Thirty Entrepreneurship: Recycling of second-hand aircraft carriers at the beginning

Chapter 611 We're Really Out of Money
Given the strength of that conglomerate, it's impossible for them to support so many industries engaging in fraud within China. This suggests that there must be someone at a higher level manipulating things behind the scenes.

Who is this person?

Could this be the person I've been tracking all along?
Lin Chen wasn't sure, but he was mentally prepared.

That evening, he sat alone in the conference room, pondering the matter carefully. He felt something was amiss, as if he had overlooked a crucial issue.

Why aren't you going home yet?

The captain was a little surprised to see him still in the meeting room.

“I feel like something’s not right. Think about it, so many manufacturers are making counterfeit and shoddy products, yet no one reports it to the police. Besides, why was it me who discovered this conglomerate?”

While some conglomerates may indeed lack shrewdness, the situation here is quite different. Now, following the leads yields truly unexpected results.

"Here's what I'm thinking: since we've already come this far, why not strike while the iron is hot and push it further by freezing all these black accounts!"

The captain's idea was to take the initiative and see how those corporations would react, since so far, Fred was the only key figure they had discovered.

"This method is feasible, there's no harm in giving it a try."

Sure enough, at that moment, several banks officially issued announcements, declaring sanctions against these conglomerates and explicitly stating that they would absolutely not allow any cooperation with them domestically.

As a result, judging from the current situation, all consortia involved in the production of counterfeit and substandard products have been blacklisted by domestic banks.

This matter quickly attracted the attention of several foreign financial groups.

"What should we do now? If this matter can't be resolved, it will be a huge problem. We urgently need more support, but the funds haven't come in yet, and the promised money hasn't arrived."

Fred began to have some concerns.

If this matter continues to be exposed, the final outcome is hard to predict. Moreover, their actions in China are criminal in themselves.

It's safe to say that there's definitely someone manipulating their operations in the local area, but how to deal with it is hard to say.

"If all else fails, let's just suspend our investment in China. We don't have any important assets there anyway."

One of the directors put forward his idea.

However, while Fred has not yet made a statement, another man named Alexander appears to be very anxious.

He went directly to Fred's company.

"Oh dear, buddy, this is a disaster! My company's investments in China have all been frozen, and I can't even access my accounts. I have several large projects there, and they're all in the final stages, about to start collecting payments, but my bank accounts have been frozen."

Alexander looked worried as he spoke.

“I don’t know what to do anymore. If this continues to develop like this, it won’t be good for anyone. You understand that.”

At this point, he was indeed quite troubled. After all, Alexander's consortium was currently the largest among these companies, and its domestic investments also had considerable influence in the region.

So many problems have arisen out of nowhere; anyone would find it unbearable.

“We need to bring out the big boss behind the scenes and let him figure out a solution. After all, our conglomerates are just small fry.”

This is the biggest contradiction right now, but no one can be sure who should bear the responsibility for all of this.

Sure enough, this incident was like a pebble thrown into a calm lake, creating ripples everywhere. Many conglomerates gradually became aware of the problems, and any accounts found to be involved were immediately frozen.

This incident escalated rapidly in the country, even turning into an industry crisis. Because someone had been telling them behind the scenes that everything would be fine, they never expected that China would act so swiftly and temporarily freeze all those accounts.

Moreover, these actions were based on relevant laws, and the reasons were very clear: these actions disrupted the economic order of China.

This is so frustrating.

Here in the country.

Lin Chen began to wait for new information. In any case, anything that could solve the problem was a good thing.

Sure enough, after this incident, the relevant industries began to recover slowly, and counterfeit goods gradually decreased.

Combating counterfeit and substandard products is their inescapable responsibility. It's fair to say that this issue is having an increasingly significant impact domestically.

The banning of accounts, in particular, received unanimous support from netizens across the country.

"That's exactly what should be done to crack down on those illegal vendors. Don't think you can get away with skirting the rules here every day. Now look what happened, you've shot yourself in the foot."

"I think these people are just stupid. Why can't they just do business with our country properly? They have to do these shady things. Now that there's a problem, let's see how they solve it, haha."

"If you ask me, these people should just withdraw from our domestic market. They've brought us no benefits except for causing trouble."

……

Moreover, the matter escalated so much that even official media outlets started reporting on it.

For a time, rumors spread like wildfire that counterfeit and shoddy products were backed by foreign financial groups.

"What should I do?"

Seeing these news reports from China made Fred even more upset. As one of the instigators of this incident, he was also a veteran figure.

The key point is that all these events are concentrated in one country, which is what makes netizens from various countries feel strange.

Lin Chen has become very calm now, after all, there has been new progress in this matter, not to mention that the domestic crackdown on counterfeit and shoddy products is continuing to intensify.

Many people even took this opportunity to leave the industry altogether and never get involved again.

This greatly alarmed Fred and the other members of the consortium, who quickly convened a meeting to discuss solutions.

“Oh dear, I’ve suffered a huge loss. Let me tell you, I, Alexander, was one of the first to respond to the call to invest there, and I did make a lot of money at first. But now the people there are becoming more and more aware of anti-counterfeiting measures, and they quickly found ways to deal with it.”

"And what about me? I'm on tenterhooks every day. Although my account hasn't been banned yet, I'm already trying to get my money back. I'm also doing my best to recover the investment funds. If I can't get them back, I can only accept it as a loss."

"I'm the most unlucky one. Several real estate companies had reached cooperation agreements with us, and even the land had been arranged. But now our accounts have been frozen for no reason, and we have to pay liquidated damages. What kind of situation is this?"

……

These business leaders were particularly anxious at this critical moment. They knew that if the situation of the conglomerate continued to deteriorate, it would cause big trouble on a global scale.

"Let's hurry up and ask the president for a solution. Who else can we rely on besides him?" However, inside the little white building, the president was also at a loss.

"I never imagined that what I was secretly pushing would turn out like this. I originally only asked a few conglomerates to do it, but they all rushed in headfirst. Isn't that foolish? This was bound to be discovered sooner or later."

The officials were all taken aback by the president's words and turned to look at him.

"Mr. President, are you out of your mind? You're supporting these people to invest there and produce counterfeit and shoddy products. Aren't you afraid of angering China?"

"Counterfeit and shoddy products still have a considerable market there."

"Oh my God!"

The Secretary of State couldn't stand it any longer.

"Mr. President, these are outdated ideas. Think about it carefully; this is what their country did at the end of the last century, and they quickly launched a crackdown back then. Now they have a strong brand awareness, and these counterfeit and shoddy products can only bring temporary profits; they have no long-term development potential."

"How was I supposed to know this would happen? I'd heard that people over there still prefer to buy cheap things, since you get what you pay for. And think about it carefully, don't they have a lot of private label products over there?"

This is why the president is frustrated.

“Look at those OEM products. Their high-quality imitations are quite good, some even better made than the originals. But ours are counterfeit and shoddy products!”

The Secretary of State was so angry he stomped his feet.

"I'm truly impressed by you. Now, many conglomerates in our country are coming to us to resolve this issue. If this gets exposed, it will be incredibly embarrassing. Moreover, although the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs hasn't publicly addressed this matter yet, we've already suffered considerable losses."

The main issue is that this situation is truly unbelievable, and the key question is how to deal with it next, especially since those businessmen are already planning to seek redress from the president.

"Ugh!"

Just as everyone in the small white building was frowning with worry, a secretary walked in, holding a telephone in her hand.

"Mr. President, this is Fred calling."

Fred?
Upon hearing this name, the president was immediately overwhelmed. It seemed these people couldn't hold on any longer and needed his help.

"Give me the phone."

After the president took the call, he sensed something was wrong; many people on Fred's side were waiting for news.

"Mr. President, this is the situation. Many of us have suffered losses, and some corporations have suffered significant losses. Our concern is that if this continues, problems may arise. Everyone has started borrowing from each other, otherwise we might not even be able to repay our bank loans. What do you think we should do?"

The president was well aware that the situation was very complicated. Using public funds directly to solve the problem was not an option, as the national treasury was already short of funds, and money was needed for various other purposes.

"You promised before that you would protect the interests of all of us if anything went wrong."

"Don't worry, I'll keep my word."

Left with no other option, the president had to continue agreeing, at least to keep these people at bay for now.

"All right!"

After Fred hung up the phone, everyone was still feeling depressed.

"Is the president trying to brush us off? If so, then we've really been sold out by him?"

Alexander was clearly the most frustrated, and it seemed that this matter had to be exposed to the media as soon as possible.

Upon hearing this, everyone felt extremely annoyed.

"If you ask me, don't rush to expose it to the media. Since the leader said he can help us solve the problem, let's continue to communicate with him as soon as possible. I don't believe that he can keep dragging his feet even if we call him every day. If he really ignores us in the end, then it's not too late to go to the reporters to expose it."

Since Fred had made this suggestion, everyone decided to proceed accordingly.

Left with no other option, the leaders had to call the finance department to inquire about the true state of the national treasury.

However, the response he received gave the leader a major headache.

"You mean, if we give all these people their money, our country's entire budget for this year will be gone, is that right?"

“That’s right. You see, we’re already being very careful with our spending. If we gave all this money to those conglomerates, our military budget would have to be cut in half, and we probably wouldn’t even be able to pay our staff’s salaries. How would we, as government employees, be paid? Are we supposed to just take out loans from banks?”

This is a real problem. If this can't be resolved, it will be disastrous. But now that there's a problem over there, what should we do?

Left with no other option, the leaders had to quickly convene a meeting to discuss solutions.

"This is a very difficult matter. Think about it carefully. Even if we levy new taxes right now, it won't be enough time. Tax revenue comes in every year or every month, but if we drastically increase taxes to solve this problem, it will have a huge impact on the economy."

"Yes, we're in the same situation. All industries are under great pressure, and some are even showing signs of weakness. Some conglomerates have simply withdrawn their investments and left. You know about this."

"We're really in a dilemma right now. Moreover, foreign capital is still flowing out of the country and no one wants to stay here anymore. Our exchange rate keeps falling, and the money is depreciating every day."

……

The leader originally intended to solve the problem, but unexpectedly discovered that the entire country was riddled with loopholes.

Lin Chen also heard about this while conducting his investigation. Judging from the current situation, the entire United States is already experiencing various problems because of this incident. If things continue to develop like this, the consequences are unimaginable.

"This is what you deserve."

Lin Chen looked at everything unfolding before him and said with a smile, "In any case, we must add fuel to the fire this time."

Anyway, the situation in China is still awaiting a final outcome, and based on the confessions of the perpetrators, it can be basically confirmed that funds from foreign consortia are their only source of support.

Taking this opportunity, the matter has been thoroughly investigated.

The Chinese side is not being ambiguous.

First, the highest-ranking official from the relevant department stepped forward.

"Fellow entrepreneurs, I've gathered you all here today because I have a very thorny issue to discuss with you. I think you're all probably aware of the situation, right? I don't think those people are capable of compensating you for your losses right now. But I'm certain that the foreign exchange we currently have might be able to help alleviate some of the pressure you're under."

Clearly, this top official intends to directly utilize these funds that are currently frozen domestically.

(End of this chapter)