Otaku Translation: Blackstone Code Chapter 112

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"Nowadays, financial trading is flourishing like never before. Many funds that should have flowed elsewhere have poured into financial trading, especially after the six major banks repeatedly lowered interest rates last year and earlier this year. Even the savings of many ordinary people have flowed into stock and futures trading..."

The stagnation or even recession of economic development was not something that could be manifested in a short time. There was a process to it. The pace of social development began to stabilize a few years ago, then slowed down, and now some small areas were experiencing a wave of closures.

There was a clear process. In this process, the presidential cabinet, with the Conservative Party at its core, had also formulated some remedial plans. Their approach was simple: to make banks lower savings interest rates, allowing more money to flow into society, and stimulate overall economic development by stimulating consumption.

But the effect... It couldn't be described as bad. The decrease in bank interest rates made ordinary people think that there was no value in keeping money in the bank. Coupled with the predatory actions of some serious financial companies towards the scattered funds in society, the money that should have been used for various basic consumption and to drive the engine of social and economic development had all flowed into the financial market.

Coupled with the continuous emergence of one miracle and myth after another in the financial market, more and more people were starting to seek their own investment brokers to invest their money in the securities market.

It must be said that some indeed made money, or rather, in the face of the non-replicable dividends of this distorted era, any participant could profit, as long as they weren't exceptionally unlucky.

Even the small yellow slips (Note 1) could earn people a lot of money. The miracles among the commoners had attracted more attention, and more commoners were joining in.

The greater the level of macroeconomic regulations, the more distorted and bizarre the federal economy became. So far, the presidential cabinet had no better way to reverse the current situation. They only hoped to maintain it and avoid major troubles during the president's term.

"Mr. Mayor's recent work is actually related to this. The unemployment rate in Sabin City is getting higher and higher. Five factories went bankrupt last week alone. Our unemployment rate has exceeded fifteen percent, which is a very dangerous number."

There was a more solemn expression on Ferrall's face. A fifteen percent unemployment rate meant that out of the 800,000 population of Sabin City, aside from retirees and children still in school, about 60,000 or so people were without jobs.

And the unemployment of each of these 60,000 or so individuals would impact at least one family, and potentially up to three families, resulting in livelihood problems for a significant portion of the Sebin city population. In other words, about 200,000 people in Sabin City were currently troubled by unemployment, and it could be even more.

And this number was still rising. Ferrall and other aides of the mayor all believed that by the end of this year, the unemployment rate in Sabin City might exceed twenty percent.

Some might think that a twenty percent unemployment rate meant an eighty percent employment rate, but in reality, this data wasn't as straightforward as it seemed.

It revolved around a core issue: the employment opportunities in the city of Sabin. Once all the available jobs were filled, those remaining would find themselves without employment, with no opportunities left.

And these opportunities that could provide jobs and wages were diminishing as closures continued.

So when Lin Qi proposed that he could provide even just five hundred job positions, the mayor expressed his support for his plan.

In such impending upheaval, nothing could reassure people more than a job that could ensure a family wouldn't starve.

Through his conversation with Ferrall, Lin Qi also sensed something else. Ferrall, including the mayor and even the Progressive Party, were well aware of the problems currently faced by the federation. They were fully aware of the changes happening in the country.

This also made Lin Qi curious. "Don't you have any measures to deal with it, I mean, those at the higher level?"

Actually, even at the current stage, there were still ways to reduce some losses, even if some things couldn't be salvaged. But he hadn't seen such things happening.

In newspapers, on TV, those politicians were still touting that the era of prosperity in Baylor Federation had not yet ended. They seemed oblivious to the despair on the faces of the unemployed people waiting on the roadside for their future.

They were still promoting this as a wonderful era. Those flashy billboards on the roadside had become the most ironic phenomenon of the era.

No one hit the pause button, just watching the train representing Baylor Federation hurtling towards the abyss!

Ferrall chuckled. "You know, the ruling party now is the Conservative Party..."

This sentence alone explained many substantive things. Ferrall didn't expect Lin Qi to understand, but Lin Qi nodded solemnly, which actually deepened Ferrall's understanding of him.

In an interview sometime in the future, Ferrell would make the following remark, “Not only does he have a strong aptitude for business, but he also possesses a deep understanding of political issues.” And the idea behind this statement was born today.

Lin Qi opened his mouth slightly. "Political wrangling... I thought our country wasn't like those other countries."

Ferrall didn't know how to respond to this, so he could only say helplessly, "Everyone is actually the same."

The Progressive Party obviously had some different ideas from the current ruling party, but the ruling party wouldn't agree to the measures proposed by the Progressive Party. If these measures were successful, it would only show the foolishness of the Conservative Party. They would prove that the Progressive Party was right, and they were smarter, so they would lose their voters.

If these measures failed, it would also make people think that the upper echelons of the Conservative Party were fools, as they couldn't see whether some measures were effective before implementing them, making them look as dumb as pigs. They would still lose their voters.

Losing a bit today, losing a bit tomorrow, and eventually losing everything.

So regardless of good or bad, they would eventually lose face. To ensure the correctness and face of the party, the Conservative Party had continuously rejected some "views" proposed by the Progressive Party in both houses, considering these "views" immature.

At the same time, they touted that it was the Conservative Party that had led Baylor Federation to prosperity. If they suddenly announced that the country might face some major crises now, it would be like slapping themselves in the face. It would not only hurt, but also be embarrassing.

Party struggles could sometimes be very scary. After pondering for a moment, Ferrall revealed another piece of information. "During the next election, the Conservative Party intends to concede. They plan to give up this opportunity."

The situation had become so serious that the Conservative Party would rather give up the re-election opportunity to avoid making mistakes.

If the federal government were to collapse during the Progressive Party’s term, it was very likely that the presidential cabinet, including the president himself, would face resignation or impeachment, and the party's ability would be questioned by the people who lost their jobs. People would no longer easily believe that the party had the ability to lead them out of the predicament and would instead begin to yearn for the Conservative Party, which had led them to prosperity in the past.

Once things really developed to this point, the newly elected presidential cabinet led by the Progressive Party at its core, would face impeachment, and then the people would petition for the Conservative Party to return to power in times of crisis.

If that happened, even if the Conservative Party didn't do well, it wouldn't matter, because there was a more foolish party in front of them. So the Conservative Party's concession was not difficult to understand. The offensive tactic of retreating for an attack sometimes gave people headaches.

When the conversation got to this point, both sighed. Ferrall was worried about the future development of the Progressive Party, while Lin Qi... was sighing happily for the busy days ahead.

The mayor in the plan was supposed to return around noon, but obviously he was delayed. After having a quick meal with Ferrall outside the city hall and not receiving any news, Lin Qi directly entrusted Ferrall to discuss the land matter with the mayor and went to the car sales center in Sabin City.

He needed a car now. Sometimes he could rent a car from the community service company where he lived, or borrow a car from someone else, but that wasn't always convenient.

He was well aware of the feeling of borrowing a car from someone else, so he decided to buy one.

The car sales center in Sabin City was not like the "Car City" in another world, where each car brand had its own dedicated store. Here, there were only two sales centers, one selling engineering vehicles and the other selling civilian vehicles.

As soon as he entered the huge sales center, Lin Qi unexpectedly felt a hint of coolness in this midsummer. There were few people in the spacious sales center, and gusts of cool wind blew from one end to the other, giving a sense of desolation.

His footsteps disturbed the sales manager who was dozing off, and soon a woman who looked about twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old approached him. "Sir, are you looking to buy a car?"

Note 1. Yellow slips: Yellow slips were crowdfunding vouchers issued by non-publicly traded companies (individuals or organizations), resembling stocks. They were published weekly in the supplement of the Trading Report. Qualifications and funds of the issuing entities were not verified, only the legality of the projects was examined by specialized departments of the three major banks. These transactions were printed in yellow, symbolizing the associated risks, hence the nickname "yellow slips."

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