1novels Chapter 298 The wind rises and the clouds fly
Chapter 298 The wind rises and the clouds fly
Jed once thought that housing prices in the United States were very cheap, but after he really came into contact with American society, he discovered that housing prices in the United States are actually the same as China, and they are the most worrying thing for the government and citizens.
First of all, the so-called low-priced mansions in New York that circulated on Chinese websites do exist, but there is a certain location in New York for these low-priced mansions.You're in Brooklyn or Queens, and your prices are totally different than you are in Long Beach or the Upper East Side.The same house in Brooklyn may only sell for the house price in Tongzhou, Hebei, but in Long Beach it can definitely sell for the house price within Beijing’s Third Ring Road.Moreover, although the housing prices in the United States are not high, the intermediary commissions and related handling fees are not low. Coupled with the annual housing tax that must be paid, the final housing prices are really not much cheaper than those in similar cities in China.
In particular, the salaries of Americans are not as high as the Chinese imagine. For example, the annual salary of a practicing physician in New York is only 5 yuan in the first three years. Years are almost always in debt.Jed is well aware of Americans' consumption outlook. Americans seldom have savings, and even a family may only have a few thousand dollars in cash. Americans are used to credit card consumption.When the U.S. economy is developing well and the credit environment is stable, of course there will be no problems in this credit card society.However, once the U.S. economy experiences a recession and the credit environment begins to deteriorate, life for most American families will be difficult.
Subprime mortgages are mainly aimed at housing loans. During the Christmas holiday in 2, many American families were driven to the streets by banks.After the media paid attention to these crying families, American society began to be a little turbulent.First of all, Lehman Brothers could not bear the pressure of subprime mortgages, and was the first to announce a temporary freeze of all loans after Christmas.But Lehman Brothers' actions not only did not dispel the market's doubts about it, but made investors who bought various subprime mortgage bonds of Lehman Brothers feel uneasy.On the first day after the Christmas holiday, led by Lehman Brothers, all kinds of bank bonds collectively plunged.It was soon reported that Lehman Brothers had filed a petition for bankruptcy protection in the New York District Court, and the resentment of American society suddenly exploded.
At this time, the U.S. federal government is in the transition state between Bush Jr. and Obama. Although Obama was elected president of the United States as early as November 2, according to the custom, Obama will not officially enter the White House until the end of January 8.Therefore, at this time, the U.S. federal government is undergoing various handover work. Each department is either managed by two groups of people at the same time, or no one manages it. It is simply chaos.
The subprime mortgage crisis that broke out at this time was obviously underestimated by Obama and Bush Jr. Perhaps Bush Jr. was holding the idea of "being out of office and not planning for success" and was happy to see the Democratic government lose face; Obama obviously did not have his predecessors Clinton knows the economy so well. After all, Obama was elected under the banner of public welfare, so Obama was ridiculed as a "socialist".
Therefore, the subprime mortgage crisis that broke out in December was completely ignored by the US government intentionally or unintentionally, while the credit crisis that lost government control broke out in an instant.Naturally, the U.S. bond market was the first to be hit. After bank bonds lost their credibility, even U.S. Treasury bonds or related public bonds were questioned. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two major U.S. public housing lenders, once again fell into the brink of bankruptcy.As early as the last two-family crisis, Jade's Sherman family and the Morgan family bought the bottom to rescue the market and barely avoided a bigger crisis.But within a few years, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae fell into bankruptcy crisis again. This time, even the Morgan family was embarrassed to ask the Sherman family for emergency.
Fortunately, there are still a group of people in the Democratic Party who understand the economy who immediately made suggestions to Obama, so Obama began to explain his bailout plan to the media.It's a pity that Obama is just an explanation. He is a public relations president who is good at using the media, but he is obviously not as good as Clinton in practice. Even the ridiculed Bush Jr. may be better at doing things than him.
"The idiots of the federal government actually want to save the market by aiding the investment banks!" Jed quickly got Obama's so-called bailout action plan, "Don't they know that the investment banks are the root cause of this crisis? How much money can the government have?" ?Is it necessary to issue additional U.S. treasury bonds or raise U.S. tax rates to fill those black holes in investment banks? Don’t they know how much the senior officials of investment banks earn in a year? I bet that once this aid money is distributed, they will give it to the government as soon as possible. Senior officials pay bonuses. Tsk tsk, who cares if Americans spend Christmas on the street? What they care about is whether the partners and executives have received enough dividends this year! Notify the TV station to keep an eye on those Partner, I bet there will be a big scandal in the US before the Oscars! Let the boys of the news department cheer up, the Pulitzer Prize and the Peabody Award are beckoning!"
Sure enough, Jed did not overestimate Obama's IQ. He quickly announced his so-called "rescue package". The first step was to inject billions of dollars in relief funds to Goldman Sachs and other investment banks.As soon as this plan was announced, BC (Consumer News and Business Channel), which has been acquired by Jade, began to invite a large group of economists and financial practitioners to analyze the Obama administration's rescue strategy.Although the American people don't know much about the financial economy, they can't stand BC's repeated explanations.In addition, the more professional Bloomberg TV and the Wall Street Journal also joined BC in criticizing Obama's rescue strategy, so many Americans immediately understood.It turns out that we have no house to live in, and the root cause is the illegal operation of these investment banks.Now the government does not come to help us, but to help those culprits!The most damning thing is that the money to help them is still our tax!So before Obama was sworn in, his approval rating fell below 5%, and may even hit a low of 4%.
"Stupid people!" Bush Jr. was happy watching TV and newspapers attacking Obama on his farm at this time.
Interestingly speaking, although Jed did not get along with Bush Jr., the Bush family and the Sherman family were actually considered family friends.Until now, although Sherman's "Jon Stewart Daily Show" and "Knockout Bear Report" both enjoy teasing Bush Jr., and have won the Best Late Night Talk Show and Variety Show Award for eight consecutive Primetime Emmy Awards But every Christmas, Jed Sherman still personally sends Bush Jr. a bottle of red wine from his own winery.You must know that Jed and John's winery does not produce much wine, except for some of them for their own drinking, and the rest are given to their closest friends as the most important gift of Jed and John.
So Bush Jr. was not surprised that Jed criticized Obama. Although he and Obama had somewhat different political views, Bush Jr. knew that Jed was the most typical liberal elite in the Democratic Party. Because of his concern for doctrine, he completely despises Obama's superficial welfare plan.But Bush Jr. was surprised that Jed would be the first to rush out to put Obama in the face. You must know that Hollywood, California has always been a big ticket holder for the Democratic Party. Even if they are dissatisfied with Obama, they shouldn't jump out at this time.Unless they are really desperate...
Just when the major media were dissatisfied with Obama's bailout policy, BC broke out an amazing news again.After Goldman Sachs accepted the government's first batch of aid allocations of up to US$3 million, it actually issued up to US$2.7 million in year-end bonuses and dividends to executives and partners in the first place.After the news was disclosed, major news media followed up with reports.After getting the exact news, not only the mouthpieces of the Republican Party, Fox News and the "Washington Post", beat the dogs in the water, but even the pro-Democrat msnbc and the "New York Times" also severely criticized the Obama administration for doing something "very stupid and harmful to the United States." The deepest thing of the people".Even without the media releasing poll reports, everyone knows that Obama will set a precedent for a US president, the first president whose public opinion collapses before he officially takes office.
However, Obama deserves to be the public relations president who "knows how to use the media best" in the history of the United States, and soon he portrayed himself as a good-hearted but somewhat reckless American president.Originally, Jed thought that Obama's public relations strategy was actually very successful. After all, Obama's basic base is American young people and women, so this public relations image is very suitable for the needs of these two groups of people.
It's a pity that the sentence that Obama had to sigh was "Don't be afraid of opponents like gods, but teammates like pigs".As Obama's campaign manager for the presidency, Rahm Emanuel, who single-handedly brought Obama from the senator to the presidency and was firmly in the White House chief of staff, criticized Jed when he was interviewed by the media, "I'm sorry Do you understand how it feels to see that the accusation against the President comes from that media? When you charge in front, a dagger flies out of your back, and the person who throws the dagger is actually your best friend friend."
Jed did not respond to Lahm's accusation, but some commentators mocked: "When did the President and Mr. Sherman have such a good relationship to play tennis together? As far as we know, Mr. Sherman has always been Ms. Clinton's support." And because of Mr. Sherman's support for Ms. Clinton, our President said a lot of bad things in the Democratic primary election that year. Is everyone in harmony now? Even if Your Excellency and Mr. Sherman are college brothers Members of the Congress, when the interests of the country and the people are being damaged, does Mr. Sherman still want to shield our President? I hope that Mr. Emmanuel will understand that it is your President who did the wrong thing, not the President. media!"
Emanuel's "dagger in the back" annoyed all the media in the United States. The media in the United States has always been known as the "fourth power". Now the closest partner of the President of the United States actually wants the reporters to shut up. Gross trampling of the First Amendment.Even Fox News, which has always been cynical about Jed Sherman's private life and political views, stood on Sherman's side for the first time. The anchor even shut up for a minute during the evening news to protest the pressure from the president.
Under the beating of the dog by the news media, Emmanuel had to announce his resignation within three months of being the White House chief of staff, and Obama also assured the media, "(The federal government) has never interfered with the freedom of the press, and it has not in the past. Not now, nor in the future! Freedom of the press is one of the cornerstones of the American government, and it is an extremely precious and respectable rule."