyber warfare.
CONTENTS
Authors Economic Theory
Plot Summary
The Lincoln Legacy
References
File:The Mayflower Phoenix.png
The author’s economic thoughts behind The Mayflower Phoenix novel
Most economists predict a collapse of the financial systems would lead to a long period of economic hardship, so they support the belief that everything possible must be done to maintain the old system. This is why western leaders are obsessed with protecting the current financial systems, believing that a collapse would be catastrophic. The authors of The Mayflower Phoenix, Mark Ennis and Katerina Ennis take the view that whilst there would be an immediate aftermath of panic and crisis following a financial collapse - people would lose their pensions and savings and anarchy would ensue - key western countries like America, Britain and Germany, would quickly revive economically. In fact, in the novel, set in 2022, just two years post the financial collapse of 2020, America has already restored its world economic status, ironically offering its people a far better future than could have been previously envisaged under the old system. The authors take the view that such an economic financial collapse is inevitable, but the collapse will only occur when America is ready for a change of this magnitude. At some point in the near future, America will face a period of great austerity, so severe that it will facilitate this economic change. It will not be the end of capitalism but just another phase that capitalism enters through, allowing it to emerge even more dynamic than before. The authors predict that America, indebted as it is, cannot help but sink further into colossal debt. The failure of successive US governments of both parties to tackle this debt mountain will eventually lead America to effectively ‘self trigger’ the collapse of the current financial system.
In the run up to the 2020 collapse, the authors predict how the current debt crisis, brought about by the 2007-2008 financial crisis will be papered over, but this will ultimately contribute to a bigger crisis in the future. The authors predict the current recession, whilst very severe will last up to circa 2016. The austerity measures levied on countries like Greece and Spain will eventually lead to a backlash against austerity being used as an economic tool. Citizens will defy austerity and governments will be forced to abandon it. So all attempts to control spiralling debt will be lost as additional loans and credit will be extended to falsely stimulate economic growth. This will be a political solution but will not solve the underlying core economic problem. The authors predict this change of direction by governments in their original desire to reduce debt, will be instrumental in the collapse in 2020. The lack of determination and political drive to stick to the original plan makes the future crisis even more acute when it eventually does occur.
The authors predict that the period 2018-2020 is to be another financial boom period, albeit once again fuelled by unsustainable credit. Political and business leaders experienced in boom and bust cycles of the past will have all left their posts or retired, allowing a new generation of young leaders unprepared and inexperienced for what is about to happen. Once the 2020 financial collapse happens, the economic fall out will be more rapid and severe than that which followed previous economic downturns. This being due to the complex nature of financial products and the ever increasing inter dependency of all countries in the fast paced global market.
In the period before the eventual collapse of the financial systems, the authors paint a view of life in the USA. The USA will be plagued by civil unrest as people realise jobs and pensions are at risk. Unemployment is high, the gap between the rich and poor at an all time high. The number of homeless is socially unacceptable even by American standards. The general and sobering realisation by the American people that their country is in such a financial mess and that their future is so bleak, is exactly what the authors predict will allow the economic change to happen. Only when the majority of the American people, seeing no future under the existing “American Dream” system will it be allowed to be destroyed. But even this majority will need the approval from the minority rich, who effectively really control America, to allow change to actually happen. The minority rich will allow the change to happen, as they too will see greater opportunity for them under the new system. In the novel, the authors for dramatic effect, have a group of key influential Americans, who are part of a secret group called The Mayflower Phoenix, triggering the financial collapse, aided by cyber technology, to cover all tracks of their involvement. The authors have this group as planning the collapse over a number of years and are waiting for the right time to trigger the collapse. In the book, this happens when the right ingredients are all in place - a new financial crisis, a Republican President and panic in the market place to cover their tracks. The authors portray The Mayflower Phoenix team as idealistic and patriotic Americans who understand how capitalism and the financial markets work. They know that the only way for America to regain its economic supremacy is to wipe out its huge debts, but the authors acknowledge their underlying actions are in part a desire for their own self-greed.
In the weekend before the financial collapse the authors set out a series of global meetings between world leaders, in particular meetings between China and the USA. America will have survived economically to 2020 by borrowing heavily from China. Once the seeds of the crisis takes hold, China begins to realise that the USA is not really in a position to ever repay these loans. The authors set out the dialogue between these two counties over this debt, with China trying to impose budget reductions on the USA. The USA refuse to allow China to dictate to them on its government spending, especially it sensitive military or healthcare spending. China fear the USA will default on its debts if it pushes too hard in negotiations so eventually they back down and agree to reschedule the existing US loans and offer more loan facilities to the USA. The authors have these talks spread out over a weekend. This episode reflects the author’s view of how the leaders desperately try to hold on to the old financial system, no matter what. Their natural fear of change, not wanting the system to collapse on their watch, pushes them to make a deal. The authors also reflect China backing down in the negotiations, as a reflection of how the balance of power shifts between lender and borrower when the fear of the borrower not paying at all, begins to surface.
Although the authors have China and USA coming to a deal and thinking they have staved off another financial collapse, the authors paint a view of financial turmoil around the world, which people initially believe is actually responsible for bringing down the financial systems. Stock markets are closed, share prices have collapsed, bank failures after a number of runs on the banks, shift of assets to gold, banks shut and loan defaults taking place. Certain countries begin asset seizing - especially natural resources like oil and mining. It is against this background in 2020, a complete loss of confidence and panic in the old system, that brings it down. As mentioned - the authors for dramatic effect add in their story, that the The Mayflower Phoenix team trigger the collapse. But the authors predict the circumstances for such a collapse will already be there in 2020 for a collapse to actually take place. The collapse is eventually blamed on all countries excess borrowing. The complex nature of financial markets and financial instruments in 2020 means it is impossible to untangle the financial mess and the old system collapses.
The immediate effects are harsh, with bank savings, shares and pensions all lost. Trade and business grind to a halt. Civil unrest occurs. The authors predict that although daunting and challenging this situation would be, providing law and order and food supplies could be secured, countries could come out of the crisis very quickly and economic growth would start straight away. The authors have the US better prepared for this eventuality. The Mayflower Project, not to be confused with the Mayflower Phoenix, is a government programme designed to rebuild America if such a situation did happen. The Mayflower Project ensured America retained key engineering, steel, car and shipbuilding industries. The programme was developed over many years, it required the US to keep substantial gold reserves so a new dollar currency could be floated. It also ensured oil was stock piled and set out the logistics to ensure the flow of food supplies, control of power, transport and control of all communication networks.
The authors predict this need for the USA to feed and support its people would create great demand and growth. Internationally, the US would remain dominant; other countries would follow their lead. US military might would be used to further strengthen the economic rebuilding of America. The authors predict America would keep out of overseas military campaigns post 2020, instead use the military to support economic growth, controlling the shipping lanes and protecting countries deemed economically necessary to the USA. America would protect countries with oil, gas and mining resources needed by the USA. But these countries would have to pay dearly for this protection. America would act like paid mercenaries. Countries would have to sell their resources solely to the USA and pay for military protection out of this money. Leaders in certain countries in the Middle East, Africa and South America would concede to this, as it would be their only way of remaining in power. The authors predict that within 2-3 years post the economic crash, America will have fully rebuilt its economy. It would be both an economic and military powerhouse. This phenomenal growth brought about by its new freedom from debt and an enormous shift from service-based economy to a manufacturing based economy. It would be the world’s industrial powerhouse again, exporting its goods all over the world.
So in conclusion, the authors predict the inability of the US in particular, to control its debts will eventually lead to the collapse of the current financial system. However the authors, far from taking the conventional view that this would be a disaster, actually embrace the positives of this change. Of course there will be hardship from the fall out, the authors acknowledge this. But what they predict is that for countries that are organised and disciplined, that set up good political leadership and good communications, economic recovery can be quite quick and the growth can be quite dramatic. Crucial to this, is the need to follow America’s lead in shifting from service to manufacturing based economies. Sadly for some major European countries, who are unable to embrace these changes, the authors predict their future is not as promising.
Post the crash, future prospects, opportunities and living standards will be far better for the young. Ironically the same group of people the current governments are shackling with years of economic misery and hardship. The authors predict the real winners under any change would the hard working young, those born just now, especially the privileged “Young Americans” that are born today.
THE MAYFLOWER PHOENIX - PLOT SUMMARY
ISBN 978-0-9571984-1-8
The Mayflower Phoenix (book two of The Mayflower Saga)
The Mayflower Phoenix picks up the story in 2022. The corrupt capitalism of Book one has eventually resulted in yet another boom and bust cycle, however, the ‘bust’ on this occasion is of enormous proportions, and has been caused deliberately by a group of influential Americans who are part of a group called “The Mayflower Phoenix”. The members of this group understand the way that capitalism and the financial markets work and know that the only way for America to regain its economic supremacy is to wipe out these debts - they therefore cause the collapse of the financial system themselves, using Cyber warfare.
Book Two begins in December 2022. Matty and K are now around 38 years old, married with twin girls of eight. They are living with Matty’s parents, running a shop in a small village on the south coast of England.
We are aware very early on that something has taken place in that there are references to the “Dark Days”, but we are not sure whether there has been some kind of world war. Matty takes his girls to Canterbury by train to get their mum a Christmas present, and it is obvious that something major has happened. The roads are all empty and all banks and travel agents have closed. All major chains have disappeared, and been replaced by family businesses, and the high street resembles one from the 1950’s, with traditional bakers, butchers etc.
We later find out that there has been a Global Financial Crisis. Just as in book one, the book starts at the beginning of 2007 when there was a financial peak, followed by a massive collapse at the end of the year, we find out in this book that there had been a financial peak around 2020, and a massive collapse at the end of that year. But by 2022 the country is just starting to get back on it’s feet again, but it is obvious to everyone that America is pulling itself together far more quickly than the rest of the world. Conspiracy theories are rife that the American government caused the financial collapse - the idea being that America once free from its colossal debt obligations could rise as an economic superpower once more. The Mayflower Phoenix, in fact, symbolises the destruction and rebirth of America. There is further irony in the fact that the year 2020 is in fact the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower sailing to the USA. The effects of the collapse are enormous. People lose their pensions, savings, stocks & shares etc. and there is huge civil unrest. Once again, the American government takes control of the situation and imposes curfews and a high military presence to get things under control.
Matty and K have lost everything in the collapse, and therefore have to live with his parents for the time being. Although they have very little privacy, they are coping for the moment, but K, in particular, is feeling the need for some space.
The novel follows Matty and K’s trip to Los Angeles to see her parents, travelling by boat to New York and then onto Los Angeles by the new “Arrow” train that the Americans built, traversing America. They can no longer afford to fly, so this is the only way to get to the States nowadays. Their journey shows the effects of the financial collapse on New York, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas. This section of the story shows how badly Las Vegas was hit by the financial crisis, but that it is getting back on its feet again. It also allows Matty and K to get their relationship back on track, which has been suffering.
Whilst in New York, they meet Matty’s Uncle Bob, who in the first novel, is portrayed as a money-grabbing capitalist. The financial collapse however, has had a beneficial effect on him, just as it has on many people - who are now more willing to help their neighbours, rather than trying to compete with them. Uncle Bob has seen the error of his ways, and finally got married, realising that money is not the only thing in life. He now runs a factory in New York, as manufacturing has become the mainstay of the economy, but rather than being the “sweat shop” that you would have expected him to run, he is a fair and generous employer.
Throughout the novel, Matty and K keep getting messages from an old CIA friend of K’s, called David Turner. They sound ominous, but when he suddenly cancels a scheduled meeting in New York, K is quite worried. Eventually they do meet up with him in New York towards the end of the book. He has turned into a paranoid ‘down and out’, but during his ramblings he manages to mention “The Mayflower Phoenix”, and “Phoenix cufflinks,” and that “they” killed his journalist friend. He also gives Matty and K a photograph of some of the influential men he believes are in the “Mayflower Phoenix” group. Matty and K feel very sorry for David, but think he is just a very ill man.
During the trip to LA, K and Matty visit a winery and decide it would be a good idea to start a business importing wine to the UK by train and boat, as French wine is extremely expensive. On their return to England, they discuss their plans about the wine importation with the Bank Manager. There is one central bank nowadays and business is conducted on a personal level just as it would have been many years before. Bank Loans and mortgages are just starting to be given again. We then follow their success in their new venture, finally accumulating enough money to put down a deposit on K’s dream house.
Later on, David Turner is murdered, but just before he is killed, he sends an ominous postcard to Matty and K - they won’t actually receive this until Book Three of the Mayflower Saga - The Washington Witness.
The Book ends on an optimistic note - everything is getting back to normal, people are starting to be able to afford to drive their cars again, and credit cards, etc are appearing once more. It finishes with Matty and K watching a speech on the T.V given by K’s old CIA boss, Keith Adams, who is now running for presidency.
Unbeknown to her and Matty, he is one of the men responsible for the collapse of the financial systems using cyber technology - the whole thing has been set up, but not by the American government, but by a group of rich influential men, including Keith Adams, for their patriotic and financial ends - however, they do spot his “Phoenix cufflinks”, and guess wrongly, that it is indeed, the American government that has caused it.
The book aims to show that life would go on, even in the event of global financial meltdown - in many ways it could be a better life. We see the positive effect of the crisis as well as the negative. Obviously, initially people would lose their savings etc, but the book shows the strength of spirit of people in these situations. Everyone ends up pulling together - families become closer and people are more willing to help each other out. The non-availability of flights abroad to the normal man means that even resorts in England, that had hitherto been left to go into decay, are now flourishing again. This is a direct reference to Book One when Matty shows K around Margate in Kent, and comments on its demise due to the foreign holiday - in this book Margate is flourishing again. Once again, the morality behind the deliberate cause of the collapse is questionable, and the lengths that the “Mayflower Phoenix” group go to are suspect.
THE LINCOLN LEGACY- PLOT SUMMARY
The Lincoln Legacy (book one of The Mayflower Saga)
ISBN 978-0-9571984-0-1
Chapter one begins with a flashback to February 2007, when a group of masked men break into an army barracks and steal munitions, killing a young soldier in the process. We then forward to September 2007 where MI5 are discussing security risks in the country. The main point of discussion is the afore-mentioned break in at the barracks and the missing guns and ammunition. The Security Services discuss measures to prevent any terrorist attacks using new technology.
We then go ahead in time to Sunday 23rd December 2007, where a team of terrorists are trapped and killed driving southbound along the M1, with the obvious intent of attacking London. At the same time the process of this operation is being tracked by the Secret Service.

Finally we forward to February 2008, to the House of Commons where there are questions about the whereabouts of some missing people - who happen to be the terrorists who were killed and have ‘disappeared without trace’.
The first chapter is fast-paced and shows the outcome of using new technology to track terrorists - in this case mobile phone technology, and the ability to trace phones even when they are switched off.
The story then begins in May 2007, when two young interns called Matty and Kayoko (K for short) join a start-up mobile technology company, called 24Cell. Matty, although very bright, is not particularly organised, and tends to think on his feet. Matty has a tendency to be a little over-dramatic. K on the other hand is clever, organised, always on time, and very level-headed. Matty gets the job through his uncle Bob, who actually only helps him get it so that he can spy on the company. It turns out that uncle Bob is one of a group of investors in 24Cell and does not want to put anymore funding into it unless two new deals that have suddenly appeared on the horizon, are genuine. He fears that John Taylor, the owner of the company, may have set up the two new deals to make the business look more viable, so that the investors will put more money into it. Nobody in the firm knows that Bob is related to Matty, and Matty is, at first, uncomfortable with his task.
John Taylor is an experienced businessman, and teaches Matty and Kayoko about all the aspects of the company, explaining that a company is valued according to its sales income. He explains that if a company’s sales are valued at say £1 million then the company is potentially worth 10-15 times this amount.
The plot alternates between the acquisition of the software by a company called Ignitions and another mystery buyer, based in Holland, who we eventually find out is a front company for one of the other investors in 24Cell, who was trying to artificially inflate the value of 24 Cell. Matty and K get involved with finding out who is after the software, and discover some other mysterious goings-on on the floor above them. There are some comical scenes when Matty imagines all sorts of frightening scenarios, and a series of events convince him that John is trying to hide something terrible upstairs. When he gets beaten up in an alleyway, and the offices are broken in to he is convinced that his suspicions are correct. K, in the meantime tries to keep his imagination grounded.
It turns out that Ignitions is just a front for the Secret Service and Matty and K’s subsequent meetings with Peter Dobson of the Secret Service take place at Lincoln’s Inn Fields in London. The Secret Service want the Source Code of the software so that they can develop it to track terrorists. Matty and K are sceptical about this, as they feel it would be an infringement of people’s privacy. Matty is convinced fairly easily by Peter that it is a necessary evil in order to protect the population but K is not so sure, as she feels there is potential to misuse the software.
The love affair between Matty and K develops throughout the novel, and he takes her home to meet his family. K and Matty don’t really want anyone in the office to know about their budding romance, so they come back to the office separately. On their return, however, they find that the technical team at the office had been testing the new software on their phones, and had tracked them together over the whole weekend, thus proving K’s point about the software’s possible misuse.
Peter Dobson asks Matty and K to give a talk on the latest mobile technology innovations to members of his team and US intelligence. An American member, Keith Adams, spots K there - he will prove to be important in book two of The Mayflower Saga. K is recruited to the American CIA, by Keith, having eventually been convinced of the necessity of the tracking systems, and Matty is recruited by MI5. The book ends with flashbacks of Matty and K’s visit to New York in post-crash December 2007 and the execution of the terrorists on the Motorway in England.
The book shows that the world of commerce is not far different from the world of the Secret Service - Peter Dobson is no more than a businessman himself looking for the latest technology and new technical recruits. In both worlds, however, the boundaries between what is morally right are blurred. For example, in the business world, John Taylor goes to great lengths to get the best price for his company. He manages to get a vastly inflated price for it, by showing high sales. A further sub plot shows how John Taylor inflates the value of the freehold office property, that he has secretly acquired, by manipulating the rents paid by 24Cell. On the other hand, he does care about his staff and makes sure they all have jobs when he sells the company on to a Chinese firm. In the same way, the Secret Service also employs underhand methods to get the job done. Matty and K, who start off at the beginning of the book as young innocents, find themselves believing that the actions of both John Taylor and Peter Dobson are acceptable in the grand scheme of things - some might say Matty and K are slightly corrupted by them.
The significance of “The Lincoln Legacy” apart from the fact that all the meetings with Peter Dobson are held at Lincoln’s Inn Fields is a reference to The Lincoln Code as drafted by President Lincoln. He believed that the protection of one’s country is paramount in any war situation, and this allows the use of whatever means necessary - thereby condoning the tracking and killing of the terrorists - whilst still respecting the rights and beliefs of the individual citizens in these situations
The Mayflower Saga
Features
The Lincoln Legacy - book One - published by Constellation Concepts Ltd March 2012. Authors Mark Ennis and Katerina Ennis
The Mayflower Phoenix - book Two - published by Constellation Concepts Ltd March 2012. Authors Mark Ennis and Katerina Ennis
The Washington Witness - book Three - published by Constellation Concepts Ltd. Authors Mark Ennis and Katerina Ennis

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