America's No. 1 financial conglomerate

Chapter 355 Viewing the Scenery from the Mountain Peak

Discussions about the instant messaging and email industry have been ongoing and quite heated.

Ernst, however, had no time to pay attention to any of that. He was busy stacking buffs on his company, trying to make it invincible.

At his villa in Hidden Mountain City, Wenger greeted Jennifer Connelly, who was on her way to a magazine shoot, with a broad smile.

After Jennifer disappeared from sight, he couldn't help but tease her, "This woman is really getting your favor now, she's practically turned into a giant peach."

Ernst rolled his eyes, his face showing disdain for the old lecher.

"Envious? Don't you have lots of young female interns at your law firm?"

At this point, Wenger's face immediately fell, and he snapped, "Are you just making conversation for the sake of it? Trying to make fun of me?"

'

Ernst burst into laughter, laughing so unrestrainedly.

As Wenger's law firm grew larger, Wenger became increasingly busy and frequently traveled for work.

That doesn't matter. The key issue is that as law firms expand, there are more and more young female lawyers.

I don't know what Wenger's wife, Kathy, was thinking, but she also joined the legal profession.

What can a housewife do at a law firm?

Then she remembered Ernst's company, which also implemented employee benefits at Wenger's law firm, providing meals, and she naturally became the supervisor in charge of this aspect.

The employees were naturally happy to see this, but Wenger's henpecked days were about to begin.

Everyone in Wenger's law firm knows that his secretary has to have Casey review the schedule he arranges, and HR has to get Casey's approval before hiring secretaries and assistants for him.

"It's all your fault. Why couldn't you have been more assertive back then?" Wenger complained.

Ernst is the major shareholder of Wenger Law Firm, and if he doesn't agree, Casey won't be able to work at the firm even if she wants to.

Wenger's original intention was to have Ernst refuse Casey's offer on the grounds that husband and wife could not work together.

Ernst scoffed, indicating that he wouldn't dare interfere in their family's affairs.

He was also afraid that he would fall asleep in the middle of the night and find an old woman standing by his bed with a kitchen knife.

This isn't made up; it actually happened.

When Ernst was a child, he was playing with a ball in Casey's arms when she grabbed his chicks and scared him.

"Alright, let's get down to business." He didn't want to recall it anymore, or he'd get a chill down there.

Wenger put away his smile and reported to the other party on the progress of the matters the other party had recently requested.

"Not enough, this quantity is far from sufficient!" Ernst shook his head after hearing this. "What I need is not the government influence of just California, but a network that can radiate throughout the entire United States."

On the very day Google announced its acquisition of Microsoft for a mere dollar, the entire tech world was gossiping about this incredible deal, and no one noticed a quiet personnel change taking place within Google.

Edmund G. Jerry Brown and Alan McGregor Cranston quietly took up positions as senior advisors at Google.

Edmund G. Jerry Brown's background needs no introduction. As the current head of the Brown family, he is one of the most prominent figures in California's local political establishment.

To outsiders, Alan McGregor Cranston is just an old man afflicted with cancer, struggling with death every day, waiting for his life's countdown to end.

But only Ernst knew that this seemingly retired old man held so much political wealth that it was jaw-dropping; he could be called a walking political treasury in California.

He served as California's treasurer and was a five-term U.S. Senator representing California from 1969 to 1993.

The position of senator is much more valuable than that of representative. There are only two senators per state in the entire United States. The fact that Allen has been able to hold this position for five consecutive terms speaks volumes about his strength and connections.

In addition, while serving as a California senator, he also held important positions such as chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee and Senate Democratic Whip.

These positions, like overlapping halos of power, have propelled his influence in the political arena to new heights.

If this veteran politician hadn't been tricked by his opponent during the party's internal candidate competition when he insisted on running for president, and had been beaten to the ground, the old man wouldn't be in such a miserable state now.

Everyone felt that the era of Alan McGregor Cranston was over, that he was a victim of political competition, and that he had faded into obscurity.

But Ernst knew that the old man held onto his vast political assets tightly, and ultimately took them to his grave.

Of all these political assets, the one that Ernst values ​​most is Barbara Levi Boxer, a current California senator who has served as a California senator for a full 26 years.

Many believe that Barbara's election as a senator was entirely due to the strong support of the Judas, given her background in a Judas family in Brooklyn. This background serves as a natural political backdrop, always prompting speculation about the powerful forces behind her.

Only Ernst knew that Barbara's successful rise to power was largely due to Allen's covert support.

In return, Barbara had to guarantee that Eren's descendants would have no worries about food and clothing, which was equivalent to buying Eren's family a lifetime meal ticket.

Allen knew very well that his children were all hopeless cases. If he forced them into politics, they would either be used as pawns or squander his family's wealth. Rather than that, it would be better to find a reliable partner and leave his family a way out.

Wenger approached Allen with Ernst's promise, which Allen was naturally eager to accept. Getting on board with Ernst, a wealthy and powerful figure, would be entirely beneficial for him.

Since we're going to take all our resources to the grave anyway, why not exchange them for some leverage?

Besides these two experts, many other retired officials in California were invited by Ernst to serve as consultants for his various companies.

Wenger originally thought that having gathered so many people was enough for Ernst to demonstrate his influence in California, but he never expected that Ernst's appetite was much bigger than he imagined. He was not satisfied with developing only in California, but instead set his sights on the whole of the United States.

"Do you know what this means?" Wenger's tone carried a hint of worry.

If you're only developing your business in California, the situation is relatively simple.

California is a blue state, and Ernst's businesses are mostly based there. But if he gets too involved with donkeys all over the United States, he'll be firmly labeled as a blue-collar worker.

Ernst was well aware of the consequences of his actions. He spoke calmly, displaying a maturity and insight beyond his years: "When you choose a partner, you are essentially choosing an opponent. There's no way around it."

In his view, there is no essential difference between setting up operations in California and expanding across the entire United States.

The mere promise of $30 million for each election had already offended the elephants; they had long considered Ernst a thorn in their side.

Therefore, being labeled with a blue tag was not something he could choose; it was a predetermined outcome.

However, Ernst had something else on his mind: if your strength is enough to crush everything, then all those labels and opponents are just paper tigers, only able to grovel before you and submit.

Wenger stared into Ernst's eyes and remained silent for a long time.

In America, hiring powerful people from the executive branch as advisors is as common as drinking water when thirsty or eating when hungry.

Take Wall Street and the US fiscal system, for example. Their revolving doors turn more frequently than Ferris wheels in an amusement park. Today you might be an official in the fiscal system, and tomorrow you might jump ship to Wall Street as a senior executive.

The military-industrial complex is even more outrageous, having practically hollowed out every department of the Ministry of National Defense; it's almost as if they've moved the Ministry of National Defense's main gate back to their own home.

Then there's the Department of Health, whose key figures are basically pushed up by American medical giants; it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call them spokespeople for these giants.

Ultimately, it's all about self-interest, like an invisible rope that tightly binds the entire upper class together.

As long as you have money and are willing to spend it, you can hire not only the heads of government departments, but even retired big bosses to be your consultants.

Wenger had never seen anyone like Ernst so aggressively recruit talent.

The Energy Elders, the military-industrial complex, multinational financial groups, and pharmaceutical alliances are the four major powers that constitute the true elite alliance in the United States. They control the economic lifeline of the country and wield absolute influence in politics.

Technology industry?

Even when IBM was at its peak, it never dared to start from scratch, but instead obediently joined the military-industrial complex and became one of its members.

Wenger never expected that Ernst would dare to defy the world and want to start his own business, challenging the alliance of the four powerful families.

Even though his heart raced with shock at the other party's ideas, the consequences of failure would be catastrophic, which was what Wenger was worried about.

"Are you planning to use your various tech companies to create a Silicon Valley mafia dedicated to the tech industry, and then challenge the dominance of the four major alliances?" Wenger couldn't help but ask.

Aside from this possibility, he couldn't think of any other reason why Ernst would compile such a long list, encompassing almost all relevant personnel from the US administration.

Maintaining these people is an expensive business, especially when those revolving doors open again. Every person Ernst supports and every position he competes for requires a huge financial investment, with money flowing like water.

This is why North America has only formed four major alliances over the past few centuries, because maintaining such a system of collusion between officials and businessmen is simply too expensive!

Other industries simply cannot support such a massive expenditure of funds, nor can they afford to engage in such high-end games.

Ernst did not deny it; instead, he said confidently, "I believe I can do it."

Wenger was taken aback by the answer. If he had known who Fish Leong was, he would have insisted on having her sing a song for him.

"They would never allow you to develop, how could they allow a new force to take a slice of their pie?" Wenger couldn't help but pour cold water on the idea.

In his view, those four alliances were like giants who monopolized the entire market, how could they easily let others have a share?

"That's because you underestimate the internet industry." Ernst stared intently at Wenger, his tone brimming with confidence. "By the time they realize what's happening, I'll have already kicked the door open, and they won't be able to stop me."

To organize and develop this massive interest group, it's actually quite simple; the core boils down to one word—money.

The reason why other industries cannot form such power is because they lack funds.

But Ernst was different; his worry wasn't about not having money, but rather that he had more money than he could ever spend.

If it would take ten or twenty years to achieve this goal, Ernst would certainly give up without hesitation.

As Wenger said, those giants simply won't give him that much time to develop slowly.

But what if it only takes two or three years?

Before those people could even react, Ernst's power had already grown into a towering tree. By then, even if they wanted to suppress him, it wouldn't be so easy.

Then came the bursting of the internet bubble, which left the entire United States battered and nearly beyond saving.

How did the four major alliances recover their strength?

It all came down to wars.

The military-industrial complex secured a large number of orders and made a fortune; the medical industry also benefited, with profits soaring; the energy industry, needless to say, followed suit, and finally Wall Street went out to reap the wealth of the world.

But the result?

Once the storm had passed, people realized that the internet technology industry, which was at the epicenter of the explosion, recovered faster and better than the four major alliances.

This is Ernst's source of confidence.

He didn't believe that with him at the helm, Silicon Valley, which had already developed into the fifth largest power in the United States, could prematurely sit at the only mahjong table at the top of the pyramid.

While others aim to stand atop the mountain and enjoy the view, he says the mountaintop is too big, and he wants to stand at the very peak to see the scenery.