As he gently stepped forward to help button his boss's shirt, Angora Davis's slightly lowered eyes couldn't help but glance at the two graceful figures under the thin blanket in the direction of the big bed.
It's hard to avoid being weird at heart.
In the past few years, Angre found that the increasingly superior little men in front of him were always able to bring seemingly unrelated women together on the big bed. Most of these women, if picked out individually, may be the dream goddesses that many men want to kiss day and night.
Simon ignored the weird thoughts of the housekeeper in front of him who was obviously breathing rapidly, got dressed and hurried downstairs.
This is August 20th.
Thursday.
The location was Simon's apartment on 68th Street on the Upper East Side.
Just last night, when Simon fell in love with two women who were quite different in appearance, temperament, style and even age, Celia Miller, who was initially promoted from a personal military assistant to Simon's Eastern European and African Affairs Assistant He hurriedly returned from Moscow and rushed to Simon's side after landing.
The thing is very simple.
Russia's economic crisis, which has been building for more than half a year, finally broke out.
This matter starts with the Asian financial turmoil last year. The precarious situation of major emerging economies in Asia caused countries around the world to withdraw funds in order to ensure the stability of their own economic situations. In recent years, Eastern Europe, which has been attracting foreign investment to seek development, therefore The capital outflow that lasted for nearly a year made the already unsatisfactory economies of Eastern European countries even worse.
Russia bears the brunt.
Speaking only of foreign debt, compared with other mini-economies, Russia’s current total size of various types of foreign debt reaches US$150 billion, which is close to 60% of Russia’s GDP.
If the economic situation is stable, although the debt scale is huge, it will gradually be reduced.
The key to the problem is that the current international economic situation does not allow Russia to slowly repay its debts. The continuously deteriorating Russian domestic economy has made more and more people feel that the country cannot afford to pay back its debts, so capital has begun to flee last year. Representatives among them It was Soros who was persuaded by Simon to evacuate Russia in advance this time.
In order to solve domestic economic problems, Yeltsin also under pressure in the first half of the year appointed the new Russian Prime Minister Sergey Kiriyenko, who was only 36 years old.
Unfortunately, all to no avail.
Faced with the continued deterioration of the economic situation, just this morning local time, Russia had to adopt a somewhat extreme strategy and directly gave up its exchange rate protection of the Russian ruble, officially announcing a 30% sharp devaluation.
In addition, the Moscow authorities also announced the removal of the post of prime minister of Sergey Kiriyenko, who took office less than half a year ago, and that former Prime Minister Chernomyrdin will temporarily hold the post.
The result of Russia allowing the ruble to depreciate is wider financial turmoil.
As Russia officially announced a sharp depreciation of the ruble, first, Asian stock markets near the end of the day generally took a sharp turn before the close of the day, then Europe, and soon it will be North America's turn.
Tragedy fills the land.
"Before departure, I had breakfast with Yeltsin's daughter Tatyana Tyachenko. Tatyana once again expressed to me her hope that the boss could help the Russian economy. She also said that if the situation continues to deteriorate, Russia will have to Initiate strict capital control measures. In addition… ”
When Celia Miller said this, she paused for a moment, looked at the expression of her boss across the dining table, and then said: "...I don't know if my understanding is wrong. Tatyana seemed to be implying that if the situation is caused by the deterioration of the economy, If Yeltsin's regime is loosened, some of the boss's arrangements will also be affected and unable to proceed smoothly."
Inside the restaurant.
After listening to Celia's message, Simon just nodded slightly.
Girl A walked in at this time and handed a piece of information to her boss.
Simon took it, opened it, and said: "Give a copy of the relevant materials to James. Let's meet and discuss it in the morning. Well, call Xiaoqing and ask her to come with you. Also, help me contact the White House. , take some time to talk on the phone today."
Girl A quickly wrote it down on the memo, confirmed that her boss had no other instructions, then turned and left.
"You eat first."
Seeing Celia opposite him in a daze, Simon reminded her, then lowered his head and started flipping through the information on the progress of the rescue negotiations between Russia and the IMF.
Like other Asian countries, Russia already contacted the IMF last year and has been negotiating a rescue plan with the IMF for most of the past six months.
However, unlike South Korea, which completely gave up its economic sovereignty after a complete failure in negotiations with the IMF, probably because it was repeatedly tricked by the West several times in the past few years, Russia has gained strength this time, even if the IMF is willing to offer a total of up to 50 billion U.S. dollar bailout loans, and is no longer willing to fully agree to the IMF's requirements.
So until now.
If history does not change, Simon still knows what will happen next.
The follow-up was that after Russia allowed the ruble to depreciate, it closed the door again. Like some countries in Southeast Asia, it implemented mandatory foreign exchange controls and directly closed the bond market, re-stabilizing the domestic economy with a method close to a planned economy.
Although this approach caused a great loss of Russia's international credibility, it successfully saved the domestic economy without giving up its economic sovereignty, and successfully waited for the economic recovery caused by a big boom in the international energy market after 2000. .
In fact, one of the biggest impacts of the Asian financial crisis in 1997 was that it made many countries wake up.
The so-called free market theory in the West is actually meant to fool fools. In the whole process, only a few countries and regions such as South Korea were completely fooled by this theory due to various reasons. Others, by overturning the table and breaking the rules, not only defended themselves. economic sovereignty, the consequences are far less serious than mainstream Western public opinion exaggerates.
Later, during the subprime mortgage crisis in 2008, the U.S. government intervened to rescue the market, which made even the stupidest people understand.
In a word: Whoever believes in free market theory is stupid.
This is actually like another Western theory.
Western countries always link their own prosperous economies with their institutional systems, instilling in the world that the poor economy of your country and the poverty of the people are all caused by the system. This has caused countless countries around the world to take the initiative or carry out successive reforms after the 1990s. Passive institutional reform.
The result was seen by everyone.
Because, in fact, the West has reversed the causal relationship between the two to a large extent.
Most Western countries have actually completed the industrial revolution and accumulated economic accumulation to a certain level before gradually promoting more and more open institutional reforms.
This probably corresponds to Dongfang's saying, Canglin knows the etiquette.
When material abundance was sufficient, Western people began to pursue more and more personal rights.
Just say one thing, the right to vote.
Perhaps many people subconsciously believe that Western countries have achieved universal suffrage very early, but in fact it is not.
Taking the United States as an example, women did not have the right to vote until 1920, and it was not until 1965 that black people gained the right to vote.
Others, like the United Kingdom, must subconsciously be a long-established democracy with hundreds of years of history. In fact, it was not until 1918 that the people achieved universal suffrage. Before that, only a small elite had the right to vote.
1918, 1920, 1965... Before any of these years, Western countries had actually completed the industrial revolution and completed the primitive accumulation of modern society.
Then there was rather slow institutional reform.
Then, they reversed the cause and effect, and began to spread all kinds of deceptions all over the world, one after another.
In fact, in Simon's view, the saying that 'the economic base determines the superstructure' is the truth. When the economy develops to a certain level, the importance of ordinary people in the social and economic structure becomes more and more important, and they will naturally be able to obtain More social voice.
Unless someone can completely flip the table and send the country's economy backwards, some trends cannot be changed.
Or because the warehouse is solid, one knows etiquette.
The key is the word 'knowledge'. Knowing is not just about etiquette.
This is beside the point.
Regarding Russia, Simon's ideas were once loosened, but overall he still followed the original idea.
In a simple summary, in four words, raise bandits to respect themselves.
This is a very comprehensive and general consideration, involving all aspects. The key is to prevent the federal government and even the people from paying too much attention to the Westeros system, which is getting bigger and bigger enough to easily affect the global economy. body.
As long as the country is free from foreign aggression, internal strife will inevitably occur.
Simon does not want his business empire to become the target of a joint struggle between the federal government and the American people.
For this reason, the United States, which is now so powerful that it is all alone, still has some external enemies, or at least competitors.
Russia counts as one.
Economically, Russia, whose GDP this year may not even reach 300 billion US dollars, certainly does not have any potential to compete with the United States. However, Russia also has a strong military foundation, which is enough to pose a threat.
A threat must also be posed.
In order to prevent this 'threat' from disappearing due to the complete collapse of the economy, and even completely changing the development direction of the world in Simon's memory, Simon must not let Russia collapse.
On Thursday, as global stock markets tumbled, Simon was also urgently contacting all parties, including Wall Street, Washington, and even the Yeltsin authorities in Moscow.
Ensuring that Russia continues to maintain itself actually serves the interests of many parties.
Such as the US military.
If Russia collapses further, then there will be no need for NATO to exist. Who will the US military-industrial complex sell hundreds of billions of arms to every year
This is only one aspect.
Without Russia, the biggest variable is that Europe, which no longer needs the protection of the United States, is likely to truly integrate and become the United States' biggest competitor. This is something that the United States is absolutely unwilling to see at all levels. thing.
Therefore, Simon took the initiative to contact all parties this time, asking everyone to put aside their preoccupation with short-term interests and take the initiative to launch a rescue for Russia.
This can actually prevent Russia from overturning the table.
Allowing the ruble to depreciate, if it is still within the rules, implementing foreign exchange controls and canceling bond transactions, is breaking the rules and setting the table.
Russia once overturned the table. Western capital withdrew one after another because Moscow broke the rules. Another result was that it voluntarily gave up its continued penetration of the Russian economy. Then, without the support of Western capital, the Russian domestic oligarchic group became stronger. As a result, someone successfully eliminated the major oligarchic groups and regained control of the domestic economy.
If you do the math, in the final analysis, it is still the result of the West giving up.
Simon likes a certain saying in his memory about the relationship between major powers: fight but never break.
Competition is certain, but there is no need to completely break up.
It was torn. It seemed that the opponent had received a heavy blow in a short period of time and suffered losses. Looking back, it was himself who suffered the greatest loss. Because you are equivalent to voluntarily giving up the relationship with the other party, giving up the influence and control that you once had, which can be said to be quite advantageous.
After thinking about it, it is almost impossible to continue to add these things.
Simon's personal influence is here, and if he starts lobbying again, he will get twice the result with half the effort.
Therefore, all parties quickly reached a tacit agreement that afternoon.
Then, after a night of intensive consultations, the next day, the news was made public that the Russian government and the IMF reached a temporary rescue agreement, and the IMF provided an emergency loan of US$10 billion to Russia to stabilize the domestic economic situation.
In exchange, the Russian government must promise not to allow the ruble to continue to depreciate.
The subtext is that Russia must ensure that it does not further upset the table and cannot violate international financial rules.
If we only have this US$10 billion in cash, it will not help.
The current problems in Russia are similar to those in Southeast Asia. The key lies in the financial panic. Everyone has lost confidence in the Russian economy, so they are running away one-sided, causing a stampede effect.
Therefore, in addition to direct financial support, confidence is even more important.
Confidence is an elusive thing. Whether Yeltsin or Clinton comes out to express their opinions now, it will have little effect. If Soros, who has dominated the financial circle in the past year, expresses his opinions, it is more likely to be counterproductive.
But, as it happens, Simon can give it.
With Russia's current GDP economic size of less than 300 billion US dollars, the name Simon Westeros is indeed enough to easily boost the confidence of international capital in Russia.
Immediately after the IMF reached a temporary rescue agreement with the Russian government, Verizon Chairman and CEO Raymond Smith made a sudden visit to Moscow and signed a deal with Russia's largest telecommunications group Rostel Investments with great fanfare. Investment agreements with a total value of US$2.5 billion.
Regarding Russian Telecom Investment Corporation, this is also a project that Simon had been exposed to a few years ago.
In the first secret meeting with Yeltsin's daughter, the other party wanted to give this project to Simon as a favor. Simon did not want it at the time because it was a piece of fat that several major oligarchs in Russia were fighting for. Even though Simon was confident in his strength as a dragon crossing the river, he was too lazy to fight with a group of local snakes.
Then, 25% of Russia Telecom’s shares were transferred to the Russian oligarch Potanin supported by Soros for US$2 billion.
Now, this is an alliance between the Westerosi system and Soros and the local Russian oligarchs. Simon did not take away the interests belonging to the latter two, but invested an additional US$2.5 billion to obtain another 30% of the shares.
Another meaning of this transaction is actually a statement of confidence from the Westeros system to the Russian economy.