money trouble

Chapter 732 There are policies above and countermeasures below

Seeing the young man nodding his head, Wu Qian knew that the deal had been concluded. He gestured to one of the spade troops, then walked to the Bugatti to wake up the engine, then sat in the driving seat of the impala, kicked the accelerator Walk away, there is nothing left for him.

In the rearview mirror, Bauer hurriedly told everyone to return to the helicopter. Kux opened the door of the Phantom. The young man looked at the check in his hand and stood still, while the girl who once wanted to become a princess Cinderella hugging the man's neck happily.

When Wu Qian left St. Louis Airport, there were two cars, but now there are three cars.

The open-top impala happily "jumped" on Route 66, followed by a Phantom dozens of meters behind, and Bugatti followed behind, driven by David.

Galloping on the historic Route 66, looking to both sides, you can see the cornfields that have been harvested, the Indian reservation and the endless desert. On the vast loess, cactus is scattered sporadically, full of western cowboy style.

The trip on Route 66 seemed to make Wu Qian fall into a time tunnel, entering the era when western cowboys were popular.

The speed of the old impala was indeed not fast, but it was not a big problem to maintain a cruising speed of [-] kilometers per hour. Two hours later, Wu Qian saw motels and restaurants with western characteristics appearing on the side of the road.

The restaurant has strong regional characteristics. The low-looking LED light strip is woven into the outline of a cowboy hat, two waist-high doors, and the wooden steps are full of traces of time.

Without hesitation, Wu Qian drove the car to the parking lot in front of the restaurant, and the wheels braked vigorously, bringing up a cloud of dust.

If you are a foreign traveler who comes here alone, you should be careful. There are many unknown sins hidden under the remote beauty.

David and Cooks were at the forefront, pushing open the wooden door with a creaking sound.

There was a thin layer of smoke in the restaurant, with the smell of cigarettes and cigars. The diners focused their attention on the door, and saw a group of black-clothed men filing in, and finally walked in a young man in a neat suit.

When Wu Qian appeared in the restaurant, he withdrew all his eyes from the door, but anyone with a bit of a brain would know that this group of people is definitely not easy to mess with, and there is bound to be a scary guy hidden in the bulging waist and back.

"Waiter, the special barbecue and bacon salad written on the signboard come with twenty servings each, oh, yes, plus a large can (ten liters) of lemon malt juice."

Wu Qian went to a big table and opened the stool to sit down, and said to the waiter who was a little afraid to step forward, that the food he ordered was the main feature of this restaurant.

Normally, if a group of big men came to drink lemon malt juice, they would be ridiculed by the local diners. The big men actually drank the girl's drink, but this time they didn't say anything.

While Wu Qian was leading the people around him to experience life in the western part of the United States, Kama Harrison was sitting at a desk in a suite of an apartment building in Kansas City, rubbing her forehead to relieve fatigue, and a member of the campaign team A staff member is reporting to her on fundraising.

"Ms. Harrison, in the last week, your account received more than 3 dollars in donations from more than 30 voters."

Regarding this news, the reporting staff shrugged helplessly. From her expression and demeanor, it can be seen that the donation of more than [-] US dollars seems very pessimistic.

Looking at the entire democratic faction, the fundraising of 30 a week is not the bottom, but it is indeed at the bottom.

Like the "King of Popularity" Jordan, he easily raised 200 million US dollars in donations in a week, while the second-ranked Bloomberg, it doesn't matter how much he raises, because he is a billionaire himself and has a lot of money Waiting for him to splurge.

In fact, there are quite a few voters who donated to Karma Harrison, but the amount of each donation is too small. Just like last week, the average donation of voters was only a pitiful ten dollars and 60 cents...

The root cause of this phenomenon is directly related to the beneficiaries of Karma Harrison's ideas.

Some candidates focus on economic development, favoring preferential treatment policies towards consortiums and large companies, so that they can naturally get funding from rich people, while Karma Harrison focuses on ethnic minorities, and naturally most of the donations come from ethnic minorities and People at the bottom of society with lower incomes.

The small amount of donations received does not mean that Karma Harrison has few supporters, but her supporters are limited. Even if there are some rich people among her supporters, due to regulations, they can only ask her The top donation is $[-].

In order to prevent consortiums or wealthy individuals from controlling the presidential election, the United States has very strict fundraising regulations, and there are strict limits on the amount of donations made by individuals to candidates.

Individual voters can choose to donate to candidates, factions, or political action committees. The total amount of donations in a year cannot exceed [-] U.S. dollars. million U.S. dollars, and donations to political action committees may not exceed five thousand U.S. dollars.

Such measures seem to be very strict, but in fact... as the saying goes, there are policies at the top and countermeasures at the bottom, so there is no impenetrable wall.

The most common tactic used by campaigners is to "package" donations. Candidates use their influence to organize various forms of activities, such as banquets, musicals, and concerts, and then participants who want to "catch the heat" will naturally say, The event was successfully held, and both parties were very happy.

In 2003, Xiaobu raised funds for his re-election and held a dinner dance at the Sheraton in Washington. In order to be able to attend the dinner with the then President of the United States, each of the supporters who came here would "consciously" hand over a $[-] bill The check, let's talk about your heart.

According to statistics, just that one ball, Xiaobu raised more than 300 million US dollars in donations!
Of course, it is only after they have gained considerable fame that some people "come here for fame". Candidates like Karma Harrison are not well-known, or their fame is limited to a certain area, and it is impossible to achieve it. to that effect.

Furthermore, even if Karma Harrison wants to hold a decent large-scale event to attract high-class people, the funds in her campaign account may not allow it.

Raising funds is controlled by relevant laws and regulations, and spending money is also regulated.

There are many restrictions on the use of campaign funds allocated by the faction to the candidates of the faction. For example, for their own expenses, every expense will be supervised. If they use the money given by the faction to live in a luxury hotel, they will be warned.

But if the funds are raised from voters, it will be much more relaxed. As long as it is not extravagant, no one will care.

Regarding the news of the 30 donation, Karma Harrison was not as frustrated as the staff. She looked up and said with a smile: "This result has exceeded my expectations. Very good, I have more than 3 more supporters." , this is great news."

"I am confident that through today's event and tomorrow's speech, the people of Kansas and Missouri will learn more about my determination!"

Positive people are always not afraid of adversity, and bravely face themselves to get out of the predicament. The staff of the campaign team all admire Harrison's optimistic spirit.

However, it is far from enough to only have a positive and optimistic spirit on the road to election!

Kama Harrison walked to the window and looked at the street. In Kansas City, there were advertisements for Bloomberg hanging everywhere. A photo of Bloomberg’s speech appeared in the streets and alleys. He looks very energetic despite his age .

Obviously, Missouri and Kansas have been "captured" by billionaire Bloomberg's propaganda. Under the strong economic strength, various advertising media are promoting his deeds and opinions, creating influence all the time.

A staff member seemed to know what Harrison was thinking, saying: "Ms. Harrison, I have already contacted the advertisers, and they said that if they want to remove Bloomberg's advertisement, they need to pay Bloomberg 30 to 80. There are various liquidated damages, and if you are willing to pay this fee, they are more than happy to serve you."

Advertisers and the media often play a neutral role in the election process. They will not have a clear factional position. Making money is their main task. There are contracts, but breaches of contracts are also common. The rules are very simple , Whoever pays more will help.

Naked money repression.

Kama Harrison smiled and shook her head with a hint of melancholy between her brows, "Kabuto, I'm not a billionaire, I can't do that."

Her campaign fund account is only more than 500 million. Just to settle Kansas City, I am afraid that Karma Harrison will need to spend all of it. That is still under the premise of laws and regulations. In fact, she cannot do that at all.

Harrison looked at the photo of Bloomberg not far away, took a deep breath, as if to cheer himself up, then turned around and clapped his hands, saying: "Everyone has a three-to-10-minute break, and there is important work in the afternoon. "

Kama Harrison not only focuses on minority issues, but she is also a very clear feminist. In the afternoon, she and her campaign team will hold an event with the local women's association to focus on women's work, social and family environment.

While Karma Harrison was holding a canvassing event, the executives of the Devon Energy Group held a press conference that was not very large in scale but had an inexplicably large impact in Houston, the largest city in Texas.

The press conference was held at the Williams Building in Houston. The atmosphere at the scene was not too lively, because the preparations were very hasty, and there were no more than a dozen media present.

The CEO of Devon Energy, Christo, held the press release that was rushed out overnight, and his head was sweating non-stop. He couldn't imagine what kind of reaction the outside world would have after he announced the news. He There is an inexplicable fear in my heart.

Time waits for no one, and finally the moment came.

Christo didn't have any stereotypes. After briefly expressing Devon Energy's views on the shale oil industry, he threw out the news that Devon Energy Group is about to increase production in large quantities.

"Given all considerations, Devon Energy has decided to vigorously develop shale oil exploration projects and increase daily oil production to 80 barrels."

When Christo's voice settled down, there was a brief silence at the scene, and then the reporters "rioted".

The negative impact of the fall in international oil prices on shale oil is self-evident. It can be said that all oil and gas companies in the United States are thinking of ways to reduce production. The government is under great pressure. Why did someone suddenly stand by the government and actively increase production? What about?

Moreover, the rate of increase in production is so large that it is very scary.

In the face of the reporters' questions, Christo selectively answered. To be honest, he didn't know too much, so his words were not nutritious.

Originally, this press conference didn't have much influence. Although Devon's scale is considered good among the entire army of oil and gas companies in the United States, it is far from the scale of a leading company.

But such an astonishing decision immediately attracted the attention of many people.

Senior officials of the top leading companies Chevron and Exxon Mobil immediately noticed this little guy named Devon Energy!
"Even we can't get benefits in this crude oil price war, what is Devon Energy going to do?"

Chevron's executives watched the delayed live broadcast of the press conference with doubts in their minds.

"How dare you jump out to disrupt the situation at this time, with a daily output of 80 barrels, hehe, is it naive or..."

The executives of ExxonMobil looked extremely ugly. In his opinion, Devon Energy had made a very bad start, which would send a signal that was extremely unfavorable to the stability of international oil prices, which made him very worried.

At the same time, in London on the other side of the ocean, Woodward and Barbara agreed, and started trading WTI crude oil at the same time the media reported the news.

The WTI market, which was originally stagnant, began to decline slightly after Devon Energy held a press conference and the news came out.

However, before the price dropped anything, just dropped by about two points, the power to turn the tide appeared!

According to the market turnover at that time, Woodward and Barbara immediately placed orders to close 25 short trade orders, which not only resolved all the downward potential energy, but also raised the price of WTI by twelve in a very short period of time. percent!

In a very short few minutes, the price of WTI fell from 17.26 to 16.9, and then jumped up to 18.9!

This phenomenon has attracted far more attention than Devon Energy's press conference.

Wall Street in New York; Financial Street next to St. Paul's Church in London; Central Financial Street in Hong Kong Island; Frankfurt, Paris, Tokyo, Germany...

Countless financial practitioners in one financial center have discovered this abnormal phenomenon.

It stands to reason that the decline at this time is the correct direction, because the price of Brent crude oil was indeed falling at the same time, the decline far exceeded the price of WTI crude oil, but then it may be driven by the WTI market and began to rise, but the momentum Far worse than WTI.

This makes the rise in WTI crude oil prices even more confusing. No one knows the specific reasons for this rise.

Even some senior officials and executives of the U.S. government didn't know what happened, and they called each other to ask the reason.

Many people in the outside world speculate that Devon Energy may be speaking on behalf of a certain department in the United States. This is because the relevant department in the United States has stood up to protect the market and has begun to stabilize the price of WTI and maintain the position of shale oil in the international market.

This guess has been recognized by many people, because only this explanation can explain why the price of WTI crude oil has risen against the trend, because even some organizations have such economic strength, they dare not act rashly at this sensitive moment.

(End of this chapter)