Chapter 523 Coming back from the front line this time, what I have to do can be summarized as one

   Chu Guang could understand old Charlie's complaints.

  How exciting his little players are at the front, how tight the situation in the rear is.

   It is no exaggeration to say that in the past few months, almost all money-related units in the entire alliance, from the central bank to the Ministry of Finance to the trade unions, have wiped the **** of the army of the alliance. So far, there have been no major problems in production and economy, and the cooperation between various departments is inseparable from the relationship.

   Of course, the most important thing is that he fulfilled the promise he made at the beginning and ended the war before the end of the year.

   "Let's talk about the first question first."

   As he spoke, Chu Guang looked at Minister Sun Ruicai who was sitting on the other side of the conference table with a nervous expression, and continued in a gentle tone.

   "Do you remember the last question on that test paper?"

  Sun Rui was stunned for a moment, and quickly realized what the test paper Chu Guang was talking about, and said immediately.

   "Remember! I remember the topic was... If we borrowed money from the looters, should we pay it back?"

  Chu Guang: "What is your answer?"

"What I wrote at the time was to..." Sun Rui said nervously, "I think it would be better to pay back the money first, and then grab it back, than to just refuse it. We borrowed money here, but we were labeled as predators instead."

   Chu Guang nodded approvingly, and then looked at old Charlie.

"Unfortunately, he is the only one who can answer this question to my satisfaction. Some candidates' answers are arguing, saying that the alliance will never trade with the predators, so the question is not valid. Others think that we can use this The money was directly hacked, and no one would sympathize with the looters anyway. However, if things are really that simple, we don’t need to use the Ministry of Finance, just hire a 'housekeeper' and everything will be done."

  Predators are different from mutants. They are not something that can be distinguished at a glance. Conversely, it can also become a pocket that can hold everything.

  Confiscating the property of a looter has very different consequences than declaring the creditor a looter.

  Of course, the reason why Chu Guang said he was half satisfied was because there was actually a better way.

  Compared to taking the IOU from the creditor by force, it is a more ingenious method to make the IOU in the hands of the creditor worthless through appropriate methods.

  Old Charlie coughed lightly.

   "I didn't say you'd take that money away...that was just an exaggeration in the hope that you would understand how dire our financial situation is."

   Chu Guang smiled and nodded.

   "I can understand your feelings. We must pay back the money. We can't do bad things. Now it comes to the second question... how to pay back the money."

   As he spoke, he looked at Sun Ruicai.

   "How much will be repaid at the end of the year."

  Sun Ruicai said immediately.

   "The total debt scale is 510 million chips, the loan period ranges from 20 to 50 years, and the total principal and interest is 10.17 million chips!"

   Chu Guang nodded, and suddenly sighed.

   "Too little."

   Both the debt scale and the principal and interest to be repaid are too small!

  If the repayment is 100 million at the end of the year, the president of Boulder City Bank, Malvern, is already waiting for him under the airship before he gets off the airship.

  How could he stand for a long time and wait for Aphne and Boss Xia to come.

  Sun Rui was stunned for a moment, and old Charlie was also stunned for half a second.

   "Too little...?"

"Well," Chu Guang nodded, looking at the two of them distressedly, "During the time I was on the front line, you have wronged yourself too much. Just now Minister Sun Ruicai said that the deficit contributed by military expenditures accounted for the proportion of the total deficit of the alliance. 76.9%, even if our current industrial output value is relatively high in the military industry, this financial report is quite unhealthy.”

  You also know this is unhealthy!

  Old Charlie couldn't help but said.

   "This is the result of the logistics department being as frugal as possible..."

   Chu Guang looked at the old man and continued.

   "Here lies the problem. The deficit contributed by military spending has reached 900 million. If our investment in infrastructure also reaches 900 million, won't this ratio drop from 76.9% to 50%?"

  After hearing what Chu Guang said, old Charlie was dumbfounded. Sun Ruicai who was sitting on the side also had a dumbfounded expression.

   What kind of logic genius is this?

   And aren't they discussing how to pay the money back?

  Why do you think they spend too little?

   "Let's make a joke to ease the atmosphere, but the reason is still the same."

  Looking at the speechless old Charlie and Minister Sun, Chu Guang put away his joking expression, looked at the two seriously and continued.

"I went out of my way to borrow money for you in order to let the residents of the Union live a good life, not to make you tighten your belts and pay off your debts. So when you tell me that you need to adopt a more conservative economic strategy in the next three years , I have to bring everyone to suffer, first reduce the scale of debt and then expand our business, I am very heartbroken... If this is the end result, why should I fight this battle?"

"Individuals can reduce the size of the debt by saving money, but the collective must not do so. Debt is a rope. Once we are caught by it, we will become slaves to the creditor. If you solve the problem by shrinking the balance sheet, do you know what it means? ?It means that the entire alliance will have to work for Boulder City in the next three or even five years! Is this what a victorious country should do? We owe money, and we are their father!"

  Old Charlie stared at Chu Guang in a daze, completely confused by the logic of the hesitation.

   One second ago, he said that the debt is a rope to tie up the slaves. How come the next second it turns out that the debtor is the father of the creditor?

  Minister Sun Ruicai was also stunned, but he understood the manager's thoughts in another sense.

  “…You mean that debt is a rope that creditors can use to entangle us, but in turn we can use this rope to hold…them?”

  Chu Guang picked up the cup and took a sip of water. While moistening his throat, he calmed down a little.

"exactly."

"So before discussing how to repay the money, I must first change your concept and tell you that the road of shrinking the balance sheet and repaying the debt is 'absolutely' unworkable, at least for us. If you want to repay the debt, you want to ensure the alliance The government’s credit, instead of shrinking its balance sheet, should continue to increase expenditure and spend more money!”

   "But how to spend money is a science. We can't learn from the nobles of Boulder City, nor can we copy the experience of Ideal City. I have to use our own model."

   After a pause, Chu Guang continued.

   "When I come back from the front line this time, what I have to do can be summed up in one thing."

  Old Charlie swallowed.

"…What?"

  Chu Guang said with a smile.

   "Share the spoils with the citizens of the Alliance!"

  Sun Rui was stunned for a moment, but did not react.

   "Split... loot?"

"That's right," Chu Guang nodded, "The victory of the alliance is inseparable from the support of all citizens. It is impossible for our army to defeat those wolves with just fists. We have acquired two vassal states, two trading partners, Our residents can clearly feel that food is cheaper. In the past, less than a catty of corn could be exchanged for an hour of work, but now it can be exchanged for one kilogram... But this is not enough, far from enough for the winners!"

   As he spoke, he raised his volume.

"The table of Union residents should not only have corn and potatoes. Only pigs, cattle and sheep can eat corn cobs for nutrition. They should also have meat, eggs and milk on their table. We must make them affordable and available. , and then they can eat whatever they want, but they can make it vigorously!"

"Not just to eat, but to wear! Last winter we tucked pre-war scrap money into our quilts as batting. I promised it would be the last time, and I'm going to keep that promise. This winter everyone will be covered in real quilts." Quilts, put on clean and warm cotton coats and leather boots, and live in a house with no air leakage—"

   "And so much more!"

  The loud voice echoed in the meeting room.

  After hearing these words, Sun Rui only felt a burst of heat in his heart, and couldn't help clapping his hands quietly under the table.

   Speaking of which, didn't he end his wandering life and choose to stay because the man in front of him promised to make everyone live a better life?

  He was ashamed of himself for having for a moment the idea of ​​letting everyone save and save to pay off their debts.

   Repaying debts is a matter of course.

   But he is the Minister of Finance of the Union, and he has an obligation to think of a better way for the Union!

  Different from the excited Sun Ruicai, old Charlie didn't react too much, but just stared at Chu Guang intently.

   He admitted.

  This man's rhetoric has a demagogic magic.

  If this is a public speech rather than an internal discussion, the applause at the scene can probably lift the ceiling.

People would stand up and cheer him, shout his name, and even see him as a living god, willing to give their lives for him...in fact, many people are already doing this, becoming a member of the Regiment of Guards Almost the dream of all the boys in the league.

   On the wasteland, what could be more attractive than food and clothing?

   And what he promised was not only to feed and clothe the residents of the alliance, but also to let them live with dignity... Let everyone live with dignity, this is a big word that even the lord of Boulder City dare not say.

   It might be better to say that the only people in the entire wasteland who can really do it are those in Ideal City.

  But old Zha thought about it, and he was relieved.

  This is actually not the biggest pie drawn by the manager.

   Compared with "building a new ideal city on the ruins" and "returning to the era of prosperity", this bragging is actually considered small.

  Chu Guang smiled at Sun Rui, looked at him looking like he wanted to say something, and raised his hand slightly, indicating that he hadn't finished speaking.

   After pausing for a moment, Chu Guang changed into a more relaxed tone and continued.

   "Occasionally, I will entrust my assistant to observe how our residents live...Of course, this does not include their personal privacy."

"For example, a certain girl who works at a trading post has to work six days a week, from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm, with only an hour's lunch break in between. She can only go back to the village by Linghu Lake to reunite with her family on Saturday night. , and then stay until Monday morning to go back to work."

  “In the past, we were short of people, so we could only wrong our workers to work a little longer, but now that we have passed the most difficult time, I think we should give them back the time that originally belonged to them.”

   "So when I was still on the front line, I called the person in charge of the trading station and asked him to increase the number of employees by 50%, adjust the average daily working hours of each person from 12 hours to 8 hours, and adopt a more flexible schedule."

   "This set of rules has been running for half a month, and it turns out that it works!"

"The employees of the trading station will devote more enthusiasm to their work and treat each customer more patiently. Not only those merchants who travel north and south will leave a good impression on our people, but our employees can also live a better life. After work, you don’t have to lie in the dormitory in a daze as if you have exhausted all your strength. You can go out more, whether it’s going to the library to study and recharge, or go shopping in the snack street, or socialize with friends. Do what young people should do things."

"Of course, what we have to solve is not just a certain individual's problem, but everyone's problem. The trading post is just a pilot. From now on, all factories, institutions, and facilities in the alliance, whether they belong to the collective or private It should be done! I'm going to make it into law, and I'm ready to double the budget for that."

   After a pause, Chu Guang looked at old Charlie and Minister Sun Ruicai, and expressed his thoughts.

"Not only to let the residents of the alliance have time, we also want to make them rich. At present, our minimum hourly wage is 1 silver coin, which can no longer keep up with the economic growth of the alliance. I plan to make the minimum hourly wage of the alliance early next year It reaches 3 silver coins, and the median gradually increases to 5 silver coins."

  "When the residents of the alliance have money and time at the same time, they will have spending power and more demands. As long as we can keep inflation within a reasonable range, a market with amazing growth rate and business opportunities will be formed here."

"In order to earn more interest, the nobles of Boulder City will not only not urge us to repay the debt, but will also sharpen their heads and send us the chips they have saved. After all, we will soon use these chips to buy Their things, let them earn back their own chips. Even if the Boulder City Bank doesn’t print a penny, the chips in their pockets can be doubled, or even more than doubled!”

  Sun Rui held his breath.

  Old Charlie also looked at Chu Guang in surprise.

  By now he has basically fully understood Chu Guang's thoughts.

   Instead of reducing the debt, this guy intends to borrow more money.

  Use the borrowed money to develop the economy, invest in infrastructure, and improve the lives of residents, thereby further expanding the economic scale of the alliance, and then attracting more hot money.

   It's just that there is still this loophole in it...

  Old Charlie said cautiously.

   "But we have to use the bargaining chips we earned from them to repay the debt of Boulder City. It is impossible to repay them with silver coins."

  Sun Ruicai also calmed down after hearing the words.

  “…Indeed, their residents still had spending power before, but now they even have to save on nutritional cream.”

  Looking at the worried two, Chu Guang nodded approvingly.

"Being able to observe this shows that you are paying attention, and it also shows that our plan has successfully entered the second stage. A large number of chips have been concentrated in the pockets of the nobles of Boulder City, which indirectly pushed up the inflation of Boulder City. If you are Boulder City The nobleman, seeing people around you getting richer and getting more and more bargaining chips in their pockets, but getting less and less money, what would you do?"

  Sun Rui thought for a moment, then suddenly showed a dazed expression, and said excitedly.

   "Preservation of value! I have to buy some things or properties that can increase in value before the chips depreciate!"

  Chu Guang smiled and nodded.

   "Correct, although not comprehensive."

   Blind investment is one of the complications of economic overheating. People will lose their minds in the frenzy and invest blindly in order to make the money in their pockets outperform inflation.

  Because money comes so easily.

  It seems that you can make money with your eyes closed.

   Slowly, people will be more worried about missing the opportunity to get in the car than losing money.

"...In the entire south of the River Valley Province, there will be no market more worthy of investment than the Alliance. Anyway, they probably have no interest in wasting money on those poor people who can't even afford nutrition cream. I don't expect to make money from those people. money to pay off debts.”

"In addition to investment, the nobles in the inner city will also become more lavish than before in terms of spending habits. We only need to give them a little chance and encourage them to expand their structure a little, and they will send the money themselves. For example...to develop the tourism and entertainment industries, let them compete with the people in Ideal City who can waste more money. Another example is to issue more debts to attract hot money that they can’t find investment opportunities in their hands.”

   "As for the residents of Boulder City...Although it is sympathetic, it is something that Boulder City should worry about. If they can't even afford nutrition cream, those people will naturally come to the Alliance to eat corn."

  Chu Guang sympathized with what happened to them.

  Those survivors are also the suffering people of the wasteland.

   But he also said at the same time that he will prioritize the interests of the alliance, and it is impossible to sacrifice his own interests for others.

  And if they are willing to come over, he doesn't mind giving them a share of the leeks cut from the nobles in the inner city to help them start a new life.

  Anyway, it was originally the fruit of their labor.

   "... In order to manage the foreign debt of the alliance in a unified way, and to allow our creditors to exercise their claims more conveniently and efficiently, I plan to let the central bank of the alliance cooperate with the Bank of Boulder City to issue a 'bond' denominated in chips."

"It can replace a bargaining chip to a certain extent. Regardless of whether the Bank of Boulder City recognizes its currency status, we will pay it at the coupon rate when it expires. If the nobles of Boulder City don't mind, it is okay to use this IOU as money of."

  Old Charlie hesitated.

   "Will Boulder Bank agree?"

   This is obviously a big pit...

  Chu Guang said with a smile.

   "Believe me, even if I don't mention this, they will take the initiative to ask me to come up with a similar plan so that the debts in their hands can be circulated like banknotes."

  Old Charlie was silent for a while, then suddenly sighed softly, and said with emotion.

   "Looks like I'm really old."

  Chu Guang shook his head.

   "Where is the matter, all I can provide is a macro strategy, and the details need to be improved after you study and discuss."

   "I will try my best to keep up with your rhythm." Old Charlie glanced at Sun Rui, and then said, "Today's meeting...I suggest keeping it secret."

   In a sense, they were not discussing how to pay off the debt at all, but how to harvest more leeks from their neighbors.

  If this spreads, I am afraid it will not boost the confidence of the creditors, I am afraid that the creditors will have the idea of ​​jumping off the building.

  Sun Rui nodded seriously, and tightly gripped the meeting notes on the table.

"clear!"

  Chu Guang didn't say anything, and acquiesced to Old Charlie's suggestion to keep the content of the meeting secret, even though he felt that it didn't matter whether it was kept secret or not.

  Many things are obvious.

   Someone must have noticed that the asset bubble in Boulder City is constantly piling up, and the risks hidden in the bubble.

  Like the president of Boulder City Bank.

   As long as that person takes a little time to check the books, he will find that the chips circulating in Boulder City are even more than the total issued chips in Boulder City.

  However, the person who finds the problem will definitely not take the initiative to burst the bubble, because doing so will not do any good, but will cause a lot of trouble.

   It is the "smart person"'s approach to make the last fortune before the bubble bursts.

   If the last stop is a cliff, get off before the penultimate stop...

  The closed-door meeting lasted only one hour and ended.

Although many people heard that the managers held such a meeting to solve the debt problem after they came back, except for the three people who attended the meeting, no one knew what was discussed at the meeting, and no one knew that the managers of the alliance asked the Merchant Union and Finance What instructions did the Ministry issue.

   Just as the merchants from Boulder City were wondering whether the Alliance had no money to pay off its debts, the day after the meeting, an announcement issued by the City Hall of Dawn City slapped everyone in the face.

  The full text of the announcement is about tens of thousands of words, but to summarize it is only two words—

   That's bidding!

   And it is a simultaneous bidding for multiple fields!

   First, travel.

The Shuguang City Hall will bid to purchase 50 electric buses at a price of 5 million silver coins, and put them into the 6 existing public transportation lines and 4 new ones to replace the trucks originally used to pull goods and transport troops , and strive to reduce the commuting cost of residents to less than 1 silver coin, and can "sit" in the car decently without getting their pants dirty.

   Not only buses, but also related supporting facilities.

  The bidding plan of Shuguang City Hall also included 50 kilometers of concrete roads and four new charging stations.

   And this is not the most eye-catching!

  The most eye-catching announcement has already become the headline of "Survivor Daily" that day...

   Early morning.

  A detached cottage in Linghu Wetland Park.

  Looking at the newly released "Survivor Daily" in his hand, Fang Chang, who was sitting at the dining table, had a surprised expression on his face.

   "Good guy... This is quite a lot of silver coins."

Luca, the lord of Dawn City, announced that in order to accommodate the survivors who continued to pour into Dawn City and to improve the living environment of residents in the city, the city hall plans to call for bids to build 1,000 new apartment buildings on the wasteland in the northeast of Qingquan City, requiring an average household area of ​​40 More than square meters, each building can accommodate at least 48 households and no more than 60 households.

  According to past practice, players can also participate in design and bidding.

   He bet.

  With the enthusiasm of those professional players for making money, this matter will definitely replace the hot search of "B6 layer" and become the hottest topic on the homepage of today's top forum!

   There is also a picture in the newspaper, which almost encloses the open space on the east side of the Embassy Street in Shuguang City, and two of the newly planned bus routes are also inside.

   But then again, this is building roads and houses.

  Where does the money come from?

   After talking about an almost completely real economic system, I feel that these NPCs are not playing cards according to the routine...

   Not right.

  Fang Chang thought about it for a second, and found that he was habitually brought into the thinking of reality.

   In fact, the situation in the wasteland is completely different from the reality.

  What is the most precious thing here?

  Black box?

science and technology?

neither!

   But people!

   People do research, people do design, people screw and farm, and mines explore ruins.

   Only with people can we have the ability to excavate the ruins and recover the treasures of the pre-war civilization. There is not enough manpower, not to mention the wool of the neighbors, selling hyena meat will have to be slaughtered.

  As long as the alliance can continuously siphon manpower and wealth from the surrounding survivor settlements, then this set of quantitative easing operations is actually completely feasible.

  If you want to find a reference in reality, you can't find it in the 21st century, but you should go back to the earlier 19th century...

   While Chang Fang was staring intently at the newspaper, Dolly quietly walked to his side, leaned over and pecked his cheek, and put the steamed buns she just bought on the table.

   "Someone is looking for you outside."

  Closing the newspaper in his hand, Fang Chang raised his head and said with a smile.

"who?"

   Dolly wrinkled her nose.

   "His name is Kixiu, and he also said that he is the son of the president of the Bank of Boulder City... But I don't think he seems like a good person, and he feels quite strange."

  She didn't like the guy's frivolous eyes very much, but she politely asked him to wait at the door for a while.

  Kixiu?

  Hearing this name, Fang Chang's eyes lit up, he pushed his chair away with a smile and stood up.

   "You're right, honey, that guy is really not a good thing, but... that doesn't stop him from doing good things."

   "Good deed?" Dolly tilted her head with a confused expression.

  She didn't think that guy who wanted to look at people with his nostrils seemed to be someone who would do good deeds.

"That's right, one has to do one or two good deeds in one's life, or else it's too pitiful, just so I can help..." Fang Chang smiled and stroked her hair lightly, "I'll meet him .”

  (end of this chapter)