Simon arrived in Washington at two o'clock in the afternoon. The reception at the White House was grand, including the Clintons, Vice President Al Gore, the new Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole and the new Speaker of the House of Representatives Newt Gingrich. The Washington core came out together.
Referring to the identities of the people who came forward, Simon roughly saw the Republican Party's intention to woo him.
Otherwise, due to the position of Simon's important supporters of the Democratic Party, the Republican Party will definitely send representatives to participate in this meeting, but it is impossible for the two congressional leaders who have just gained power to attend together.
The Clintons and Vice President Al Gore need no introduction.
Bob Dole was Clinton's opponent in the 1996 US presidential election in Simon's memory.
This 71-year-old veteran Republican politician has been paving the way for his own presidential campaign since Clinton came to power. To this end, he did not hesitate to work hard with Clinton, promising to reach a compromise in advance, but suddenly going back on his word before the vote, which directly upset the Clintons. The health care reform bill was pushed through every possible means.
The failure of health care reform is a very critical factor in the Democratic Party's disastrous defeat in this midterm election.
The Clintons had previously used the health care reform bill as an important campaign promise to carry out large-scale publicity to voters, but it ended in failure, which inevitably had serious negative effects in that the higher they were praised, the harder they fell.
Of course, the reasons for the Democratic Party's disastrous defeat in this midterm election are far more than that. If you want to explain it clearly, you may need to write a large book.
But Bob Dole is Simon's type of politician.
Standard neoconservative politicians advocate tax cuts and deregulation of corporate giants, and are tactful and selfish enough to be influenced.
Another new speaker of the House of Representatives, Newt Gingrich, has a more aggressive personality.
The 51-year-old Republican congressman, who is in the prime of life but is also an established politician, has frequently resorted to confrontation to provoke disputes between the two parties since he entered Congress in the 1970s. In the past two years, he has almost used indiscriminate obstruction to restrict Clinton's fulfillment. Promises made to voters during the campaign.
Everyone exchanged simple greetings and did not go to the famous Oval Office of the White House. Instead, they came to an ordinary reception room in the West Wing of the White House.
The waiter quietly left after serving coffee and snacks, and in a blink of an eye, only Simon and six people were left in the reception room.
To Simon's surprise, it was Hillary who initiated the topic first.
"Simon, before you came, we were still discussing the outsourcing platform that Yigrit was about to launch. Newt did not believe that this platform could provide tens of millions of job opportunities every year. I had read the information on the official website in advance. , I don’t quite understand either, can you explain it to everyone?”
Simon was holding a cup of coffee casually. Hearing Hillary speak, he looked at the other four men without any trace.
Clinton looked normal, Gore looked as if he hadn't heard anything, Bob Dole was smiling, and only Newt Gingrich, who was named by Hillary, frowned slightly.
Hillary is famously strong.
Most of the content of the failed health care reform bill was drafted by Hillary and her team. Therefore, the media frequently accused his wife of interfering in politics. According to the information Simon received, the failure of the health care reform bill also triggered a great deal of conflict between the couple. The rift between.
Now.
It is conceivable that the four Washington bosses definitely do not want Hillary to get involved in such an occasion.
The first lady not only ignored the pressure from the four bosses and insisted on staying, she also took the lead in stirring up the topic. By the way, I didn’t forget to dig a hole for Newt Gingrich without leaving a trace.
It's indeed powerful enough.
Thinking this way, Simon took a sip of coffee and said frankly with a smile: "Actually, this description is a bit of a misconception. Ten-million-level jobs are definitely impossible. What the outsourcing platform can provide are relatively short-term part-time jobs. Maybe it can be completed in an hour or two. According to this calculation method, there will be more than enough job opportunities in the tens of millions every year in the future."
Hillary continued to ignore the men around her and asked: "According to standard working hours, can there be 1 million jobs?"
Simon shook his head directly: "No, Hillary, the Yigret outsourcing platform is essentially a part-time platform, just to make up for the lack of human resources in Silicon Valley, and at the same time outsource relatively low-end work in order to save costs. Therefore, this One platform is actually more suitable for school students who need to earn living expenses and housewives who make money to support their families in their spare time. If someone wants to rely exclusively on this platform to live, that’s no problem, but it requires certain professional skills.”
Simon is not one of these Washington bosses and does not need to pay attention to domestic employment all the time. He will never make a fool of himself in front of these people, so he tells the truth.
How can 1 million jobs be so easy
At its peak, Walmart only had 2 million employees worldwide.
However, although it cannot provide 1 million jobs, it is not a big problem for the number of registered members of the Yigret outsourcing platform to exceed one million in the next few years. But, as Simon and Hilary said, these are just part-time jobs after all. The number of registered members reaches one million. Under normal circumstances, one-tenth of the number of active users is considered good.
This is almost equivalent to a very impressive 100,000 jobs.
Noticing Hillary's obviously disappointed expression, Newt Gingrich, who had just been named, suddenly spoke up and said to Simon in a harsh tone: "It seems this is really just a stunt."
Simon smiled slightly and shrugged slightly: "If you insist on thinking so, Newt, it is true."
Bob Dole sensed some signs of Newt Gingrich's targeting and smoothed things over: "Simon, I still don't quite understand this... outsourcing platform, but since it is said that anyone in the federation can find a job on the platform, It must be a good thing, can you tell me more about it?"
Simon thought for a moment and said, "Amazon, Bob, you should know, right?"
Bob Dole nodded.
Simon said: "Amazon is expanding its product categories recently. In addition to books, video tapes and movie peripherals, it will also add clothing, cosmetics and other categories. All these products require dedicated introduction pages. The technology at this stage cannot automatically generate more than 100 products. There are millions of product catalogs, so they need to be filled in manually. In addition, there are also basic outsourcing tasks such as image classification, web page tagging, etc. Anyone who has a computer with an Internet connection and understands English can take over the job. Order."
Bob Dole waited for Simon to finish and said with a smile: "It sounds very good. It is indeed suitable for everyone."
Vice President Al Gore asked, "Simon, what's the approximate hourly rate?"
Simon turned to Gore and said: "It depends on the proficiency of the operator and the level of outsourced tasks. The most basic filling, marking or classification I just mentioned, the hourly wage will not be too high. If the part-timer is willing to take the time to learn some programming on his own With similar professional skills, the income is definitely more substantial than working as a waiter in a restaurant.”
Simon did not give an exact figure, and everyone can probably guess that the average hourly wage will definitely not meet the federal minimum wage standard.
Bill Clinton, who had been silent just now, finally interjected: "Simon, many of these job opportunities in the outsourcing platform should be taken away by overseas part-timers, right?"
Simon didn't expect the President to hit the point directly.
The Yigret team has conducted an evaluation in advance and found that the hourly wage for the most basic outsourcing tasks is only about US$1 to US$3, which is shabby for part-time workers in the United States. However, for overseas part-time workers in less developed areas, the exchange rate Calculated, it may be higher than regular income.
For example, China.
If someone in China can connect to the Internet at this stage and register as a member of the Igret outsourcing platform, even if they take on the most basic tasks and calculate the minimum hourly salary of 1 US dollar, working 10 hours a day, the exchange rate conversion may be equivalent to the current At this stage, many people in China earn ten days and half a month's salary.
In fact, most of the tasks of the Yigret outsourcing platform are mainly for part-time workers in underdeveloped overseas areas.
But this point will definitely not appear in the official press release.
Regarding this issue, Simon would not be as honest as before, saying: "There will definitely be some, because the Internet is global. However, due to factors such as language barriers and salary settlement, the outsourcing platform is mainly aimed at part-time workers in the Federation. "
The drawing room is full of smart people.
Simon's answer was obviously untrue, but several people did not pursue it.
The topic paused for a moment, and the other five people in the reception room were not eager to stir up a certain topic. After finally meeting the young man in front of him who had created a series of business miracles, it would definitely be beneficial to have more communication with him.
Al Gore quickly continued: "Simon, many people think that investment in new technology fields has been overheated. What do you think of this problem?"
Simon said: "Overheating is inevitable, just like when the federal government built a national highway network. At that time, some people must have criticized it as overinvestment. The final facts proved that it was the hugely expensive federal highway network that contributed to the post-war development of the United States. Rapid economic development.”
The national interstate highway plan launched in the United States in the 1950s was proposed by Al Gore's father, Gore Sr., and the Gore family also accumulated strong political capital because of this plan.
Hearing Simon mention his father's achievements back then with implicit compliments, Al Gore couldn't help but smile, and his affection for the young man suddenly increased.
Hillary did not give Simon a chance to easily avoid the topic: "Simon, do you think there is a serious bubble in the new technology market now?"
The information highway plan is also an important political achievement promoted by the White House team after taking office.
Since Franklin Roosevelt in the 1940s, no Democratic president has been able to be re-elected in half a century. This matter has been hanging over the White House like a dark cloud since Clinton first took office.
After losing this midterm election, Clinton's re-election chances dropped sharply again.
If the bubble in the new technology industry does not survive the general election two years later, it will be a fatal blow to the Clintons.
Simon didn't really want to discuss the issue.
Facing a group of old foxes, he didn't want to be too forward-looking at all.
Moreover, Simon can no longer see the future clearly for the new technology industry that has been affected beyond recognition by his big butterfly.
It's completely a new era.
Taking into account various factors, the current development of the new technology industry in the United States is roughly equivalent to the level of 1997. In other words, three years ahead of schedule.
However, due to the large-scale propaganda and instigation of the Westeros system for several consecutive years, the number of personal computers and Internet access users in the Federation has been significantly higher than the level in 1997 in memory. The development of software and hardware technology is limited by time. It’s not as good as the hundred flowers blooming in 1997 in my memory, so it’s slightly behind.
The most important Nasdaq index has soared from about 300 points in 1990 to more than 1,700 points recently. This is also the level in 1997 in memory.
Based on these factors, it is estimated that the new technology wave will continue for another three years.
Unsurprisingly, the 1996 election coincided with the peak of the Internet bubble. Taking advantage of this momentum, it would be very easy for Clinton to be re-elected.
Of course, things are not absolute.
Because there are so many factors that can affect the development of an industry.
Simon glanced at Dole and Dole, who were also paying attention to this issue. They must hope that the new technology bubble will burst as soon as possible. This will be of great benefit to Dole in seizing the presidency. As for the United States, which was hit hard in the process A standard qualified politician probably can't care about the economy that much.
Considering this aspect, it is difficult to say whether the Republican Party will hinder it and pop the bubble in advance through some policy means.
After thinking for a moment, Simon said amidst the overt or covert expectations of several people around him: "Bubbles definitely exist. Emerging industries cannot avoid this, and they will inevitably burst one day in the future. However, compared with the past federal economy, The cyclical recession and the bursting of the new technology bubble will only trigger a short-term correction. After the water is squeezed out, the industry will continue to develop at a high speed, because the transformation from the electrical age to the information age is an inevitable trend."
In fact, many people present with extensive experience knew all about it.
But no one will underestimate the judgment of the young man in front of him.
Simon did not give an accurate time limit, which was expected by Clinton and others. No one can predict the economic cycle accurately, otherwise there would not be many speculators who went bankrupt every time the economy turned in the wrong direction because they bet in the wrong direction.
After Simon finished speaking, the Clintons looked at each other.
A mixed blessing.
The couple also realized one thing: when the new technology bubble bursts, it will definitely not only be the industry itself, but will definitely be closely related to the White House's governance measures in the next two years, and even closely related to the political game at the top level in Washington.
Newt Gingrich asked another question at this time: "Simon, how are you sure that the transition from the electrical age to the information age is an inevitable trend?"
Simon looked at the Republican leader with a harmless young smile on his face: "Because many core industries in the information age have already taken shape, such as personal computers, broadband networks, online websites, mobile communications, etc., right now these They are already an industrial scale of hundreds of billions, and will further reach a trillion-dollar level in the future. This can be said to be the economic foundation of a new era. When all these developments spread and change people's lives in all aspects, human beings will also It’s like entering a new era, isn’t it?”
Newt Gingrich was originally questioning the extent of the bubble in the new technology industry.
If it is all a bunch of bubbles, there will be no future at all, and the information highway plan promoted by Bill Clinton since he came to power will become a joke.
Now, with a moment's reflection, Gingrich realizes that Westeros was completely without bluff.
The foundation for a new era must be a series of emerging industries that are large enough, such as the electric power and oil industries since the beginning of the electrical age in the late 19th century, as well as the derived fields of automobiles, steel, chemicals and other fields. Not to mention other things, the three giants "Cisco-AOL-Igret" controlled by the Westeros system have already formed a huge emerging industry worth hundreds of billions of dollars.
From these aspects, there is no doubt that the information age is coming.
Al Gore, who was sitting on the other side, obviously had the same thought as Newt Gingrich, and raised a slightly sensitive question at the right time: "Simon, don't you think the Westeros system will bring a lot of information age information into the system?" With all the core industries in hand, has it hindered the development of the federal new technology industry? You must know that only with competition can there be progress and further stimulate the rapid development of the industry."
Al Gore was apparently referring to the federal Justice Department's ongoing antitrust investigation into the trio of Cisco-AOL-Egret.
These words imply that Simon can take the initiative to make concessions.
Before coming to Washington, Simon heard that the White House was using the topic of the new technology industry as a cover, and he realized that this meeting would inevitably avoid an antitrust investigation by the Department of Justice.
Simon did not hesitate this time, shook his head decisively, looked at the other people in the reception room, and said: "With the establishment of international organizations such as the WTO, the European Union, and the North American Free Trade Area, globalization has become an inevitable trend. , I don’t think anyone has any objections, right?”
The five people around him didn't know why Simon suddenly mentioned globalization. They all nodded slightly and waited for the next step.
Simon continued: "Unlike physical industries that are easily separated by geography, the Internet will be a global integrated network. Therefore, any new technology company will have the opportunity to rely on this global network to expand globally. Take For Igret, we have developed portal and other business in many overseas countries outside the United States, such as Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Japan. However, because these overseas countries have The layout of the technology field is relatively lagging behind. Our overseas business is also restricted and has not yet formed a decisive advantage. Next, we need to continue to deepen our efforts in these overseas markets to achieve a complete foothold. To achieve this, our new technology companies , it must be as strong as our country itself.”
When the words came to this point, all five people in the reception room understood.
Simon did not stop because of this: "Everyone here is the key to the future of the Federation, and I don't need to shy away. In the core industries of the electrical age, the Federation has actually fallen behind many countries such as Japan and Germany, and we do not have the same capabilities as those in the Middle East. Rich in oil reserves, these patterns are irreversible. Now, we are about to enter a new era. If the Federation wants to continue to maintain its strength in this new era, it must abandon the strict antitrust strategies that restricted the development of large companies in the past, because we We need ultra-large new technology companies to conquer the world. Only when our strength is strong enough that our overseas opponents cannot catch up with all their national strength, can the Federation completely seize global hegemony of new technology industries and continue to lead A new era. On the contrary, if you continue to insist on splitting and dismembering our new technology industry giants that have formed huge advantages according to traditional thinking, the result is likely to be like the failure of the Federation in the fields of automobiles, semiconductors, etc., and we will once again be overtaken by overseas countries."