Reborn Bao Guowei, I really didn’t want to be a great writer!

Chapter 417: On Keynes! Driving another one crazy?
In the theater, the story of "Waterloo Bridge" is still being performed.

This play, written by American playwright Robert E. Sherwood, was first performed on Broadway in the United States at the beginning of the year, and then quickly spread throughout the Western world, becoming one of the most popular plays at the moment.

Leaning on Bao Guowei, Zhang Nianyue became more and more fascinated by the plot.

This is a love story between an officer and a dancer against the backdrop of war.

During the air raid, the heroine and the hero met in the crowd. They helped each other and hid under the Waterloo Bridge together.

After the air raid, the lights gradually shone on the two people. They talked to each other, expressing their curiosity and affection for each other.

The actors' lines were clear and emotional, and every word seemed to come from the heart.

Even someone like Zhang Nianyue, who only knows a little English, could understand most of it.

"The heroine is very shy, the hero is very enthusiastic, and the dialogue is very funny. Just like what you said, Bao Guowei, this is a good drama."

Zhang Nianyue leaned on Bao Guowei and couldn't help but comment.

For most women, as long as it can arouse their emotions, it can be considered a good story.

"Just like us back then." Zhang Nianyue added with a smile.

Bao Guowei couldn't help but have a strange expression on his face.

"If it were the two of us, I'm afraid it would be the other way around."

Bao Guowei only dared to complain about this in his heart.

The story progresses slowly, presenting an ups and downs curve, which is the manifestation of an excellent story.

Bao Guowei, who is used to creating, now analyzes the structure of any story in detail.

The male protagonist received an urgent order to join the war, and the two had to separate.
The heroine was expelled from the dance troupe because she missed the performance because she had to send the hero off. She then learned that the hero had died. The plot fell to the bottom and the heroine, who lost her job, became a prostitute.

At this moment, Zhang Nianyue, like a little girl in later generations, tightly grasped Bao Guowei's arm, as if she was afraid that he would leave, and her brows were tightly furrowed.

Then, the male protagonist miraculously returned, the lights on the stage instantly lit up, and the music became passionate.

The two embraced each other warmly on the stage, and their joy and excitement also made the audience excited.

But as the music changes, the audience can feel the heroine's inner pain and struggle.

In the end, the heroine could not face the hero, so she came to Waterloo Bridge where they had agreed to meet, and jumped off the bridge.

With the sad music on the stage and the actress's moving performance, many audience members shed tears again.

I don’t know how long it took, but as the curtain fell, Zhang Nianyue seemed unable to calm down for a long time.

Bao Guowei understands this sentiment.

If you think about it carefully, "Waterloo Bridge" is a very old-fashioned love story. It can be said that compared with other love stories, it only changes the background and the identities of the characters.

But in this historical context, it to some extent reflects the Western people's fear of war and their desire for peace.

Plus the storytelling skills.

It's no surprise that it became so popular.

After waiting quietly for a while, Bao Guowei did not leave in a hurry, but watched Zhang Nianyue express her emotions in his arms.

However, compared to Zhang Nianyue who was about to cry in his arms, Cao Yanhai who was already fast asleep in the back seemed to be more conspicuous.

"How is it? Are you okay?" Bao Guowei handed the other party a handkerchief.

It's a rare opportunity for him to spend time with his darling wife, so naturally he would be extra indulgent towards her.

"I'm all right."

Zhang Nianyue sniffed, as if trying to suck back the tears that were about to flow.

"never mind?"

"Yes." Zhang Nianyue nodded affirmatively. "Compared to your "The Shawshank Redemption", this work is still a little petty, and the love stories are not smooth."

At this time, she showed her chivalrous side again, and it was unclear whether she was pretending or not.

Bao Guowei commented with a smile: "It is this kind of pettiness that makes this story so popular."

Compared to inspirational themes, love stories always resonate more with most people.

This is also one of the reasons why inspirational songs in later generations cannot compete with love songs.

The historical background also determines that this drama is more immersive for Westerners than "Shawshank".

However, Bao Guowei had no intention of making in-depth advances in the field of drama, so he did not take it seriously.

"Let's go, what should we do in the afternoon?" Zhang Nianyue tidied herself up and stood up as if nothing had happened.

Bao Guowei patted Cao Yanhai on the back of his head and replied with a smile.

"Go back to the hotel and wait for the guests to arrive."

With a bang, Cao Yanhai suddenly jumped up from the sofa, stared around with his eyes wide open and said.

"What's wrong! What's wrong! Master, please retreat first. I, Lao Cao, will cover you!"

I was thinking about going back, but just as I was about to leave the box, I heard a noisy sound outside.

"Sir! Sir! You can't go in. There are royal guests inside. This is against the rules!" The waiter stopped a half-bald middle-aged man in panic.

But the man yelled at the top of his voice: "Don't stop me, you damned people, you have delayed the goal of saving the British economy, everyone is doomed, I want to see Mr. Bao! Mr. Bao!"

Bao Guowei thought it was some crazy fan and couldn't help feeling a little headache.

But when he heard the waiter's call, he couldn't hold it back anymore.

"Mr. Keynes! Mr. Deputy Commander! Calm down!"

Keynes?
John Maynard Keynes!!!?

Combined with the other party's familiar face, which he had almost read so many times in books in the later life, he immediately understood the other party's identity.

But, wasn't this gentleman's appearance a bit hasty?

Today, Keynes can be called the strongest economist in the UK and an important member of the UK Treasury.

Such a gentleman now looks like a gangster.
Bao Guowei coughed and said, "Hmm~ Mr. Waiter, please let Mr. Keynes come in. We hope to talk in the box for a while."

The waiter was stunned for a moment, then let go of Keynes and answered very respectfully.

"No problem, dear sir."

"Mr. Bao, what do you think is the cause of the Great Depression?"

"Mr. Bao, what do you think of the debt crisis of 1816, the overcapacity crisis of 1825, the banking crisis of 1837, and the railway construction crisis of 1882?"

"Mr. Bao, the financial crisis in Tsarist Russia began in 1899. How do you understand the reforms taking place in Tsarist Russia today?"

"Mr. Bao, can we find a perfect solution to the periodic economic crisis? If so, is it the one you proposed at the salon?"

"Mr. Bao"

As soon as he sat down, Mr. Bao kept talking and making Bao Guowei feel overwhelmed.

Compared with other British aristocrats and politicians, Keynes seemed to be straightforward and lacked etiquette.

But this also fits his identity as an economist. At this moment, there were only two people left around the coffee table. Zhang Nianyue watched their conversation curiously from behind, while Cao Yanhai stood guard at the door vigilantly.

In order to ease the pace, Bao Guowei had to wave his hand and speak.

"Mr. Keynes, we need to discuss the issues one by one."

Realizing that he had lost his composure, Keynes felt embarrassed. He smiled apologetically and explained.

"Mr. Bao, you should know that I have put in a lot of effort in the research on economic crisis. Now seeing you appear, it's like seeing God descend to the earth. I really can't control my emotions."

Bao Guowei smiled and said, "It's nothing. These arguments are just my guesses based on the existing materials."

"Your conjecture is enough for all economists to rack their brains."

Only professionals like Keynes can understand how difficult it is to summarize seemingly simple economic principles.

"In fact, all of this stems from the foundation of economic principles." Bao Guowei smiled mysteriously, took out the draft he had prepared long ago, and guided the legendary economist step by step.

"Economic principles? Adam Smith?" Keynes naturally thought of the "father of modern economics."

"Yes!" Bao Guowei said affirmatively. "In a sense, many of my theories are derived from The Wealth of Nations."

"No!" Keynes shook his head. "Your theory is too different from that in The Wealth of Nations."

"Sir, please listen to my explanation!"

Bao Guowei gave a confident smile.

Today, he is going to use the economic theories of later generations to fool Keynes!
Adam Smith believed that competition can promote the prosperity of commodity economy. Under the world economic trade, each country can provide its own unique products to achieve the greatest prosperity of commodity trade.
Consumers will choose the most popular products, and driven by the division of labor and interests, an invisible hand paints a beautiful idyllic world.

Bao Guowei combined the short video marketing accounts of later generations with some economic theories and summarized Adam Smith's theory.

Hearing this, Keynes nodded repeatedly and completely dispelled his doubts about Bao Guowei.

The fact that he can say this is enough to show that Bao Guowei has a very strong foundation in economics!

"but."

This aroused Keynes's expectations. He sat up straight and asked.

"but what?"

Bao Guowei said confidently.

"But, Mr. Keynes, you should know that the total value of goods is equal to the total purchasing power of society, so that supply and demand can be balanced."

"Yes." Keynes nodded. These were all the contents of "The Wealth of Nations", so he was naturally familiar with them.

Bao Guowei's eyes became sharp.

"However, the current situation is that businessmen, driven by profit, cause the value created by workers to be far higher than the compensation they receive."

"This" Keynes suddenly caught something from the conversation, as if he had touched upon the underlying principle.

With the previous foundation of "macroeconomics" and "Bao's economics", his thinking was gradually led astray by Bao Guowei.

"Most of the wealth flows to the capitalists. Even if they indulge themselves in extravagance, this wealth cannot be fully consumed or reinvested. So no matter how much you stimulate workers' consumption, it is only a temporary solution and not a fundamental solution."

Bao Guowei said with saliva flying.

"This"

Keynes hesitated.

For class reasons, he could not attribute the economic crisis to the greed of capitalists, which was not in line with today's mainstream values.

"Isn't this just Mr. Bao's guess?"

He said very unconfidently.

Bao Guowei knew that things would not go so smoothly, and Keynes was not a fool.

He continued calmly.

"I wonder if Mr. Keynes understands the rise and fall of Chinese dynasties. Over the past thousand years, countless historical events can be found in Chinese history.

The change of dynasties is essentially a manifestation of economic crisis, the product of irreconcilable contradictions between the landlord class and the common people! "

"I have discovered a pattern throughout history: when monarchs face economic crises, they have a very simple and effective way to deal with them."

Bao Guowei paused and continued.

"That is to use war to shift the crisis and obtain huge land resources, material resources, and human resources from plunder. In a sense, the formation of the triangular trade and the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 were based on this reason."

The huge amount of information almost made Keynes confused. Before he could figure it out, Bao Guowei threw out another difficult-to-understand word in fluent English.

"But war is a double-edged sword. It can bring endless wealth, but it can also bring endless disasters. Once the war machine starts, it is difficult to stop. People will gradually fall into the vortex of militarism because of their ambition to gain and the rising cost of silence.
That's what Napoleon was like.
Philip II was like this
The same was true of Louis XV.
"

"How could this be?"

Bao Guowei's quotations from classics shocked Keynes. How could he know that China had an extremely fine tradition in debate?

Europe's eloquence can only be considered a younger brother.

"But. But why?"

Keynes couldn't help but raise questions.

Bao Guowei took a sip of water and slowed down the pace of his narration.

Zhang Nianyue in the corner looked at the "aggressive" Bao Guowei with curiosity, and an idea popped into her head.

Bao Guowei is trying to fool people again.

But when did he learn economics?

Haven’t you seen him yourself?
But then I heard Bao Guowei introduce it.

"Since the Age of Exploration, European kings have generally had four major hobbies: mining, maritime trade, hoarding gold, and plundering resources and population.
Elizabeth I was a great monarch for Britain, but a terrible monarch for the world. She strongly advocated ocean exploration, launched the delta slave trade, recruited pirates to plunder merchant ships, and even awarded pirates medals, making them royal knights and heroes.
But you have to know that an economy that is based on robbery is not sustainable!"

Hearing the name Elizabeth, Keynes sat up straight.

In this era, there is no British person who is not proud of Elizabeth's achievements.

This can be included in Bao Guowei's discussion.
Keynes frowned tightly, as if he could not accept Bao Guowei's slander against Elizabeth.

"No sir, you have no basis for this. Elizabeth is a great monarch."

Bao Guowei shook his head and said.

“No, Mr. Cairns, you are wrong.

It was Elizabeth's greatness that was the biggest cause of the economic crisis. European monarchs never realized the importance of the production end. They ignored the underlying economic foundation, which was the root cause of the economic depression.
Overproduction is the real cause of economic depression, and this has been the case from a hundred years ago to the present day!"

Keynes felt as if he had been hit hard in the chest, and the edifice of economic theory that had been formed seemed to begin to shake violently.

He continued shaking his head.

"Sir, you can't convince me that the economic depression could be the fault of the great monarchs. Elizabeth is the wise ruler who made Britain glorious!
We are moving forward on this path.”

Cao Yanhai, who was standing at the door, turned his head to look at the quarrel in the room, then took a sip of red wine and said with a pout.

"Driving another one crazy."

(End of this chapter)