Chapter 874: Mentality

"It's really hard to judge the international situation now. Do you think there will be a dispute between Europe and the bald eagle?" The old leader was also not sure about the current international situation.

Liu Hai knew that the old leader was talking about something like a war, so he shook his head: "In the future, it will mainly be a struggle at the economic level. Fat Bear is a good example. If Europe has no money, they can't unite internally."

What Liu Hai said was reflected in his previous life. In his previous life, the European Union was supported by the troika. Some small countries have always taken advantage. Later, the European Union did not want to subsidize these small countries. Unexpectedly, these small countries threatened to withdraw from the European Union.

Of course, by 2020, the European Union will only have two carriages, and Niu Niu, the troublemaker, will withdraw from the European Union.

The same is true for the Bald Eagle. When its economy declines to a certain extent, the states inside will surely have other thoughts.

In 2020, California complained that other states were dragging its feet.

Because California on the west coast has a developed economy and relatively developed industrial production.

Originally, each state in Bald Eagle basically did its own thing, from laws to management, and even the laws of each state were different. If the national economy deteriorated to a certain extent, there would definitely be states that wanted to be the masters of their own house.

Every politician has his own ambitions. Being a governor and being the head of a country are two completely different experiences.

Moreover, each state in Bald Eagle has its own National Guard, which is not inferior to the Bald Eagle army in terms of equipment and has better welfare than the army. On the contrary, most of the Bald Eagle's troops outside are military contractors.

"There are also many Bald Eagle consortiums in Europe. Bald Eagle's economy has declined in recent years. Now the two sides are mainly fighting in South America."

"If Europe can grab South America, then Bald Eagle will have no chance to turn over."

"If Bald Eagle holds South America in its hands, then there will be a chance to turn over."

"South America's rich products and low labor will provide enough support for Bald Eagle!"

"In fact, it is not necessary for Europe to control South America. It is enough as long as Europe does not let Bald Eagle control South America."

"On the one hand, Europe cooperates with us, and on the other hand, they also have a large territory in Africa, so Europe seems to have a greater chance of winning now. The only thing we are more worried about is the internal situation in Europe. They are in turmoil."

The old leader heard Liu Hai's explanation and nodded: "Europe is all under the pressure of Gallic chickens and bulls, otherwise it would have been divided long ago."

"Fat Goose is still catching up with the West, and the domestic economy is already like that." The old leader certainly knows how bad the domestic economy of Fat Goose is now.

The people of Fat Goose thought that by abandoning other younger brothers, they could get rid of their burdens and go into battle lightly, but they didn't expect that it would directly deal a fatal blow to their economy.

When Fat Bear was in power, on the surface, Fat Goose did subsidize other younger brothers, but Fat Goose also got a lot from these younger brothers, first of all, a large market, and then some cheap resources.

In addition, in the planned economy of Fat Bear before, the production of an auto part might come from several younger brothers' machinery factories.

Apart from other things, Fat Bear used to have a launch site in Kazakhstan. After the separation, Kazakhstan asked Fat Goose to pay for it as soon as possible, and it would not be used again if it didn't pay.

Until 2020, Fat Goose was still using the launch site in Kazakhstan and had been renewing the lease.

There was no such rent in the past.

In the past, there was no additional fee for the pipeline that Fat Bear used to transport crude oil to Europe, but now, you have to pay to pass through other younger brothers' maps.

However, Liu Hai had another explanation: "Old leader, you are wrong. They are trying to fish in troubled waters. They never wanted to do a good job. The more chaotic the economy is, the more opportunities they have to take action. Old leader, look at how many things Baldy took away when he ran away before? There is no way to count them."

"Only when the economy is bad can they sell state-owned assets at a low price and put state-owned assets in their own pockets. The Fat Goose gang will sell everything they can, and the price will be very low for the buyers."

"When the economy is good, these people will probably pay ten or a hundred times the price." Liu Hai was talking about what happened later. The oligarchs in the Fat Goose family controlled everything in the country, and even the second person to come to power was not taken seriously. Of course, the final result was that the second person to come to power was very resourceful.

"The days of Fat Goose will be difficult in the future. After this chaos, I don't know if they can recover in 20 years." The old leader laughed.

"The population of their country is too small. The development of light and heavy industries cannot be separated from workers."

"Bald Eagle will face the same problem in the future. The population of their country is not enough to support the development of all their industries." Bald Eagle's newly appointed Mr. Zipper now adopts the policy of returning manufacturing.

But a very important reality is where to find workers?

Not to mention the cost of workers.

Being a worker will never make a fortune, but being a financier may make a fortune overnight.

In fact, Bald Eagle also realized this problem early, so it vigorously promoted quality education.

The elite class used this to fool the people below, and they wanted quality, not knowledge.

It is believed that the sons of workers should be workers, the sons of plumbers should be plumbers, and the sons of construction workers should be construction workers.

But this also has a huge consequence, that is, the overall cultural level is low.

Originally, the bald eagle transmitted freedom to the world, which was originally used to attack other countries, but unexpectedly, the people in their country believed it.

While fooling others, they also fooled their own people.

So it caused the two extreme divisions of the bald eagle in 2020.

When Liu Hai was talking with the old leader, in a bar in the second brother's house.

"Ivan, why are there more and more wines from Eastern countries here?" A young man in work clothes came into the bar and asked helplessly when he saw the wines on the wine cabinet behind the bar owner.

"Because they are cheap!" The bar owner shrugged and replied. Of course, the bar owner could not say that these wines were exchanged for things and did not cost money at all.

"Give me a glass of that Niutou wine!" Petrov also shrugged. The goods of some Eastern countries filled the entire country.

"That's called Niulanshan, a very famous mountain." The bar owner corrected, and then poured Petrov a glass of Erguotou.

"Let's put it on account first. I haven't paid for two months." Petrov spoke again.

The bar owner looked around and whispered, "It's easy to drink if you want. Look at them, they are drinking high-end wine."

Petrov looked at the people in the distance. They were some airport ground staff. These people could enjoy a month of luxury by just picking up a few gold-plated parts or gold-plated joints.

"If I had known earlier, I would not have become a pilot, but a ground staff." Petrov was a pilot at a nearby military base, but pilots had no chance to touch these parts.

"Clothes, these clothes of your pilots, including the old clothes, are wanted by people." The bar owner said again.

"Ah?"

"If it is a leather jacket, it will be more popular." The bar owner said again.

"I do have this."

"Make an appointment, I'll have someone come to see you, I promise I won't treat you badly."

"Let's do it tomorrow, I'm short of money now, and the exchange rate changes every day, I should have bought all the money into supplies."

"Ours is still good, Fat Goose's exchange rate is even worse."

"Those damn guys thought they could live a good life by getting rid of us, and those damn thieves stole the fleet that originally belonged to us." Petrov complained while drinking.

"They are a bunch of big liars, they cheated us before, and they are still cheating us now. They don't give us the price we want, that's an aircraft carrier fleet." The bar owner also nodded.

Most people on Lao Er's side don't agree with Fat Goose.

"Those damn guys now want to take our White Swan at a low price."

"In fact, I think the White Swan should be sold to some Eastern countries at a high price." Petrov complained again.

"This should be impossible, Fat Goose will definitely not be willing, and those Western countries." The bar owner certainly knew that Petrov was the pilot of the White Swan.

"Our White Swan is a bit backward. Some countries in the East use fly-by-wire control systems for civil aircraft, and we are still using hydraulic control."

"And after-sales service is also a big problem. Now the companies that manufacture White Swan are scattered in many countries, and it is too difficult to reproduce them." Petrov said again.

"We should let Fat Goose pay us. They took advantage of us before." The bar owner poured another glass for Petrov.

"I didn't ask for a second glass. To be honest, I'm embarrassed!" Petrov looked at the wine in the glass.

"I wish our business success. I'll treat you." The bar owner shrugged.

"No problem, I still have some colleagues, pilots' clothes, hats, etc., and I have a small book and a saber at home, which was captured by my grandfather before."

When the bar owner heard this, his eyes lit up: "Maybe this is more valuable."

"That's great." Petrov was very happy to hear this.

It has to be said that the second brother's family still has some good things. The pilot jackets and boots made by Fat Bear before are very popular.

Of course, there are telescopes and various previous captures. Fat Bear won the Second World War, and the soldiers also captured a lot of things. Now these people take out the things to cash in.

Just like Petrov, the salary is not paid on time, let alone others.

After the separation, the second brother and the fat goose had to seal up a lot of equipment because there was not enough money to maintain it.

Just like the planes like the White Swan, it takes a huge cost to take off and cruise, not to mention maintenance.

Maintenance requires not only various tools, but also parts, and the key is people.

Petrov drank two glasses of wine in succession and sighed: "Now some countries in the East are recruiting pilots, and they offer very generous prices."

"In fact, you can give it a try. At least the family is very stable there. Alexander's family is there. He is now flying civil airliners there. It's just that pilots there are not allowed to drink at work. Once they drink, they will be punished or even fired. Apart from this, Alexander feels very happy there. He works alone, his wife, two children, and parents are also there."

"Alexander's father seems to have friends in some countries in the East?"

"It seems so. In fact, going to the East is a good choice. The total economic output of some countries in the East last year was comparable to that of the bald eagle."

"I can't make the decision alone." Petrov was moved when he heard this and decided to contact Alexander to see.

"Thank you for your hospitality!" Petrov drank the wine in the glass in one breath, still a little reluctant, and said hello to the bar owner and left.

The bar owner watched Petrov leave and shook his head.

"Boss, the price of bread has increased again." The guy just came back from buying bread and said loudly.

"These damn black-hearted bakeries!"

"It is said that the international wheat price has increased!"

"These damn insidious and despicable guys would rather sell the grain than supply it to our country." The bar owner cursed.

The guy shrugged when he heard this: "We can earn foreign exchange by selling to foreign countries, and the exchange rate of the money we earn by selling to us is constantly depreciating."

"These damn greedy capitalists!"

"Boss, you are also a capitalist now!"

"Go to work, kid, you should be very lucky that you can get a salary every month. Look at Petrov, although he is a senior pilot, he has not received a salary for nearly two months. The exchange rate two months ago is completely different from now." The bar owner shouted unhappily.

"In fact, I would rather drive a tractor in a farm opened by people in some eastern countries."

"Then you will be a farmer driving a tractor for the rest of your life. You can learn the craft of mixing drinks from me, and it will be easy to hook up with girls." The bar owner said something else when he heard this.

"They offer a good salary!"

"Go to work, kid!" The bar owner is still thinking about other businesses.

The bar owner now imports a large amount of these wines from some eastern countries, and then exchanges them with various materials, instead of giving money directly.

After exchanging the wine, the bar owner can also earn a foreign exchange income.

You should know that there are a lot of materials in the military base next to it.

"It's a pity that merchants from some Eastern countries are too timid." Sometimes the bar owner couldn't help complaining because he wanted to do some big business, but the merchants he traded with only wanted some ordinary second-hand goods.

The bar owner envied another colleague. He didn't know how he hooked up with European and American arms dealers. The bullets in the base next door were almost sold out by the other party. It is said that he made millions of dollars and is now reselling more light weapons.

The base next door is an air force base. The guarding troops have many light weapons and some heavy weapons.

The bar owner took out his phone and called his supplier of wine to make an appointment to go to Petrov's house to see Petrov's pilot jacket and the saber in the small book.

There are many Eastern merchants active in Eastern Europe. Some merchants are bold and some are timid.

The bold ones take some bulk goods, such as some retired tanks and retired Katyusha launchers.

The timid ones take some telescopes, some pilot jackets, pilot glasses, etc.

Of course, if you do bulk goods business, there will definitely be some officials involved, otherwise it will be difficult to go through the scrapping procedures.

Factory directors in various places can sell even brand-new mechanical processing equipment as scrapped.

There are also some cars and the like, and these goods have complete procedures.

On the third day, the bar owner brought an Oriental man, a flat-headed young man, to Petrov's house.

Standing behind the window in Petrov's house, you can see the airport in the distance. You can see that some of the hangar doors of the airport are open.

The young man looked at the runway of the airport, and it seemed that there had been no traces of planes taking off and landing for a long time.

There were even some pigeons walking around on the runway.

The young man just glanced casually.

Now this country is like this, because the economy is constantly declining, so the planes in these military bases are afraid that they will only fly once in a long time.

In addition, the relationship with the West has eased, and there is no need to deploy large aircraft to defend against the West.

"Hello!" Petrov looked at the young man who was younger than him and asked him to sit down.

The young man put the gift in his hand on the table: "This is a small gift."

"Thank you so much, I have sorted it out. Two of the flight jackets are still brand new, and the rest have been worn. I don't know if you want them?" The young man pointed to a pile of clothes on the worn sofa, and two brand new leather flight jackets were particularly conspicuous.

"I have seen it, it is indeed very beautiful. We also want the worn ones, of course the price must be much lower." The young man has been doing business with Lao Er for more than a year, and naturally understands the plight of these people.

First of all, Lao Er's family's economy collapsed, and many people lost their jobs. Because it was a planned economy before, no one would worry about work or medical care.

Now everyone is in charge of their own affairs, find their own jobs, and pay for their own medical care.

Because of the economic collapse, Lao Er's family's money is becoming less and less valuable.

Now you can receive a lot of good things here, these pilot jackets are good things.

There are also dog fur hats, and even mink hats.

"I can buy this at a high price. This is a deputy officer's sword of Xiao Benzi!" This year, I saw another military sword of Xiao Benzi.

"This is my grandfather's trophy," Petrov said, looking at a photo.

This year, he also looked at the photo. It was a black and white photo. It showed a mighty soldier, and judging from his military rank, he was already a colonel.

The young man appraised all the second-hand goods that Petrov had brought out.

"Petrov, do you want your country's currency or foreign exchange?" The young man asked after the two sides reached an agreement.

"The currency of your Eastern country, pounds or francs are all fine." Petrov rubbed his hands and said after hearing this.

Of course, foreign exchange is needed now. If you hold your own currency, it may depreciate the next day.

"Then half of our country's currency and half of pounds, which is safer."

"But you have to go to the hotel with me to get the money. We brought too much cash when we traded before, and there were several dangers."

"Of course, if you are willing, I can invite your family to dinner." The young man said again.

Petrov was moved when he heard this, so he said, "I want to ask my wife and see what they think!"

Of course, the family agreed, so the Petrov family took the second-hand items to be traded and went to the hotel together.

In the hotel restaurant, Petrov looked at the things on the table. In the past, he could bring his family here for dinner every week.

But in recent years, he has had too little time to eat out because the money in his hands is becoming less and less valuable.

When passing by the door of a box, Petrov saw his boss, who was drinking with several Europeans. The red wine on the table was all high-end red wine from Gallic Chicken.

Petrov's mood was a bit complicated. Everyone knew what was going on in the base. Within the scope of their reach, everyone sold everything that could be sold, and the ground crew sold all the new and old parts.

The management of the base even sold the weapons and equipment in the name of being scrapped.

No one wanted to stop this kind of thing, because the management would only pay everyone after the weapons and equipment were sold.

It's not that no one has reported it, but the person who reported it was fired.

"Dear, do you want to consider flying a civil airliner in some Eastern countries? Marilyn called me. They are living well there. There are all kinds of supplies from all over the world in the supermarket, and the children are also studying in a bilingual school." In the evening, Petrov's wife said.

"Wait a little longer!" Petrov actually didn't want to fly a civil airliner. As a strategic bomber pilot, flying a civil airliner is like driving a sports car to drive a tractor.

"The price of bread has increased by 50% in the past three months. It's already July, and winter is two months away." Petrov's wife spoke again.

Petrov naturally knew that in winter, all daily necessities would increase in price.

Thinking of this, Petrov felt even more uncomfortable. In the past, he could also eat some vegetables distributed by the vegetable factory. Although the distribution was relatively small, it was still there.

But all this was gone two years ago. Everyone took care of themselves, but Petrov knew that the top leaders still had endless vegetables every winter.

Fresh lettuce, fresh tomatoes, fresh beans, and even fresh broccoli.

Ordinary people lined up in the cold wind to buy bread, while these top leaders enjoyed fine wine and food in the warm room.

Changed! Everything has become so strange!

Petrov didn't think about changing anything, he just wanted to live his own life, but now it seems that the harder the life is, the harder it is.

"I promised Yang today that I would contact my colleague and sell him a flight jacket. I don't think I will have to worry about it this winter. Besides, we have foreign exchange now." Petrov still didn't want to leave the base. Petrov felt that all this was temporary. Just like what was said in the news, this was the pain of reform. When the reform is completed, everything will be fine.

The young man in the hotel was thinking about Petrov.

"Petrov has two children and a beautiful wife. Now he seems to have a happy family. Moreover, this person has a bottom line in doing things, unlike other people in the base who are always asking for money."

"However, such people may be easier to contact with as the country's economy continues to decline and the quality of life continues to decline."

The young man naturally knew that people without bottom lines could not accomplish anything big. To do big things, such steady people are needed.

Those people without bottom lines, if you tell them something today, they will let many people know tomorrow.

"What a pity!" The young man in the hotel thought of the huge things in the hangar he saw today. Such good things were placed in the hangar.

Of course, the young man also knew that these planes were not allowed to take off now, mainly because they were afraid that the fat goose would steal them.

Now the second brother is negotiating with Fat Goose about the price of these planes. Fat Goose stole the aircraft carrier fleet, so the second brother is very vigilant about these equipment.

And all the people of Fat Goose in the base are not allowed to touch these equipment.

The second brother's people are a little hostile to the people of Fat Goose, and they are a little wary.

Because they are not sure whether the aircraft will come back after routine training, the second brother has stopped all flights of these behemoths.

Of course, the young man did not say what to do, but acted according to the situation, and he continued to contact Petrov.

"This is probably the dog fur hat we used to exchange things back then." The young man looked at an older dog fur hat. Judging from the color of the fur, it was like the fur color of pastoral dogs in some Eastern countries.

The young man naturally knew that decades ago, we were in a difficult situation and exchanged everything we could for various materials.

Among them, cats and dogs made great contributions, dog skin and cat skin.

This hat belonged to Petrov's grandfather, and the workmanship was also very good.

In the following days, Petrov introduced his colleagues to complete several businesses, and he also had a little money in his hands. Moreover, prices began to rise wildly. Every day, he could hear his wife complaining that the prices of potatoes, bread, honey, and sausages had all risen.

The current price system is completely determined by the seller, unlike the planned economy in the past, when the price was always the same, and everyone had the same amount of money.

The most severe increase was eggs. The quality of life in Petrov's family was still declining. In the past, each person had one egg a day, but now only the children had eggs.

Flour was the staple food in the past, but now a small amount of flour is more potatoes and corn.

In the past, we ate meat twice a week, but now we eat meat once a week.

In mid-July, when Petrov saw his former colleague Alexander, who came back with his wife and children, his mentality completely changed, because Alexander's wife was wearing beautiful new clothes, a silk scarf, and a gold necklace around her neck. Even Alexander was dressed in a suit, and Alexander's two children were holding electronic pets that made his children envious.

"Petrov, I think you should get out of this damn place as soon as possible." Alexander and Petrov came to the bar, and Alexander said bluntly.

"What else do I want to do for this country?" Petrov looked at his colleagues in suits and felt a little depressed, but he still spoke.

"No, this country will be the same no matter who leaves. You have to think about your lover, your daughter, and your son. You may not know that some of our senior executives are now billionaires. I saw relevant reports on the Internet in some Eastern countries. They bought private yachts, villas, and private jets in Europe."

"Their children are in a noble elite school with a tuition of 100,000 pounds a year."

"The country has no money, but they have money!" Alexander shrugged.

When Petrov heard this, he was silent.