CHAPTER 579: THE ECONOMY, FOOLS!

As Xiaoyun drove out of Songjia Building, he was suddenly stopped by a phone call. Looking at the name, it was from Liuqian out of all people.

"Hello? What’s wrong... Mhm. Okay, I’ll be right there."

With the phone call ended, the car took a sharp U-turn as he began driving back towards the Songjia building.

After parking the car outside, he quickly headed across the street to the bank before being greeted by Liuqian.

"Is there something important you want to talk to me about?"

"Governor, please come with me... I have a little suggestion that I have been planning for a while now."

Entering a private room, Xiaoyun suddenly had a bad feeling as Liuqian took out an entire folder from a desk.

"I heard a lot of news about the rising unemployment recently. I wanted to contribute a plan to help."

As Liuqian handed a five-sheet paper over, Xiaoyun was instantly intrigued by the title at the very front.

Three Phase Plan for Re-opening of the Stock Market

"You made this yourself?" Xiaoyun curiously asked as he put the paper down onto the table first.

"No, sir... A lot of friends contributed to this plan. We were planning to submit this to you last month if it wasn’t for the emergency."

Xiaoyun didn’t ask any more questions as he opened the cover and began reading the content itself.

----

An hour later...

As Xiaoyun closed the folder, his mind was a little blown away by the plan Liuqian and his friend had created.

It was the solution he had been looking for all this time. The one that would completely eliminate unemployment as a problem.

Yet, his eyes remained cautious.

The plan Liuqian had made was ceding many of the government’s powers into the private sector, creating a much riskier financial environment.

"May I ask who is the ’friend’ that helped you make this plan?"

"I could provide you with a list of them, governor... But can I ask what it’s for?" Liuqian questioned back.

"I’m just curious, that’s all... Anyway, you can send this plan to Yuqi’s office first, and if she approves it, then I have no problem with it."

Before Xiaoyun could hand the folder back over to Liuqian, a sudden knock on the door interrupted him.

"Manager Liu, someone is waiting outside for you."

"Tell them to wait."

As Liuqian turned his attention back to the table, he pushed the folder back into Xiaoyun’s hand.

"Governor, why would we need the deputy governor to approve something that you can approve?"

"Stop beating around the bush. What’s wrong with this plan that Yuqi won’t approve it?"

After a short silence, Liuqian let out a sigh before speaking up.

"Deputy Yuqi would never approve this. The plan requires lowering interest rates and opening a stock market independent of the government."

"I don’t see the issue here. If you are going to keep beating around the bush, I’m just going to leave."

Seeing Xiaoyun actually getting up from his seat, Liuqian finally folded.

"Fine... Mr.Governor, I’m sorry what I say next might offend you. But do you know who’s the richest person in the settlement?"

"Um, me?"

Liuqian shook his head, surprising Xiaoyun a little. He couldn’t think of anyone else who would be possibly richer than him.

"Who is it then?"

"Miss Yuqi. She’s the richest person across Luoping and Guangzhou. Her public spending is absolutely out of control."

"What do you mean by public spending?" Xiaoyun calmly asked, not really affected by Liuqian’s sudden anger.

"She has almost quadrupled the public spending since March. She’s doing all these projects that will net almost zero benefits just for the sake of employment.

All these wasteful spending will only lead to an employment collapse as soon as the bank runs out of money, or inflation catches up."

Xiaoyun sat in silence for a few seconds as he tried to process what Liuqian was trying to imply.

In his mind, he understood exactly what Liuqian’s point was. The temporary subsidy towards many of her plans wasn’t exactly beneficial.’

But at the same time, doing nothing was only going to make the problem much worse. Not to mention Yuqi had to look at the problem from a stability angle.

Liuqian only has to worry about the economy, or more specifically, the money at the central bank that the government constantly borrows.

"So your solution of private investment would resolve the unemployment issue?" Xiaoyun asked.

"Yes, Mr.Governor. This is exactly what we need. If we open up the stock market, all this money in the bank will be poured into various enterprises.

A lot of people will invest so much of their money rather than saving it up. All these would create factories, jobs, all kinds of business to meet basic demands."

Liuqian paused for a second, then continued.

"Look, Mr. Governor. I can promise you, we will have a 1 trillion dollar investment within a week if this plan is allowed to go through.

If this isn’t met, I’m willing to resign and donate all of my salary to your bank account... Please, governor."

Seeing him so desperately wanting to get the plan through, Xiaoyun held onto the folder in the end.

"Let me go talk to Yuqi first. I’ll call you later if this plan goes through or needs further changes."

"Thank you, sir."

---

On the street, Xiaoyun’s mind was all over the place as he thought back to the plan inside the folder.

It was clear that a division had formed within the civilian government.

One that wanted a private sector-led solution to unemployment, while the other wanted a public sector-led solution to unemployment.

In his eyes, both plans looked legitimate. Both had legitimate concerns that countered each other.

As he entered the elevator, a memory suddenly flashed into his mind—a memory back when he was still Songming.

A question that a student had asked when he was traveling overseas, right at a public talk he attended as part of the audience.

"Hey Kate, do you think FDR ended the great depression?" Xiaoyun asked.

As the elevator went up, a female voice appeared out of thin air despite being all alone in the elevator.

"Who? What FDR?" Kate asked in Chinese.

"Your U.S. president, Franklin D. Roosevelt," Xiaoyun asked the question again, but in English this time.

"Oh, him... I think he did, but I’m not sure."

As the door opened, Xiaoyun’s mind was still a little mixed. It was clear a confrontation was about to come up.

One that would take him a long time to get out of, as he began walking towards Yuqi’s office.

---

"This is not happening. Whoever made this can resign."

As Yuqi threw the folder onto the table, Xiaoyun sighed before taking a look at the folder himself.

"What’s wrong with it? Is it because it takes away too much of your power?"

"Don’t tell me you made this," Yuqi questioned as she stared right into Xiaoyun’s eyes.

"Of course not. I’m only a messenger... But why are you not fine with this plan?" Xiaoyun curiously asked.

"Lowering interest rate won’t do jack shit against unemployment. Whoever made this has no background on how our economy functions at all."

"What do you mean it won’t do anything against unemployment? Isn’t that against the basic economic principle?"

"Do you know what our current interest rate is?"

Xiaoyun fell into silence as he awkwardly scratched his head. His memory just kept on running blank.

"Is it low?" Xiaoyun nervously asked.

"It’s at 1%. Any lower would just be zero percent. It doesn’t matter how low the interest rates are at this point.

People don’t want to take the risk of borrowing money and creating their own business. Let alone invest money in the stock market."

Yuqi paused for a second, then continued on the assault.

"This plan even cut my budget by 20%. You know how much is 20%? That’s the entirety of the construction subsidy gone.

How many people will go jobless on the street? Are we really going to gamble on entrepreneurs creating jobs that probably take months to set up?"

"I guess you’re right... A shame that Liuqian promised he could get 1 trillion investment if we just open up a stock market."

This time, Yuqi froze. Her hand froze at her keyboard as if she couldn’t believe what Xiaoyun had just said out loud.

"Wait, say that again?" Yuqi asked.

"Say what?"

"That 1 trillion investment. Liuqian really promised that?"

"Yeah. He’s even willing to bet his job and salary on it. Oh well, I probably should call Liuqian now to tell him the news——"

"Wait, wait, wait. Don’t call him yet. Let me read the plan again."

Yuqi quickly took the folder out of Xiaoyun’s hand. Her eyes completely locked onto the paper inside as she began reading it again.

"I thought you thought this plan was bad," Xiaoyun asked in confusion.

"You never mention Liuqian made this. And who’s going to say no to 1 trillion dollars? You have to be hearing things."