Stellaris: Earth Alliance

Chapter 128 Consumerism
After the dinner for the diplomats, unlike Brad's depression after returning, the crew of the Mozi was quite relaxed.

"Liberalism is good. The people who give gifts are all beauties and handsome men. We really can't appreciate the lizard people. If they gave them human beauties, maybe..."

There were young people among the scientific researchers who couldn't help but sigh as they watched another batch of shackled slaves being pushed in like commodities and being blocked by Su Lixuan.

But just in the middle of what he said, he saw the dozens of female scientists present rolling their eyes and immediately shut up.

"Haha, after liberalism, I will be the first to sell you as a commodity."

Wang Xueer looked at the man and smiled arrogantly.

"Uh."

The man lowered his head, not daring to speak any more.

After Su Lixuan pushed out another batch of shackled beauties, he wiped his sweat tiredly.

"By the way, I forgot to remind you that except for dinner food, don't put anything else in your mouth."

"why?"

Qin Xu asked, and as he spoke, he took out a colorful candy from his pocket, "The waiter secretly slipped it to me just now, saying that one can make me feel the feeling of arriving in heaven."

"..."

Everyone was speechless. Chen Xiaomeng walked over, snatched the candy from Qin Xu's hand, opened the window, and threw it outside.

"This is a drug! How many times have I told you before I came here, don't just take things given by strangers!"

After throwing away the things, Chen Xiaomeng turned around and scolded Qin Xu like an old mother.

"By the way, what is this on the table?"

While Chen Xiaomeng was educating Qin Xu, Liu Wenhan had already stepped up and opened the gift box-shaped thing that the other party had sent him earlier.

With a gentle pull, the gift box gradually opened, and everyone felt a flash of light appear in front of them, as if a dragon was about to fly out of the gift box.

In short, it was accompanied by a dazzling light, a full sense of ceremony, an extremely exquisite and gorgeous box, and a burst of BGM that came with it.

Everyone's curiosity was stretched to the extreme.

Then the last thing that came out was—

Administrative permission document for the Human Consortium in the capital of Quillak.

I pour.

"This is too much packaging!"

"And, damn, this gift box is still inlaid with gold. Although gold is not as valuable as before, it's not such a waste!"

And then, everyone discovered that this table, this chair, this chandelier, and this carpet all had hidden mysteries.

"Oh my god, this table is made of nano-metal material. Isn't it just a place to put a few dishes? How about such expensive materials? Do you really have money and no place to spend it?"

"This chair is foldable, but that's not the point. The point is that you see it!"

A scientific researcher picked up the chair under his buttocks and folded it, and the sound of mechanical rotation could be clearly heard.

Looking through the gap, it can be seen that it only has the function of folding the back of the chair, but it has a complex internal gear structure that is no less complicated than a mechanical watch. What can be done with just one gear, hundreds of them are stuffed in. Driven by a small gear structure.

There is nothing wrong with being a work of art, but using it as an ordinary chair to sit on is a bit too much, right?

There is also a secret hidden in the chandelier. There are scientific researchers to adjust the brightness of the light bulb, twisting the knob, one turn, two turns, three turns...

The brightness of the light bulb is approaching 100 million lumens.

Is this intended to provide lighting or to create flash bombs? "Stop, stop, turn the brightness back, we're going to go blind."

Although everyone has closed their eyes, the world is still bright. If this continues, the eyes will really go blind.

"Is there a fusion reactor stuck in the light bulb?"

Someone whispered.

"There is an extreme excess of social productivity, but funds are in the hands of a very small number of people, and what individuals can consume is limited..."

Chen Xiaomeng looked at the current situation and said in a deep voice.

"I know this. If an ordinary wooden chair is calculated based on the productivity of our interstellar civilization, its socially necessary labor time will be infinitely close to zero, which means that its value will be infinitely close to zero."

Qin Xu talked eloquently and continued.

"While chairs have no economic value, their use value also exists objectively. State-owned enterprises can provide them for free, and private enterprises cannot do low-profit things, but the market for chairs objectively exists, so they can only continue to pile up materials for chairs until Chairs are profitable.”

Chen Xiaomeng looked at Qin Xu's performance with some surprise, and said with some surprise: "Didn't you say that you bought your university degree?"

"Cough cough."

Qin Xu coughed hurriedly.

Only then did Chen Xiaomeng realize that there were still many people watching around him.

"Well, I mean, almost. But it's mainly because the market supervision in the Republic of Quillak is basically zero. Enterprises maliciously joined forces to monopolize all daily necessities. After the monopoly, they crazily piled up materials and raised prices, which ultimately led to the current situation."

"Actually, this kind of thing also happened when we first had overproduction. The added value of wooden chairs was too low. If we sold them hard, the company would definitely go bankrupt. The same goes for other products."

"Then how did it work out in the end?"

Qin Xu asked.

"In fact, it is similar to food. Food cannot be sold at a good price, and farmers are looked down upon and regarded as representatives of poverty. But we can't stop growing food, right? Either the country will end up doing such a thankless thing, or the country will Subsidize farmers to maintain production, or let a few consortiums monopolize and rely on volume to reap profits."

"If that doesn't work, then we can only start by increasing the added value and turning daily necessities into luxury goods and works of art for sale. That's what the Republic of Quillak is doing now."

Chen Xiaomeng said.

"Consumerism?"

"Yes, liberalism will inevitably give birth to consumerism. And now the Republic of Quillak is in this consumerist stage at its peak. At this stage, it doesn't matter whether a thing is easy to use or not, and it doesn't matter whether it can be used. What's important is It depends on how expensive it is.”

Su Lixuan suddenly pondered.

"Then I finally know why the Kulac Republic didn't let us join their interstellar trading organization."

"Because in their view at that time, we did not have the soil for consumerism, and it was difficult for their products to be sold to us. But our products can impact their market in large quantities."

"This impact does not mean how much money we can make from them, but that we sell wooden chairs to their people, so that their people do not have to be forced to buy these expensive piles of art. It’s time to taste the chair.”

Qin Xu added.

"It's actually a price war, right? It's equivalent to us using low-priced goods to impact their market. But in fact, the effect is average, because the soil of their consumerism has been cultivated."

"Cyberpunk?"

Wang Xueer suddenly raised her hand to answer the teacher's question like a primary school student.

After pondering for a moment, Chen Xiaomeng walked to the window and looked up at the bustling metropolis outside. Not far away from the metropolis was a large slum.

"The combination of low-end life and high technology... is similar to a certain extent."

(End of this chapter)