"I need some suggestions!"
The mayor, who was standing on the rostrum, rubbed his temples. "Now there are more and more unemployed people in our city, and the public security is getting worse. It is said that there have been some vicious cases in the surrounding cities. If we can't stop this situation, the city that we have spent decades building will return to the primitive era!"
Everyone knew that destruction could not bring prosperity, only construction could. However, the current situation had forced some people to go to the side they did not want to go to.
If they could eat and wear without committing crimes, and have some people under their control, most people in the world would be willing to be good people.
However, the mayor's words made some people frown. They had just donated a sum of money not long ago, and now the mayor had gathered them together to discuss how to save the city. It seemed that he wanted to get some money out of people's pockets again.
It was a bad feeling. No one liked to be blackmailed, even if the person blackmailing them was the well-deserved ruler of the city.
There was no other sound in the silent room. The mayor looked at these people expectantly, hoping that they could come up with some ideas to solve the problem. However, his hope was obviously a little too optimistic.
No one spoke. Everyone sat in a gentlemanly posture and looked at the mayor on the rostrum. They were placed here like some kind of decoration to make up the number of people.
The mayor's expectant face gradually faded. His eyes swept across these people's faces. At most, they avoided eye contact, but he could not get the answer he wanted.
This meeting was destined to fail. In fact, this could already be foreseen on Wednesday. When Lynch took out 100,000 yuan, many people had to fork out more money. They felt like they had been robbed.
Whether they investigated it or not, some people might conclude that Lynch was not a "shill" arranged by the mayor. However, they were still robbed.
If this was a few years ago, thirty to fifty thousand yuan could be taken out at any time. At that time, everyone was still very rich.
Now that everyone was having a hard time, taking out thirty to fifty thousand yuan was actually very difficult. Everyone felt some pain.
Now, the purpose of the mayor gathering everyone again was clear to everyone in this room. They knew what the mayor wanted, but they were not willing to compromise, at least not this time.
Endless compromises would only make the mayor blindly underestimate his influence, but in fact, the people did not rely on him that much, and now they had a "role model".
On Monday, the stock price of the Costa Group began to plummet. Many people took this as an interesting piece of news. Sometimes, the presence of such a dominant group in a city was not a good thing for other small companies.
Because the upward channel was basically in a semi-closed state, the City Hall would give priority to a large number of policies to this dominant local pillar enterprise, rather than to support the development of those small and micro enterprises that were still developing.
Only when this group collapsed would most of the companies get some new opportunities and some new policies. Therefore, they had been watching the stock price of Christopher Group fall all the way. Some people even sold their stocks in order to push it to the edge of the cliff.
This was also one of the reasons why people were willing to fork out money on Wednesday. People had seen the horror of the City Hall. He only had to make a statement to the public, and the stock price of Christopher Group began to plummet. It was said that the announcement made by Neo and the board of directors could not change this fact.
Secondly, the collapse of Christopher Group would be beneficial to the businessmen in the city. They could buy the businesses of Christopher Group at a low price, which was equivalent to making a lot of money. Therefore, even if they had to bite the bullet, they had to fork out money to support the mayor's actions.
However, the situation now was a little different. Neo publicly announced that he planned to end Christopher Group's business in Saibin and move the headquarters to the Conservative Party's territory in the neighboring state.
The mayor of the neighboring state's capital city also said on Friday night that he would try his best to bring in external forces to help their city through this difficult time. They also promised that if Christopher Group could settle down in their city, they would provide no less than three thousand jobs in their city.
This was only the early stage. By next year or the year after, they would provide more than five thousand jobs. This made the citizens of the city cheer.
In fact, in the context of today's great era, people's needs were really simple. They did not want to starve to death, and they wanted to have a job, especially a job.
A job represented a stable life for everyone in a family. A job was a must. At a time like this, there was nothing more important than a job opportunity. Absolutely nothing.
Now, it seemed that all of this was not as simple as people thought at the beginning. Christopher Group might have a way out. It was possible that they had already found a way out, which was why the mayor and the governor expressed their dissatisfaction with them.
The power of an example was infinite. Christopher had used his life experience to tell people that if they wanted to solve some of their problems, the best way was to switch to the Conservative Party. Now, the Conservative Party was facing the same problems as the Progressive Party, but they were easier to persuade.
People sat in the audience and looked at the mayor, and the mayor looked at them. In the end, the mayor had to take the initiative to speak, which made him feel as if he had been humiliated. "I need you to provide more jobs …"
"That's impossible, Your Excellency!"
Someone directly interrupted the mayor's speech, and at the same time, this guy attracted everyone's attention.
Lynch could not help but look curiously at this brave warrior with a brave heart. How could he interrupt the mayor in the middle of a meeting? How could he do such a thing?
It was a young man in his early thirties, about 32 or 33 years old. He even took the initiative to stand up. It had to be said that he had a good appearance, but of course, he was not as good as Lynch.
He was calm and not crazy, which meant that he knew what he was doing.
He looked at the mayor and continued to repeat what he had just said. "That's impossible, Your Excellency. I have a small metal processing factory behind me, and I employ 27 workers. This is the largest scale I can maintain."
"Since the second half of last year, it has been very difficult for me to sell my products. However, I still maintain this scale. I still pay my workers. Although some people might think that it's immoral for me to pay wages according to the minimum standard of the Hourly Wage Law, at least I can still let these workers get a monthly salary from me!" Zhang Tie said with a smile.
"Since May this year, I haven't received a single cent in return for three months. I can no longer support this factory and the workers' salaries. Not to mention hiring more workers, if I can't find a way out before October, I'll have to shut down my factory. So, it's impossible for me to increase the number of jobs!"
"Also!"
He suddenly raised his voice, which made the mayor's scalp tingle. He pursed his lips and stared at the young man. The young man continued, "And I think that the current problem of Saibin City can't be solved by increasing the number of jobs. Our problem is that we have no market for our products. Your Excellency, the state government and the Federation government should help us find a market for our products, not let us bear the responsibility that we shouldn't bear!"
His words were very dignified, at least in Lynch's opinion. The others began to clap, and soon, the sound of applause echoed. This made the mayor's face turn even paler.
In fact, many of the things that the young man said were correct. If they couldn't sell their products, the company wouldn't be able to get profits and payments, and it would be impossible to support the workers.
What was the difference between asking factory owners and entrepreneurs to increase the number of jobs and robbing them of their money?
His words represented the true feelings of many merchants at this time. They would naturally support him.
The mayor looked at the young man and memorized his face. However, the young man didn't seem to be afraid of the mayor's "malicious" gaze. He wasn't afraid at all.
The mayor couldn't help but speculate about the young man's background. Perhaps he was arranged by Christopher and Neo.
The applause soon subsided. They knew very well that if the applause lasted for too long, it might make things worse. All they needed to do was to show their attitude and not confront the mayor.
Not everyone was able to leave the city, like the Christopher Group.
Moving to another city could help them get rid of some of their current problems, such as the wages of their workers. However, the new city would have tougher competition and political pressure. If they couldn't affect the lives of most people like Christopher and Neo, it was better for them to stay put.
The mayor pinched the bridge of his nose and gestured for the young man to sit down. Then, he apologized to everyone, "I've neglected the pressure on you in this regard …" This was the best apology he could give, and everyone accepted it happily.
"Then, is there anyone who can come up with a solution? I don't expect any of you to solve the problem that even the president can't solve, but at least you can alleviate the situation. Our situation is very bad!"
In the face of the mayor's inquiry, everyone remained silent. At this time, whoever came up with a solution would be the enemy of all the capitalists in Saibin.
Looking at the silent meeting room, the mayor realized for the first time that some things weren't as easy to solve as before. His face turned even paler. As he looked around, he saw Lynch sitting in the corner.
This reminded him of what Lynch said last week when he had dinner with Lynch.