Chapter 547: Petty Profits

"No, no, I don't look down on anyone."

Li Ye denied Cai Minying's questioning. After all, she was the little junior sister that even Yu Xiufen was afraid of, so Li Ye, this little junior brother, had better not engage in a war of words with her.

But Cai Minying said straightforwardly, "You don't need to deny it. In the days since I returned, I've met too many people like you.

You clearly mock us people who returned from overseas in your hearts, but you still have to pretend to be polite.

Just like this proposal of mine, it was clearly them who asked me to write and submit it based on successful overseas experience, but in the end, it returned to the teacher here. It's truly... hypocritical."

Li Ye looked at Teacher Zhang Qiyan, thinking, "It's your turn to step up now, old man."

But Zhang Qiyan looked at Li Ye, as if saying, "Adults don't interfere when juniors argue."

Li Ye couldn't help but smile, then said, "I know a few friends who returned from studying abroad, and I respect them very much, so please don't speculate wildly, Senior Sister Cai."

Li Ye really didn't reject the sea-returnee faction, or rather, Li Ye didn't reject the "pragmatic" sea-returnee faction. Ni Dashen was a very good example.

It's just that before going overseas, Ni Dashen had already practiced at the grassroots level of society for many years, so every decision he made after returning was based on reality.

Ni Dashen knew very well that for any plan to be implemented, one must consider not only the correctness of the plan but also the environment of implementation and the endurance of the implementers.

You can't ask someone who has never seen a computer to write code for you after three days of training, right?

And the method of "I only want the result, don't ask about the process," if used well, can naturally squeeze out people's potential, but if used poorly, it will force people to rebel.

Therefore, in the current mainland, any reform measure must consider the consequences after implementation.

And Cai Minying, who returned with excellent grades from undergraduate to master's, was a standard theorist. The suggestions she made were completely based on theory.

Is this policy feasible? Of course it is! If you don't believe it, look at the Lighthouse, look at Britain; that's how they did it, and it absolutely can succeed.

Then what if it doesn't succeed! Who will bear the huge losses?

In the end, it will still be shared by the common people.

Therefore, any change made on the existing foundation requires caution, caution, and more caution, and grinding, grinding, and more grinding.

And Li Ye, this cheater, because he knew the final answer, could stand in the most correct direction.

If Cai Minying discussed it with him humbly, Li Ye wouldn't mind giving her a helping hand. After all, having the bond of fellow disciples, forming a good connection wouldn't be bad.

But now Cai Minying was arrogant, so why would he get involved in karma?

But people like Cai Minying who "returned from seeking scriptures" were always a bit impatient and wanted to prove their value.

Today, she wanted to get confirmation from Li Ye.

"Alright then! You said you don't understand, then what don't you understand? I'll explain it to you first, and then we can discuss it, okay?"

Li Ye finally realized how difficult Cai Minying was. She liked to reason with you, which was harder to deal with than being unreasonable.

Li Ye thought for a moment, pointed to two points on the proposal, and said, "Then let's discuss these two points. Why do you think the mainland's railway and electricity can undergo privatization reform?"

"Why not?" Cai Minying asked strangely, "Haven't you taken the mainland's trains? Don't you understand that smooth transportation is an important guarantee for releasing productivity?"

"And electricity is even more important. Without sufficient electricity, industrialization is out of the question... We currently lack funds, lack advanced management experience, and lack advanced scientific and technological techniques..."

Cai Minying listed a long string of difficulties and needs in reality, then asked back, "May I ask Classmate Li Ye, if you think privatization is wrong, then how should it be solved?"

Li Ye was silent for two seconds, then said coldly, "Since you know the importance of electricity and railways, you should understand that we must never be controlled by others.

Borrowing money for development is fine, importing equipment and technology is also fine, but private shareholding is not allowed, and overseas capital shareholding is even less allowed."

In his previous life, Li Ye had heard some sayings,

Such as "Railway is losing money -> Railway is a state-owned enterprise -> State-owned enterprise is losing money -> State-owned enterprise efficiency is low -> System problem -> How to solve it -> Let private economy hold shares! Let the power of capital make a profit!"

Or such as the two oil giants losing money seriously, let them privatize, and so on.

Some busybodies gathered these sayings and called them "A Guide to Becoming a Comprador."

Cai Minying shook her head amusedly, "In developed countries all over the world, railways can be privately operated. I really don't know what you are worried about, what are you all worried about?"

Cai Minying's words included Teacher Zhang Qiyan as well, because Zhang Qiyan had also strongly opposed her ideas.

But Cai Minying felt she wasn't wrong!

Railway passenger transport losing money is something that happens all over the world. How many democratic countries in later generations couldn't afford such losses, and almost all privatized their railways, and then prices went up.

If the mainland's railways were privatized, would the ticket prices for popular routes in the east double? Would the train frequency for routes in the west with insufficient passengers be halved?

This is still thinking in terms of conscience. If there's no conscience, cheap slow green-skin trains won't run, and everyone will have to spend a lot of money to take high-speed rail.

Anyway, as long as it's privatized, they will find ways to take money from your pockets. The methods are only limited by what you can't think of, not what they can't do.

Of course, it's more likely that they predict they might lose money, so many railways won't be built, and maybe even high-speed rail won't exist.

And according to a report by a European investigation agency, China's high-speed rail price is the lowest in the world, about 0.04 euros per kilometer,

while Spain is 0.19 euros, France is 0.22 euros, Germany is 0.27 euros, Italy is 0.25 euros, and Japan is 0.22 euros.

Even if you calculate the income multiple, the mainland's high-speed rail price is still very low, and to take care of frugal passengers, there are green-skin trains.

As for electricity, it's even more outrageous. Decades later, the mainland spent 60 million to provide electricity to seven households on the border, not including subsequent maintenance costs.

You private power plant, provide electricity to one for me to see?

60 million! How much per kilowatt-hour must the electricity sent over be sold for to earn back the cost?

So Li Ye questioned Cai Minying on the question of "whether Western free economics is beneficial to the poor," and she couldn't answer at all.

Because in the Western economic system, there is no answer like "a losing business."

"Forget it, let's not discuss this issue today. Let's analyze this agreement signed in New York!"

Zhang Qiyan saw that Cai Minying and Li Ye had a posture of "clashing," and finally spoke to terminate the discussion between the two, turning to discuss the "Plaza Accord."

Although he didn't understand why Li Ye didn't have patience today and didn't discuss it in detail with his fellow disciples as usual, compared to the "Plaza Accord," Cai Minying's proposal wasn't a big deal.

Wang Zhizhang said first, "Japan's exports have been too strong in recent years. I think the Lighthouse is uniting with other countries to suppress Japan, and then revive its own manufacturing industry."

Zou Mengcheng said, "If Japan's exports are affected, then they might consider transferring manufacturing overseas, and we have the conditions to accept it..."

Cai Minying echoed, "Brother Zou is right. Given our current relationship with Japan, we should take the opportunity to absorb the industries transferred out by Japan. This is a very good opportunity."

During the "Lost Thirty Years," Japan's domestic manufacturing was indeed affected, but because of the appreciation of the yen, it also invested heavily in building factories overseas, so that later overseas profits expanded to a very exaggerated number.

So some people in later generations speculated that Japan might not have known the conspiracy of the "Plaza Accord," but had to follow the boss's orders, and then followed the plan, crying and selling misery while secretly transferring industries.

Li Ye heard that several senior brothers and sisters had finished speaking, so he smiled and teased, "I think in a short period of time, the yen will appreciate violently, and the dollar will definitely depreciate rapidly, so if you have ways, you can seize the opportunity to exchange a little and make a small fortune."

"Hahahaha, Li Ye, this suggestion of yours is truly practical. Tomorrow I will find someone to exchange a little yen and save it."

"Li Ye, what you said is useless to us. We are not like you, having US dollars in our hands. We can only stare at the opportunity to get rich!"

"Hahahaha."

Everyone laughed at Li Ye, but Cai Minying said coldly, "Look at this little ambition of yours. After studying with the teacher for so long, you are still staring at these petty profits."

Li Ye couldn't help but touch his nose.

Is this a petty profit?

After the "Plaza Accord" was signed, the yen appreciated by 20% to 30% within two months. With the funds in Li Ye's hands in the hundreds of millions, adding a little leverage would be countless banknotes!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 548 =====