Chapter 422 Black Gold (1)
Since it was decided to invite the old bush to come out of the mountain and let him serve as a consultant for "House of Cards", while leaving the UK, the young couple also set their destination as Washington, and wanted to talk to the little bush through an interview. own needs.
However, when Roland contacted the intermediary Henry Rumsfeld, hoping that he could be a bridge, the guy who came to pick up the plane gave him a head-on blow, and put the response of 'not possible' in a bright light. in front of Roland.
Of course, if that's all it is, then Roland can only get angry, and then scratch his head to find the next target, but the problem is that while giving a negative answer, the current Minister of Defense also came up with a reasonable explanation. After he narrated the reasons for knowing the truth, Roland felt dizzy when he learned what had happened.
He picked up the water glass in front of him and took a sip. The moist touch cheered him up in the confined space. He put down the water glass and leaned back. While the white lights in the dim conference room lit up the surroundings, they also The surrounding utensils were covered with a cold and false cloak, making Roland feel that the old man in front of him was joking with him for a certain moment.
"Henry." After clearing his mind, Roland finally said, "You mean, George is being besieged by donkey gangs?"
"No." Facing Roland's question, Henry Rumsfeld shook his head and corrected, "We are all being besieged by donkey gangs. Moreover, it is not George who is being slammed, but Dick. "
At this point in his speech, he seemed to feel that his words were ambiguous, but it was more like trying to correct the inherent concepts in Roland's brain. Before he finished speaking, he added, "But no matter who is attacked, the whole thing The nature of the matter is the same. It is impossible for us to have any cooperation with the donkey party while the matter is not resolved."
The extremely firm words made Roland nod, raise his head and close his eyes, and while he was thinking seriously, the events described by Henry Rumsfeld were constantly replaying in his mind.
That's right!
When Roland wanted to gather the strength of the old bushes and Zipperton to promote the drama "House of Cards" and make it the only one that no one dared to check, the two parties of donkey and elephant were frantically tearing apart.
The crux of the problem is not the 9/11 incident that has happened for several months, let alone the war on terrorism that broke out because of it, but Enron, which had a thunderstorm two months ago and filed for bankruptcy a month ago.
As mentioned earlier, Enron, an energy company located in Houston, Texas, is a die-hard supporter of Little Bush. When Little Bush was governor of Texas, they had already reached an interest deal with him. After Little Bush announced his election, they even contributed a large amount of political donations to each other's various accounts. Like Time Warner's major shareholder Ted Turner, they crazily waved the flag for Little Bush.
It is precisely because of this kind of public support that after the small bushes took office, they promulgated various policies to help the consortium behind them make profits.
However, since energy is itself a strategic resource of a country, and the oil in it is directly linked to the US dollar in global trade, how to favor energy giants has become the most troublesome thing for small bushes.
In order to ensure that his policies would not affect the status of the US dollar, Bush ordered his deputy Dick Cheney to meet with senior executives of more than 150 energy companies in America in the second month after taking office. The way of the talks is to help the supporters get as much benefit as possible while ensuring the overall situation.
And An Ran, who supported the small bushes, naturally became the backbone of it.
From February to May last year, Dick Cheney had six public meetings with Enron executives in Washington. Not only that, after the talks, the energy policy promulgated by the small bushes gave Enron a lot of benefits. profit.
The stock price has also soared.
According to normal circumstances, this kind of power-for-money transaction is the rule of the game that all parties acquiesce to.
Because every president did that.
Take Zipperton as an example. During his tenure, Wall Street bankers opened their bellies to swallow up major companies, and Silicon Valley supporters even got authorization from Congress to expand wildly. The Telecommunications Act for many years was directly abolished by him. This kind of rewriting of the law for the benefit of the consortium is easier for them than eating and drinking.
So, even if the small bush modifies the current policy specifically for the energy giants, there is no problem.
but…
Who made Enron bankrupt?
If An Ran is safe and sound, then the donkey party will not go to the braids of the small bushes.
But Anran declared accounting fraud and went bankrupt directly while earning a lot of profits, so the donkey party felt that the second generation of officials, Little Bush, was breaking everyone's rules of the game, and it was going too far.
Under normal circumstances, while the president makes profits for the consortium, he can also get the corresponding returns, but this kind of return is long-term, and he will no longer be in office, just like Comrade Guan Hai went to Hollywood after leaving office. The funds, resources, and publicity given to him are all transactions in the previous policy tilt.
It can make a company embezzle resources and go bankrupt, which is equivalent to directly withdrawing money from the national treasury!
I'm not interested in money, I'm interested in the treasury?
Grab the grass!
Young man, you simply don’t talk about Wude!
So, the donkey party, who was extremely restrained in the September 11th incident, couldn't bear it anymore.
California Representative Henry Waxman and Michigan Representative John Dingell directly accused in Congress that Dick Cheney, who had close contacts with Enron, was responsible for the Enron case.
And while they were starting, Donkey Senator Carl Levine of Michigan, Donkey Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, Donkey Senator Ernest Hollins of South Carolina and North Dakota Senator Byron Dorgan, the state's donkey party, also asked the bush government to provide information on Dick Cheney's meetings with various energy giants from February to May last year.
If the Bush administration refuses, then they will sue the White House directly in the name of Congress.
The special codes of the two sides have already started fighting, and they will soon fight with guns like cowboys!
Under this situation, Roland still hopes that Old Bush and Zipperton can stand together and endorse "House of Cards"?
Isn’t this special code just whimsical?
So, after seeing Roland, Henry Rumsfeld said that Roland came at an inappropriate time.
When Roland sorted out all this, he suddenly felt that the stinky woman who was always with him was right.
Don't think that you have the chance to win, so you can let time wait for you.
Because you never know, accident or tomorrow, which one will come first.
"Then this is really too unfortunate." Roland opened his eyes again after the replay, glanced at Kate out of the corner of his eye, and found that the other party was pretending to be dead, and Roland knew that after returning, I'm afraid there will be another meal of nagging.
But being talked about is actually a trivial matter.
"In other words, right now, the Enron case is the top priority in your hands?"
Roland looked at Henry Rumsfeld, wanting to get a definite answer.
In fact, he originally wanted to ask whether he would not be able to get the support of the other party before the Enron case was resolved, but after considering that it would be silly to ask a straightforward question, and using the top priority to refer to everything, there was an insinuation Sexual words came out naturally.
"The Enron case?" After hearing his question, Henry Rumsfeld also nodded and said, "Yes."
"Okay, then it seems that I have to change my target."
How else can we say that capital is compromising?
Knowing that "House of Cards" might be the best weapon for DreamWorks to show its strength at the moment, Roland still wanted to give up, because even if it would cost a lot of money to abandon it and look for other ones, if it is forced to push, the resistance will actually be greater.
The former, at most, is a waste of time and money.
As for the latter, it will resolve the struggle between the donkey and elephant parties.
Which is more difficult?
This problem can be solved with the sole of the foot.
However, just as Roland was about to stand up and say goodbye, and wanted to pass on the regrettable news to Steven Spielberg, and while comforting him, he also went off in person to find a replacement project, Henry Ram, who was sitting opposite him, Sfield suddenly stopped him, "Change the target? Why did you make such a decision?"
Hearing the words, Roland felt that there was something in the other party's words.
But he...
unwilling to listen.
He never treats a politician as a white lotus flower, let alone asks them for any news in the same way he treats his own people, because he understands that all the inside stories have been priced by the other party before they are told, but only by waiting He will only see the final label after he listens. This kind of forced buying and selling is not an acceptable behavior for him, and the things that are forced by others through forced buying and selling are also things that others think he cannot buy. s things.
Since so...
It would be better to refuse the deal from the beginning.
"Because, if George and William cannot be invited at the same time, the project "House of Cards" has no value."
Roland said truthfully, "So, I can only change the target."
"Hahaha~"
The sincere and unpretentious words made Henry Rumsfeld laugh and agree, and after finding out that Roland did not take the initiative to enter the pit, he was not embarrassed if he had something to say, but directly cut to the topic, "But in fact, this Problems can be solved, right?"
"But the price will be very high." Roland said bluntly.
"But if you don't understand, you will miss it." Henry Rumsfeld retorted.
"But once you understand, you have to join." Roland smiled and shrugged, "I hate being passive. If you don't believe me, ask my wife."
When Roland brought the topic to Kate, Kate, who had been pretending to be a wooden man beside him, suddenly came back to her senses, smiled and said to Henry Rumsfeld: "Oh, Henry, please don't mind, he is just such a person who can't talk about things properly. guy!
He can't distinguish the occasion, so when talking about serious topics, he will always involve other inconsequential things! "
While speaking, she turned her head and glared at Roland, reprimanded: "Can you be normal?
Not everything can be said outside! "
After being glared at by Kate, Roland's face also flashed surprise. While expressing apology, he also spread his hands at Henry Rumsfeld, indicating that he was not joking just now.
The chorus between the young couple was noticed by Henry Rumsfeld.
Although Roland and Kate's playful behavior was very childish in his eyes, but the resistance conveyed made him smile helplessly, and instead of entangled in such meaningless topics, he forcibly brought up the topic, rudely In front of Roland who was unwilling to listen, "Actually, we did have transactions with those energy companies.
But the core of the transaction is actually not Enron's main business electricity and natural gas, but oil. "
When Henry Rumsfeld recklessly mentioned their insider transactions with energy giants, Roland's eyes narrowed instinctively, because he hated this kind of unruly flipping the table, but when the word 'oil' After falling into his ears, he wanted to stop the forced departure, but he frowned again because he smelled something unusual.
Such a performance was also keenly captured by Henry Rumsfeld. After finding out that what he said aroused Roland's curiosity, he wanted to pull this capital that could unite the media into the water. He continued: "Oil is important to us. I think you should be very clear, as a synonym for industry, we cannot do without it now.
Since we started exporting oil at the beginning of the 20th century, this resource has become the foundation of our expansion.
Because of our export trade, the US dollar is linked to oil, and with the increase in our production year after year, countries around the world are also accustomed to using US dollars for oil transactions. When the international demand for US dollars gradually increases, the US dollar is used in international settlements. The proportion of the US dollar will also increase accordingly, and we who can issue US dollars will naturally be able to dominate world trade.
Therefore, maintaining the pricing power and trading power of oil is to maintain the status of the dollar. "
Speaking of this, Henry Rumsfeld suddenly laughed, "But you also know that it is actually very difficult to fully control the pricing power and trading power of a commodity in the market.
As an inherent resource, we can’t force Blizzard’s games to be bound to Xbox like you, so as to capture global profits, because there are many countries that can produce oil, and we are just one of them.
Under such circumstances, when Saudi Arabia issued an oil ban in 1973, we fell into a passive position instantly. This passiveness was not because we could not continue to sell oil, but because we lost pricing power and trading power , It is the US dollar that has fallen into a passive position in global trade, so the global economy has also been greatly affected.
At that time, we chose to use force to solve this matter. After that, we still used force to solve all this, but the problem is that the cost of using force is too high. George's father was forced to use force Therefore, how to increase the control of pricing power and trading power while using force has become what we must do, and it is obvious that we will become the world's largest oil producer again. That's the best solution.
But you know, increasing oil production is not an easy task. When most oil wells are operating at full capacity, there is only one growth point for us, and that is the suspension by the Atomic Energy Commission many years ago—
Shale oil. "
Note: ①The Enron case was very big. In reality, on February 22, 2002, the U.S. Congress formally sued the White House, asking the White House to provide inside information on the energy policy formulation process, and to disclose the chairman of the National Energy Policy Group Dick- Cheney's information on all meetings with energy companies, in simple terms, is when, where, who was met and what was discussed. And this lawsuit is also the most serious confrontation between the US Congress and the White House after the Watergate incident. But...Little Bush doesn't care about them at all. No matter who comes forward, they refuse to provide, refuse to cooperate, and have no right to review. Unconstitutional hat. Separation of powers does not exist for this super-second generation. ②It is a rumor that the United States does not exploit oil, and it is also a rumor that it does not export casually. This kind of thing is the same as the story between American children and Chinese children. When it appears in the language document, it can only be said that the enemy is in ***.
(end of this chapter)