Chapter 96

For the people at the bottom, cheap and inferior whiskey that is less than one dollar, preferably less than fifty cents, is what they need most.

But standing at James' level, and for those big figures he is about to make friends with, talking about this kind of low-priced wine has no practical significance.

High-priced wine is meaningful.

Arthur nodded and said proudly: "My first batch of wine was mid-to-high-end wine, Gold Label and Delan."

James glanced at Congressman Williams, who closed his eyes, and in James' heart, the mark of Arthur, this mentally retarded brother, could not be removed at all.

He didn't even know what to hoard in the first batch and what to hoard in the second batch. This time he could earn money entirely because he took advantage.

If it weren't for having a good father who could tell him in time that New Jincheng was going to prohibit alcohol, he wouldn't even earn a cent from alcoholic beverages!

But... who let him also be named Williams?

"Tell me specifically about those things of yours, and how much money you plan to sell them for. You don't need to worry about the rest, just wait to collect the money."

"Also, for such a large sum of money, you have to consult how to legally avoid taxes, otherwise paying taxes can kill you."

Arthur talked about the situation of those wines, and suddenly thought of something: "There is a small problem."

He scratched his cheek: "I mortgaged those high-end wines to Jobav..."

James frowned: "Are you planning to get your wine back through other means?", before William could say anything, he shook his head: "Jobav invested in a municipal project pushed by the mayor recently. He is the mayor's person. Don't use those low-level tricks on him in the future."

"Follow the agreement you signed."

William was a little surprised: "How much money did he invest in the mayor?"

"Thirty-five thousand, plus ten thousand in political contributions.", afraid William wouldn't understand: "Not less than twenty-five thousand per quarter."

Forty-five thousand.

Arthur was silent: "I understand."

James left after letting Arthur take out various documents. For him, time is also very precious.

After Lanse went back, he had the people in the warehouse all withdrawn. Ethan had been leading people to guard there. They were called back, and they realized that the wine had been sold.

Lanse didn't hide this: "465,000, I will count 230,000 into the company account. If you have time, go nearby to find some suitable and safe houses."

"It's best to be a townhouse with a yard, so we can transform it and connect several houses together."

He glanced at Ennio: "You go run, let Morris drive for you."

Ennio readily agreed. His arm still had some time before it healed. Although he didn't need to wear a splint now, he still couldn't carry weight or receive impact.

He definitely couldn't do things, he could only run errands.

Lanse gave them twenty dollars for running errands, gas, eating, etc. Not letting employees use their own money to subsidize company matters is a bottom line.

Lanse was not in the company all afternoon, went to some places with factories to turn around, and understood the market.

The next morning, Lanse went to the City Commercial Service Bureau again to see Patricia, and by the way, registered another company.

"So what are you doing this time?", Patricia took a form and gave it to Lanse. The colleagues around showed smiles, but some were very sad.

Lanse answered while filling out the form: "I plan to register a clothing company to produce clothes."

Patricia was a little curious: "What are you doing exactly? Why is the span between each business so big?"

"One moment it's a consulting company, one moment it's a labor agency, and now it's producing clothes?"

Lanse shrugged: "I need at least tens of thousands of pieces of clothing. Even if they only earn ten cents from me for each piece, this is thousands of dollars."

"And I will produce more clothes in the future, so it's better to open a factory myself."

"And this doesn't cost much money."

New Jincheng City Hall encourages the opening of enterprise factories because this can provide more job opportunities for the residents of New Jincheng and this state.

Job opportunities are related to social security, stability, and the support rate of the public for politicians, so they value this very much.

Capitalists can force the federal government. Besides having money, connections, and handles of government officials in their hands, the most important thing is that they control the work and income of residents.

This is the most terrifying weapon. They don't even need to stand on the opposite side of the government themselves. Just tell the workers that because of a certain policy, the factory has to stop production, and the company has to close temporarily. Those angry and afraid-of-change workers can flush the government!

Regardless of whether it is needed, holding more job positions in hand only has advantages and no disadvantages.

The land outside New Jincheng is not valuable. You can get it at a very low price. Its only hard requirement is to provide job positions for society according to the square.

If it can be done, these lands are almost given away for free.

But if it cannot be done, various fees need to be paid. This is written in the contract.

Patricia shook her head after hearing this: "It's hard to imagine why you would want so many clothes, but... who cares!"

"Are you free this weekend?"

Lanse handed the filled form to her: "Not necessarily, but I will try my best to make myself free. I will tell you the answer on Saturday afternoon."

Patricia whispered while processing his form: "My cousin's birthday is on Sunday, William is going to the state government, my mother and others have made an appointment to go on an outing, so I don't want to go alone."

"I will try my best!"

He said this and asked again: "If I want to get land around, can William manage this matter?"

Patricia shook her head: "I don't know very well, I'm not interested in his work."

After Lanse left, some of Patricia's colleagues couldn't help asking her about some other things about Lanse. Before, she was a little embarrassed to admit it, but now she admitted it generously.

And he went directly to the City Hall and found William, the Public Utilities Office.

Looking at the other four people in the office and their desks, Lanse finally decided to go outside with him to talk alone.

Fortunately, the City Hall has no clear requirements on whether civil servants must be at their posts when they go to work. The two sat down in the coffee shop at the entrance of the City Hall.

"I want to get an industrial land to open a factory myself.", Lanse explained his intention directly: "Who should I find for this matter?"

"Land Administration Bureau, but there are people in the City Hall who can manage this matter. Are you planning to open a factory yourself?"

"Clothing factory.", he simply said the reason and his thoughts: "So they will earn the money of a factory from me, then why don't I open a clothing factory myself?"

"I can take other people's orders when I don't have my own needs. It just needs not to become a drag on my economy."

William couldn't help but marvel at Lanse's thoughts: "Very mature and very powerful thoughts. You did the right thing, and providing job positions can get you more policy care."

"Even if you are slightly irregular in other matters."

He had already investigated what Lanse was doing more clearly. After all, they belong to the "recognition" stage, so naturally, he should know more clearly what Lanse was doing.

High-interest loans that drill legal loopholes, small amounts are not illegal, and large amounts are not illegal either.

Labor introduction, currently the Federation has no law stating that work cards cannot be rented and transferred, only that people without work cards or permanent residence are not allowed to work in the Federation.

He doesn't do illegal business, but it's not legal either.

At this time, if he can provide some job opportunities for society, then even if there is a problem, it can be better solved.

This is the way of thinking of federal people.

After talking about Lanse's own affairs, Lanse was also a little curious about William's current situation: "It seems that you are not very happy in the City Hall. Others have separate offices, but you have several people there."

"Have you considered changing the environment?"

William didn't have any negative emotions about this: "Because I am a Federalist."

"Here they don't care if I have the ability, they only care about my political stance."

"Actually, it's the same everywhere."

"In the Federalist territory, people from the Liberal Party and the Socialist Party won't have a good time either, just like me."

"And even if I went to those Federalist territories, my actual situation wouldn't change much. I lack a background, no one supports me, I won't be better than now, but might be worse, because in their eyes I will become a threat that can compete with them."

"But here, no one feels that I am a threat, so it doesn't matter to me."

Lying flat.

Lying flat is taken for granted. As a City Hall civil servant, enjoying the best treatment and benefits, this kind of lying flat is also what many people want.

"Have you considered going up a level?"

William glanced at Lanse: "When you can stand in that position, we will discuss this issue."

"It's too early to talk about it now."

Lanse didn't care about his refusal: "I just want to ask, how much money does it cost to push someone like you to go up."

William frowned: "It seems you have indeed earned a lot of money.", he thought for a while: "Tens of thousands, but it makes no sense."

"Even if I am in charge of an office, I can only do what the mayor tells me every day, not what I want to do."

Lanse asked again: "Then what about the city councilor?"

William was a little surprised: "Is your money too much to spend?"

But he still answered: "This is a long-term investment. New Jincheng has ten electoral districts. We first need to get a large amount of support and votes in one of the districts."

"After I am elected as a councilor, I need about fifteen thousand dollars a year to maintain the basic expenses of me and my team. This refers to the expenses when you do nothing."

"If we want to do something, we have to hold various political activities, invite some people to cheer, do you know why many city councilors have been doing it for many years?"

"Because the investment to push a new councilor to power is too big, but the return is not necessarily very high!"

He drank the last bit of coffee in the cup: "If you want a valuable councilor, you have to prepare more than sixty thousand a year, every year."