Chapter 106

"When things reach their extremes, they will turn against each other. When the moon is full, they will lose. This is what the Chinese ancestors said. It can be used everywhere.

The powerful American monopoly consortia will also encounter this problem. Absolute monopoly does not exist. There will always be "resistance". The reputation of monopoly consortia in American society has always been bad.

At the height of the Morgan consortium in the early 20th century, a popular Broadway play depicted a group of demons blowing a burning chair and singing in unison: "this position is reserved for the great financial monster Morgan."

Even President Theodore Roosevelt, who had a good relationship with the Morgan consortium, would beat Morgan from time to time. Despite the presidential election in 1904, Morgan bank made a political contribution of $150000 for Roosevelt's re-election.

At a dinner party in 1907, in front of many guests, including reporters, Roosevelt roared at Morgan and Henry Rogers of standard oil, saying that he wanted to carry out industrial and commercial reform and let these monopoly consortia operate under the rules and regulations of the government.

Roosevelt said, "if you don't let me do this, my successor will do the same and eventually destroy you."

Roosevelt also said the famous saying "bastard with huge wealth". The good news reporter later recalled that when the president said this, he glanced at Morgan.

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The first monopoly consortium used by Roosevelt to "sacrifice the flag" was Rockefeller's standard oil company.

American oil giant standard oil company was established in 1870. By the end of 1879, standard oil company had controlled 90% of the oil refining industry in the United States just nine years after its establishment as a legal entity.

This is the first enterprise in the history of the United States to completely dominate the market. In 1911, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that according to the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, standard oil company is a monopoly and should be broken up.

Under the auspices of Theodore Roosevelt, standard oil was dismantled into more than 30 companies.

Although Roosevelt "destroyed" the oil giant Standard Oil Company during his term of office, his "struggle" with the Morgan consortium had little practical effect.

The one who "destroyed" the Morgan consortium was Franklin Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt's distant cousin, the World War II president we know well.

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In 1929, the United States had an economic crisis and led to economic depression. The public was furious at Wall Street's performance in the crisis.

Facing the surging public opinion, Franklin Roosevelt, who became president in 1933, decided to take advantage of this angry "public opinion" to dismember the Morgan consortium.

Just three months after Roosevelt took office, the glass Steagall act was signed by Roosevelt.

According to the act, banks are engaged in deposit and loan business or securities trading, but not both. The Morgan consortium must decide whether to engage in deposit banking or investment banking.

In August 1935, the Morgan family decided to split the consortium and continue to keep the deposit bank unchanged, but separated a part to establish a completely independent investment bank called Morgan Stanley.

The split of the Morgan consortium marks the victory of the US president and the forces behind him in the struggle against the monopoly consortium again.

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However, consortia is a unique phenomenon under the capitalist system. If one consortia disappears, other consortia will appear. As long as the system exists, consortia can not be eliminated.

After World War II, several emerging consortia emerged in the United States, represented by the California consortium in the West and the Texas consortium in the south.

The two emerging consortia share some common characteristics. First, they made a fortune by relying on previous wars and the arms race during the cold war; Second, both actively participate in the political process of the United States and sponsor agents to participate in parliamentary and presidential elections in order to seek greater economic interests.

In his early years, the California consortium sponsored Nixon. Finally, Nixon entered the White House and served as vice president or even President.

During Nixon's administration, the California consortium achieved rapid development, especially huge benefits from arms orders.

Lockheed Martin of the California consortium is the number one contractor of the U.S. Department of defense. During the Nixon administration, the company has been listed as the first arms contractor of the Department of defense.

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In addition, President Reagan, who was born in Hollywood and once served as governor of California, has a lot of connections with the California consortium.

After he was elected president, he jointly represented the Texas consortium in the South and appointed bush from the Texas consortium as vice president.

During Reagan's term of office, he greatly increased the national defense budget and actively promoted the "Star Wars plan", which made a lot of money for the arms industry groups in the north and south.

It is conceivable that the complex relationship between the monopoly consortium and the president of the United States will continue.

In the future, the monopoly consortium will not be suppressed or even dismembered, and the president may be "tripped" by the consortium from time to time.

However, the essential relationship between the two sides will not change, that is, the U.S. government represented by the U.S. president must safeguard the interests of its consortium, which will not change anyway. "

Hearing Wang Bo's words, Li Feng suddenly realized that Clinton would encounter the zipper door next. Maybe it was another struggle between the US president and the consortium.

At the same time, it is also clear that the Bush family born in Texas will become a famous presidential family. It seems that behind them are the California consortium and the Texas consortium.

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No wonder many American media in later generations have repeatedly evaluated many American presidents, whether Roosevelt or Clinton, for their high reputation among the people, perhaps because the outcome of their struggle with the consortium is also one of the reasons.

The first two presidents won, but unfortunately Clinton failed. When the zipper door broke out, it caused a sensation all over the world.

At the beginning, Li Feng in his previous life thought that as the president of the only superpower, he played with a woman and was exposed. It was too bad. At the same time, Clinton's wife Chirac did not see him divorced. Obviously, the two couples knew the way.

Later, Hillary Clinton campaigned for many times and always failed at the last minute. Perhaps there was an unknown scene. After all, after killing your husband and letting your wife go to power again, who knows how terrible a crazy woman is. Isn't that uncomfortable for herself.

Even Li Feng thought at this time that Hillary Clinton should not become the female president of the United States, and the consortia behind her would not want Hillary Clinton to become president.

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"With the progress of science and technology, the wide use of high-tech weapons in the battlefield will inevitably reduce the consumption of explosives. The" old "arms dealers like DuPont gradually withdraw from the" battlefield "and" washing white "has become a civil enterprise focusing on agriculture, food, energy and chemical industry.

However, the arms dealers in the United States will not disappear, and enterprises that make profits by war or buying and selling arms still exist.

However, these military enterprises will not "openly" show their identity as arms dealers like their "predecessor" DuPont, and they are more hidden.

In fact, many military enterprises in the United States now look more like high-tech companies. However, dazzling high technology will not change the essence that its technology is used to "kill" on the battlefield.

Especially since World War II, the U.S. military industrial complex composed of military fire merchants and the iron triangle of the Pentagon, Congress and administrative departments has not been curbed, but has grown stronger and stronger.

The term "military industrial complex" comes from President Eisenhower's farewell speech.

At that time, he called the U.S. military, military enterprises and a large special interest group composed of some members of Congress, which could efficiently concentrate power, capital and technology, the military iron triangle, and warned people to pay attention to that this "monster" would harm the national interests of the United States. "

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"Military industrial complex", well, Li Feng heard such a name for the first time, and it came from Eisenhower, the famous president of the United States.

Although Li Feng doesn't know the specific situation, it can be imagined by thinking of the huge military expenditure of the United States every year and the subsequent wars launched by the United States.

Think of Reagan's "Star Wars" plan in the 1980s, Bush's first Gulf War in the 1990s, Clinton's Kosovo war and Bush's Iraq war in 2003. There should be this so-called "military industrial complex" behind it.

Since the "9.11" incident, the Pentagon budget has doubled almost every year, and military enterprises have taken the opportunity to make a fortune. Boeing and Lockheed Martin are among the best.

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When later generations of * * * came to power, he publicly expressed his attitude as early as the election, asking the U.S. Congress to completely stop reducing the national defense budget, increase military spending and rebuild the U.S. Army.

This is good for Boeing, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, the main contractors of large-scale U.S. defense projects.

Later, I heard that the "trump" won second days, and the US military industry group rose.

Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman and general dynamics have soared. Perhaps American military enterprises use this way to express their "joy" for * * *'s election.

Obviously, Trump's coming to power should be supported by the so-called "military industrial complex", otherwise his election manifesto will not show such an attitude.

Through Wang Bo's account and his information relative to future generations, it shows that although the American consortium has not reached its peak, it has a great impact, which also makes Li Feng feel concerned about it.

It can be said that today's speech gave Li Feng a clear understanding of the United States, the only superpower, and he naturally admired Wang Bo's insight.

Such a top private housekeeper is definitely his dream. For outsiders like himself, it is very important to understand the truth of American power.

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Li Feng knows that if he goes all the way according to his goal, his financial resources will be terrible in the future. If he has no strength, he may become a fat meat in the eyes of many consortia.

At the same time, Li Feng also realized his weakness all the time, that is, he didn't have his own supporting enterprise. He also made himself ready to make small adjustments to his next career development.

Of course, Li Feng will not underestimate himself, not to mention anything else. His personal ability alone is a little Superman, and his career is mainly in the Internet and future mobile Internet. It is just an emerging industry, avoiding competition with many old consortia.

Li Feng even thought of Microsoft in the future. With Microsoft unifying the computer operating system market, the market value soared all the way. Did it also become a fat meat of many consortia, which eventually led to an antitrust investigation.

Gates couldn't resist the pressure, and finally had to sell his shares every year, so that the initial controlling shares of more than 40% continued to decline, and then he said he retired at a young age.

Perhaps Mr. Gates also found that with the continuous decline of his shares, Microsoft no longer belongs to him. It may be quite dim sum, gray and cold.