nucmednet Chapter 456 Interests Know No Borders, Capital Never Sleeps!
Chapter 456 Interests Know No Borders, Capital Never Sleeps!
Evening, Zigago.
The setting sun bathed the Waldorf Hotel in gold.
A black Lincoln limousine drove into the parking lot.
As soon as the car stopped, before the waiter could even open the door, Conrad Delum, a famous American real estate businessman, opened the door and got out.
On both sides of the hotel lobby entrance, not only were armed local police officers from Cigargo pacing with their hands on their hips, but also tall, yellow-faced men in black suits patrolling the area.
Derum, who is usually quite casual and doesn't pay much attention to etiquette, took out the invitation and his identification and then buttoned up his suit jacket.
"Hi, everyone, my name is Conrad Derum!"
"I am the chairman of the Derum Industrial Group. I have come to attend the dinner at the invitation of the Consulate General of China, Zigago!"
After handing over the invitation and identification, Derum smiled and slightly raised his head.
After passing through two security checks, Derum was guided upstairs to the banquet hall by staff.
At this moment, some people had already arrived in the hall.
Upon seeing Hantes, the famous engineering machinery tycoon from Zigago, Derum quickly walked over.
Hey, my old buddy! How are you doing?
"Oh my god!"
After a gasp, Hantes quickly opened his arms and gave Derum a warm hug.
Derum is a typical third-generation immigrant.
That is, people from the grandfather's generation immigrated to the United States to invest and do business.
The Drum family has been involved in real estate and hotels in Europe for many years.
Immigrants came to the United States after World War I. They continued their old professions and, with their rich experience and strong capital, quickly established themselves in the country.
After nearly a century of development, they have become two powerful real estate and hotel giants in the United States. Many landmark buildings, large office buildings and high-end apartments in many American cities are developed by them.
In contrast, Hantes came to the United States as a child with his father, an excellent engineer skilled in repairing engineering machinery and vehicles, to escape the war.
Starting with the repair and rental business, over several decades, and benefiting from the rapid economic development of the United States, Hantes became a well-known construction machinery tycoon through the accumulation of two generations.
However, no matter how famous he is, he is far less famous than Derum.
For his construction machinery business to thrive, he'll need Derum to invest in more construction projects...
"I thought you wouldn't receive an invitation, so I didn't call you. I can't believe they actually invited you!"
Derum raised the corners of his lips slightly and said with a hint of arrogance, "They can invite you, why can't they invite me?"
"I thought that after the impact of the Lonland Island property bubble, they were no longer fond of property developers, especially considering the powerful Li and Fok families in Hong Kong..."
Derum smiled dismissively.
"Can they compare to me?"
"Unless all four major families of Hong Kong join forces, I won't take them seriously at all!"
Hantes nodded repeatedly with a smile.
"Yes, yes, your strength far surpasses theirs!"
"If China wants to expand its openness and attract more international investment, of course we'd like to invite you to the gala!"
Derum chuckled.
He pulled up a chair, sat down, and crossed his legs.
"To be honest, I don't know much about China."
"I've only heard that they have a very old and long history, more than ten times longer than the history of our United States."
"Also, there are many people and they are very poor. In order to survive, they are particularly hardworking. Many years ago, many people crossed the ocean to come here to build railways."
"To this day, many of them are engaged in particularly hard but low-paying jobs such as chefs, tailors, drivers, and waiters, which may have led them to be more shrewd and materialistic."
Hantes laughed and said, "Actually, I don't know much about China, but my subordinates have been there. They said that China's cities are developing very fast. Not only are there many new housing developments under construction, but there are also a large number of road, subway, and communication projects. It is becoming more and more modern."
"However, in the rural areas of China, especially in the poor mountain villages in the west, the land is still very poor. The land is barren, trees are scarce, and transportation is inconvenient. Many rural people still live in low and dilapidated houses, and students have to carry torches and walk a long way through the mountains to go to school before dawn."
"Fortunately, they are working hard to change the status quo. They are working hard to build roads, erect power lines, and convert farmland back to forest. They are also solving problems such as drinking water, schooling, and medical care in rural areas. I think that in the future, the people of China will become richer and richer, and the whole country will become more and more prosperous. It will be a superpower worth investing in!"
Derum pursed his lips in surprise.
"I never expected that you would have secretly sent people to China to investigate investment opportunities."
"Unlike me, I only started thinking about whether or not to invest in China after receiving the invitation today."
"That's a mysterious and faraway country. Even though many Americans have invested and done business there, I don't know much about it."
Hantes laughed and said, "Personally, I think China is still a very worthwhile country to invest in. In the early years, the companies that invested in China, such as General Motors, Johnson & Johnson, Ford, KFC, Walmart, Indel, Coca-Cola, etc., have all made a lot of money."
"If we, the world's most populous country with a stable society, a continuously developing economy, and an ever-increasing purchasing power of over a billion people, don't even have the courage to give it a try, what kind of entrepreneurs are we? How can we even claim to have a spirit of business adventure?"
Derum nodded slightly.
He spread his arms out and gestured on the table.
“I know, of course I know, that’s why I came.”
"If conditions permit, I would be very happy to personally visit China to see if it is worth investing in."
Hantes quickly said, "Then I suggest you go to Tianhai first. That's their fastest-growing, most open, and most international metropolis. You can see what the future Dragon Kingdom will look like there!"
"After your inspection in Tianhai, I suggest you take the high-speed rail to Jingzhou City in Handong Province as your second stop. It is an ancient capital with a long history. In addition to its brilliant history and culture, it also boasts cutting-edge technology. The headquarters of the famous Huilong Group is located in Jingzhou!"
"High-speed rail? What high-speed rail? Does the US have it?"
Derum raised three questions in succession.
Hantes gave an awkward laugh.
"High-speed rail is a type of passenger train that operates at speeds exceeding 300 kilometers per hour and is extremely fast and efficient."
"It was only in the last two years that the Chinese introduced and absorbed Himmon's technology, and built a road between Yanjing and Jingzhou, allowing the two cities, which are 300 kilometers apart, to be reached in just one hour."
"As for our United States... we have a well-developed highway and civil aviation industry. People either drive or fly when they go out. High-speed rail probably won't be developed for another twenty years."
Derum gave a disdainful snort.
"Our railway industry in the United States has long been completely privatized. All private railway companies are only interested in making money. They cut corners on the maintenance of existing stations, tracks, and rolling stock, resulting in railways that are crooked and frequently derail and have accidents. How could they have the interest and courage to invest in building high-speed rail?"
“In the future, even if someone proposes to build a high-speed rail, I bet they just want to use the name of building a high-speed rail to cheat taxpayers out of their money. They will not put their heart and soul into building a high-speed rail. The project will be delayed again and again, and the budget will be increased again and again. I'm afraid that even after spending billions of US dollars over ten years, they may not be able to build an operational high-speed rail line!”
Derum is one of the most powerful real estate tycoons in the United States.
He wasn't very familiar with China, but he knew the United States all too well.
This highly liberalized and market-oriented capitalist empire.
On the surface, it possesses the world's most advanced technology, the strongest military, the most prosperous economy, the most comprehensive infrastructure, and the most just rule of law...
But setting aside these overhyped reputations, the real United States, as Derum knew it, already had countless problems.
As a real estate tycoon, Derum has long been involved in real estate development and is naturally very familiar with the field of engineering and construction.
In his view, the era of infrastructure development for Americans has come to an end.
There is no longer a need for large-scale construction of new airports, ports, stations, railways, highways, bridges, power stations, water conservancy facilities, etc. Instead, it is necessary to establish a long-term mechanism to facilitate maintenance, upkeep, and upgrades.
However, Americans, who believe in liberalism and want to solve everything using market economic principles, have clearly failed to establish a good mechanism, which will inevitably lead to various infrastructures gradually falling into disrepair over time.
Besides the lack of infrastructure, there will be a lack of maintenance and updates, leading to increasing obsolescence.
Derum finds the outflow of manufacturing the most heartbreaking.
Driven by the spirit of free trade and the human instinct to pursue fame and profit.
More and more American companies feel that setting up factories and making production in the United States is too costly in terms of materials, labor, taxes and other aspects.
In order to earn more profits, they would rather cross the ocean to invest in and build factories in China, where costs are lower in all aspects, and then resell the products back to the United States.
It's understandable that companies would adopt this approach to increase profits, but the problem is that more and more companies are no longer producing locally, which has directly led to a sharp decline in labor demand.
As a high-welfare country, people are less willing to be workers and more willing to be lawyers, doctors, securities analysts, fund investment managers, and other respectable and high-paying professions.
More and more companies are unwilling to hire workers, and even if they do, they are unwilling to offer high salaries and benefits. This makes people even less willing to work, thus creating a vicious cycle.
From metallurgy and chemical engineering to machinery and shipbuilding, from engineering construction to equipment manufacturing...
As the older generation of workers gradually ages and retires, young people are unwilling to join them.
Many heavy industries are facing a shortage of skilled industrial workers, leading to decreased efficiency and increased costs.
The most direct manifestation of this is the shipbuilding industry.
The U.S. shipbuilding industry continues to shrink, with high costs and excessively long shipping times making it difficult for the Navy, which has to rely on orders to support the shipbuilding industry, to cope.
As for civilian ships such as oil tankers, cargo ships, container ships, and LNG carriers, they are either produced by shipyards in Sakura and Nanhan, or the orders are placed by people from China.
If this continues...
Derum believes that the United States' manufacturing industry is becoming increasingly hollowed out, and its strength will continue to decline.
What use are advanced technology and a developed financial system if there is no strong manufacturing sector?
Because advanced technology needs to be transformed into tangible products and services through manufacturing in order to create value.
A bloodthirsty and greedy financial system, detached from the real economy centered on manufacturing, will only give rise to a flashy but impractical bubble economy.
Once a financial empire becomes accustomed to raising and lowering interest rates to create fluctuations in the US dollar and using financial means to reap profits from the world, its decline is not far off.
In this dog-eat-dog world, the reason people hold the United States in awe is entirely because the United States possesses powerful military force, and the source of that military force is its manufacturing industry.
If the manufacturing industry does not develop properly, what will happen to the aircraft carrier battle groups and advanced fighter jets that are currently swaggering around the world, becoming outdated and without successors?
Do we really expect that our current fighter jets, warships, armored vehicles, missiles, and so on will still be invincible in ten or twenty years? Will no country still be able to break the myth of America's invincibility?