No one would believe that the catastrophe of the ruble was an unplanned accident. Since Gorbachev's reform of the Soviet economy, this layout has quietly unfolded.
In the late 1980s, the Soviet Union opened its financial market to the West without any precautions. Almost instantly, a large number of foreign banks, investment companies and even insurance institutions swarmed into the major cities of the Soviet Union. The people and businesses absorbed more rubles than the local banks of the Soviet Union.
At the same time, the Soviet Union began the privatization reform of state-owned enterprises, and a large number of state-owned enterprises were distributed to Soviet citizens in the form of shares and bonds. Compared with intangible shares and bonds, ordinary people undoubtedly want to see real money. Therefore, Western investment institutions began to buy shares of state-owned enterprises in their hands with the rubles they absorbed from the Soviets.
When a large number of Soviet state-owned enterprises were in the hands of Westerners, the final blow came.
Beginning in the second half of 1991, countries in North America and Europe began to bad-mouth the Soviet economy. For a while, newspapers and media were filled with stories of 'the Soviet Union's reforms will inevitably lead to destruction', 'the Soviet economy is about to collapse', 'the market value of the ruble is seriously overvalued', Negative news such as 'the ruble needs to be repriced' corresponds to the saying that three people make a tiger. When everyone is like this, even the most determined person will be shaken, so the collapse of the Soviet Union's economy and the sharp depreciation of the ruble Panic spread rapidly among all levels of the Soviet Union.
Selling, running, hoarding, snapping up...
Under the manipulation of Western countries, this series of irrational and blind follow-up behaviors in the Soviet Union dragged the already crumbling ruble into the abyss.
In just a few months, the ratio of the ruble to the U.S. dollar fell from 1 to 2 in the peak period to 112,000 to 1 U.S. dollar like an avalanche. in human history. Even in the worst times of war. There has never been such a staggering inflation. The ruble in the hands of the Soviet people has almost become a pile of worthless waste paper.
As we all know, a country's currency is usually supported by its own gold reserves. When the ruble plummeted, the Soviet government began to use its own gold reserves in an attempt to solve the urgent needs of the domestic economy by selling gold directly. At the same time, the most serious international gold price collapse in the twentieth century also occurred 'in due course'.
After the price of gold collapsed, the Soviet Union wanted to export gold to cash in. But no buyer was ever found to take over.
This plunge in the price of gold became the last straw that overwhelmed the Soviet Union. On December 25, 1991, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev admitted that economic reforms had failed completely, and signed several presidential decrees in succession, announcing the disintegration of the Union of Soviet Republics. The only superpower that can compete with the United States is wiped out at this moment.
Chris's eloquence is very good, and he described this world-class game in a thrilling way. Emily, who was sitting next to him, put down the tableware involuntarily and looked at her boyfriend with admiring eyes, while Connery His eyes widened even more.
"So. The wealth of the entire Soviet Union has been robbed by us?" After Chris finished speaking, Connery asked curiously.
Chris shook his head: "Of course it's impossible. This is not a zero-sum game where winners and losers are equal, but an evaporation of wealth. The wealth accumulated by the Soviet Union for more than half a century is like a pot of boiling water heated by a fierce fire. The water in the pot evaporated, and what speculators get is just some 'dew' that condenses on the lid of the pot."
Connery imagined the picture Chris drew, and said with a smack, "That's really wasteful."
Emily beside Chris also interjected at this time: "I think it would be good if the Soviet Union disintegrated, at least everyone will no longer face the threat of nuclear war."
Eric also nodded and said: "Yes, the 'Big Ivan' that blew up the entire Arctic Circle scared the whole world. If a nuclear war breaks out, the Soviet Union only needs to drop a few 'Big Ivan' on the east and west coasts. Wan' class nukes, that's all over."
"Eric, what is 'Big Ivan'?" Connery asked curiously.
All four of them were born around the 1970s. Except for Eric, the other three all showed doubts.
Eric also only saw related news when he accidentally browsed the Internet in his previous life, and said: "In 1961, the Soviet Union dropped a nuclear bomb with a 58-million-ton equivalent equivalent to the Arctic Circle. We were not even born at that time, and you may not know it well. "
Seeing that none of the three people had any idea about the 58-megaton nuclear bomb, Eric thought for a while and said, "I'll see how terrible 'Big Ivan' is after I compare it to you. The plane flew 250 kilometers away at a subsonic speed before the nuclear bomb exploded, but it was still under the shock wave after the nuclear bomb exploded, and almost crashed and killed. In conversion, the nuclear bomb affected an area of 200,000 square kilometers, almost It is equal to the size of two New York states. On the other hand, the equivalent of the "little boy" in the Hiroshima nuclear explosion in 1945 was only 13,000 tons, but the ultra-high temperature at the moment of the explosion directly vaporized the bones of 70,000 people , the number of subsequent deaths exceeded 200,000, and the power of 'Big Ivan' was 5,000 times that of 'Little Boy'. It is said that the Soviet Union succeeded in developing a nuclear bomb with an equivalent of 100 million tons of tnt, but because it could not find a sufficiently broad nuclear explosion test There was no detonation."
When the three of Chris heard Eric say this, they all showed a faint look of fear.
Eric lowered his head and gently picked up a piece of sausage, chewed it in his mouth, and said softly: "So, I even think that anyone who makes a nuclear bomb should be directly convicted of crimes against humanity."
Emily smiled and said, "Eric, in fact, Einstein himself regretted indirectly inventing the nuclear bomb."
"But he's still guilty," Eric said.
Chris also laughed: "Eric, you really sound like an extreme anti-pacifist."
"I was originally, compared to war, I prefer those in power to fight each other to resolve disputes. Bare hands, cold weapons, or revolvers are fine, as long as you don't start a war."
Now the other three laughed, and Eric also smiled.
Ah. This was meant to be a joke.
"This is for you." After lunch. The two women were tidying up the tableware in the kitchen. Eric took Chris to the study and handed Chris an Apple Powerbook 140 notebook.
"This thing doesn't work at all, it's better to write it by hand," Chris said, taking it over and fiddling with it.
Eric said: "I didn't let you use it for office work, I just want you to study it carefully. Did you know that at the beginning of the year, IBM and several other computer software and hardware companies established sns together. This will be The key direction of our next development. The traditional industries in the United States have been carved up by various forces. It is basically impossible for Firefly Investment to intervene, but the high-tech industries related to computers are still a virgin land. Think about it, throughout the 1980s, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Larry Ellison all became billionaires through this. I'm sure that the development of computer technology will not stop there, and there will be More opportunities."
Chris finally opened the laptop in his hand awkwardly and heard Eric's words. Chris didn't refute, Eric had already brought him too many surprises. This gave him a somewhat blind confidence in Eric.
"Then I'll go back and take some time to study. What's next, what's your plan?"
Eric remembered that the Internet was developing rapidly after Clinton took office, because of the policy support of the US government, and said: "Not yet, it's still early, at least until next year. However, you can take time to pay attention to this year's election The candidate of the Democratic Party, Bill Clinton, proposed an information superhighway plan, which is why I just mentioned sns. This network is likely to become the main carrier of the information superhighway. You can find some relevant information and give it to Cisco Management, let them study sns-related technologies, it will definitely be useful."
In the original time and space, sns was the predecessor of the Internet.
Chris silently wrote down the key words of Bill Clinton and the information superhighway, and said, "If there is nothing else, then I'll go back to New York. Also, you'd better find some assistants for my dad, after all he He's a bit older, and he's not like the energetic old men like Redstone and Murdoch."
Eric smiled and said, "Of course, you don't need to worry about this, but he certainly doesn't want to hear you say that about him."
Chris shrugged. "No old man would like to hear that, but it's true."
Chris and Emily were going to fly back to New York at four o'clock in the afternoon. Eric chatted with Chris for a while, and then sent the two of them out of Pointe Manor.
"I made an appointment with Jeffrey Katzenberg to visit Disney's production base. Do you want to go with me?" Eric said to Jennifer Connelly after sending the two away.
Connery shook his head: "I still can't. I just finished filming and I'm too lazy to move. I'd better rest in the villa. Come back early at night."
Although Fox's "Fighting Condor 2" failed last summer, but because of the relationship with Eric, Connery, as the heroine, will of course not be affected too much, and soon took another comedy, It is expected to be released during Easter this year. Of course, Eric didn't bother with this movie. He was too busy with his own affairs, and of course he didn't bother to earn that little 'extra money'.
Eric touched Connery's delicate and pretty face, and said, "Then you stay at home, that little girl Drew recently bought two more cars, both of which are very suitable for women, and want to go shopping If so, you can go to the garage and drive one."
"Okay," Connery felt a little snacky when he heard Eric casually mentioning Drew, but he didn't show it.
Of course Eric also noticed this small detail, but he didn't pay much attention to it. He has very low requirements on his women, and he has never imagined the scene of getting along with each other in harmony. As long as the women can live in peace, it is a good thing .
After Michael Eisner took over Disney, after more than seven years of development, Disney has completely broken through the original profit-making model of animated films. Now Disney has not only a Disney studio that produces films and animations for all ages, but also a Audition Room Pictures. In addition, Disney also has its own children's TV program, but the scale is small and the performance has not been very good.
Compared with the firefly photography base in Playa Vista, Disney's production base is smaller, but the location is still in the bustling Burbank.
"The story of "Aladdin" is adapted from a story in the Middle East about a magic lamp that can grant people's wishes. However, we have made corresponding localization changes to the characters in the story, which will be more suitable for the tastes of American audiences," Disney Animation In the office building of the production center, Katzenberg accompanied Eric to watch the production clips of "Aladdin". Eric knew that this was one of the most famous Disney animations in the 1990s.
After reading it, Eric and Katzenberg came to Katzenberg's former office together. After the secretary served coffee for the two of them and left, Eric asked: "Except for "Aladdin", what work is there? Do you have any other animation plans in the studio?"
"Of course, there are many. In the past, every week in the meeting, I would ask the supervisors to provide five animation ideas. After accumulation, there are five or six animations that have entered the project preparation period."
Eric asked: "You remember all these, tell me?"
Katzenberg felt that Eric's reaction was a bit strange, so he said, "Why don't I get someone to bring the planning book for you to see for yourself, everyone knows that you have a good vision?"
"So much the better."
Soon, the secretary of the studio sent a stack of project planning books.
Eric patiently flipped through one by one, and soon found the target he wanted, a story on the African prairie imitating the story of the prince's revenge, which is the prototype of the story of "The Lion King".
In the original time and space, "The Lion King" is not only the last glory of Disney's 2D hand-painted animation, but also Disney's most successful 2D hand-painted animation film. The box office revenue of the film alone is close to 1 billion US dollars worldwide.
Calmly, he took out the script of "The Lion King" in his hand and handed it to Katzenberg: "What about this, have you discussed it?"
Katzenberg took it over and looked at it, and said: "This story was proposed by Brenda Chapman, imitating "The Prince's Revenge". I also thought it was a bit old-fashioned at first, but they made some characters. After the design, I agreed to it, because the design of the characters is very pleasing. But it has not yet started, if you are optimistic, it can be arranged after the completion of "Aladdin."
Eric didn't show too much eagerness, anyway, it's all the meat in the pot, and you can't escape if you eat it early or late: "I think this story is good, please ask them to take time to make a detailed plan for me, if it is good , raise this project to the highest priority."
Katzenberg nodded, called his secretary to give some instructions, and then said to Eric: "Then, let's go to the TV production department to see, they recently came up with a new program idea called Mickey Mouse Club.” (To be continued..)