0143 Two big troubles

  "The first trouble is that I intend to start an import-export business, but I don't have an import-export target in my hand ...."

  Given the isolationist policy of the Conservative Party and their fear of war, they thought that by exporting goods to or importing goods from a country at war, they would be implicated in the war.

  This idea was actually shared by the vast majority of the people of the Baylor Federation at the outbreak of the World War, including the Progressive Party of the Federation, which was not able to reach a unanimous agreement on this issue, resulting in the Conservative Party getting the result of the election with almost no difficulty.

  It is also precisely this policy of isolation that even today, after the full armistice of the World War, the Federation's international trade with the outside world has not recovered, and only a limited number of, unrefusable, trades are taking place.

  For example, with some goods from other countries in exchange for some of the Federation's own can not be manufactured, or not locally available raw materials, in addition to this unavoidable foreign trade policy, ordinary individuals or companies, it is difficult to operate large-scale international trade.

  And here we have to mention a special office in the government of the Conservative Party Presidential Cabinet - the International Trade Approval Office, which is under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but the Ministry of National Defense also has cross-administrative power, thus showing how vigilant the country is about foreign trade at present.

  Every year, this office decides what goods can be exported and what goods can be imported.

  Individuals like Lynch who wanted to live in the export business, basically don't consider it for a short period of time, there was no possibility of that, and he didn't even have the chance to try a little bit.

  The mayor's brows slowly contracted and then scratched up tightly, which caused the area at the center of his brows to crease and fold together, the two eyebrows looking like they were rising, giving him a feeling of unruffled authority.

  In fact, the vast majority of that feeling stemmed from his title, His Excellency the Mayor.

  If the person frowning was a homeless man, he would probably be confronted not with awe, but with profanity-laced grunts and the sole of a shoe that might be thick with phlegm.

  "I'll need to make inquiries, but there's not much hope, or at least not much chance without a change in policy on international affairs in the short term."

  He was quick to give his conclusion, there had actually been a lot of offers so far of wanting to trade internationally, but the World War had just ended and no one knew if an accidental border walkout would once again send the war sweeping across the world.

  So it would take some time to wait and see, but His Excellency the Mayor wasn't telling the truth, and the top brass within the Progressive Party had decided that the World War had basically come to an end.

  It's not that everyone has become civilized, it's that most of the countries involved in the war have fought their way out of the dog's head, and they no longer have the ability to continue fighting unless they really want to die.

  In the current world situation, war is to fight the overall strength of a country's thickness, the thickness of the fight is gone, even can not afford to build bullets, what is there to fight?

  However, the Conservative Party, which was founded on the isolation policy and has achieved some results, does not think so, or they have also shared the same view with the Progressive Party, but thanks to the peace that the isolation policy has brought to the Federation, as well as the political gains that this policy has brought, for the time being they are not willing to give up on this policy before they have realized all the influence of the isolation policy into political potential, so the isolation will need to continue for some time yet .

  As for the internal, in fact, has been loosened, but this kind of loosening will never let the ordinary people know, don't look at the Conservative Party's President all day on the TV to attack the Progressive Party's "crooked reasoning", the Progressive Party's leader also on the TV to say that the Conservative Party's President is a pig, the two parties in fact, at a certain level, but there is still some common ground.

  Ah, I forgot again, there's also the Federation Socialist Party, but that's okay, they're so used to being forgotten that sometimes the newspapers just say "two parties" instead of "three parties". (I'm fictionalizing three parties here.)

  If the Mayor really wants to do this, he may not be able to do it, but he doesn't think it's a good idea for him to use his favors to do it for Lynch and not get much in return.

  Sometimes politics was a headache, but sometimes it was so simple, so simple that it was just a learning curve compared to size.

  Lynch wasn't too surprised by this conclusion as he continued to cut the steak with elegant demeanor and said in a casual tone, "If I can get the free trade rights, I can take care of the problems left over after the Ristoan group left, with regards to employment, for you."

  He put a piece of juicy beef in his mouth, the gravy splattering as his lips and teeth closed and chewed, it felt so good, "Maybe even a little more, we could keep the unemployment rate pressed down, and I'm also sure that the more things go on like this now, the more people will be happy to work, don't you think?"

  Don't have to ask to know that if there is a suitable ... job, or even a job that isn't suitable but gets paid, everyone is willing to work, even if it's a bit tiring and dirty, they don't care.

  There is a job at least there is income, at least can still maintain life, if even the income is gone, their past ten years, decades or even generations of talent accumulated wealth, a moment will be evaporated.

  It's cruel, but mercy won't save the day.

  "Is the import/export business so profitable?" , the mayor was a bit shocked, if the import and export trade could bring such a big profit, then maybe this would become an important policy for the Progressive Party to cleanly finish off the Conservative Party, just implement the open policy, this was too simple.

  Lynch laughed, the smile penetrated something that made the mayor's heart jump, the smile displayed on the face of the young man in front of him who had a head full of hair wax and wore a big back hairstyle to make himself look more mature, but in reality he was only twenty years old, like some of the big politicians and big capitalists he had once seen, penetrated with a kind of contemptuous smile that penetrated the hearts of the people and the world.

  But before, these smiles only appeared on the bodies of old men, now, it appeared on the body of a young man who could be his own son.

  Lynch put down his knife and fork and picked up a napkin to dab the juices from his mouth, the smile on his face had not disappeared from the beginning, but had become clearer and clearer.

  He pressed his hands into the two corners of the table and leaned back slightly, stretching his upper body, he was about the same size as the mayor, a little taller, but the way he was sitting now gave the mayor something surprisingly oppressive.

  "This has to do with the second trouble I'm facing, interested in hearing about it?"

  The mayor put down his knife and fork even in the silence, he reached out to pick up his goblet and drink a little to ease the tension that had somehow come over him, but he withdrew his hand when he saw the bright red liquid that looked like blood and nodded, "Perhaps I would be interested."

  "I intend to change the current method of employment, no longer assume the standard of minimum hours and so on, and change the employment more into cooperation ...," Lynch's words made the mayor's eyebrows clench together again.

  The Minimum Hourly Wage Act had been enacted for many years, and every year it would be amended once according to the price level and then publicized to the whole society, and all the business owners, factory owners, as long as they were employing other people to do their work anyway, all of them had to abide by this act.

  Each worker must not work less than 60 hours per week, but no more than 72 hours per week.

  If a factory or workplace schedules less than 60 hours of work, they are paid according to the minimum hourly wage law, except for the hours that are validly worked, which are paid according to the hourly wage of the employment contract.

  This means that if a factory hires a worker and doesn't let him work, it ends up paying the other person every month according to the minimum hourly wage law.

  If it exceeds 72 hours, then the salary will be paid according to the overtime hourly wage, and the current minimum standard of overtime hourly wage in the Federation of Baylor is 120% of the ordinary working hours, which is the minimum standard.

  Overall this greatly protects the legitimate interests of the workers, and when this bill was announced and passed through Congress, all the working class and the lower and middle classes rejoiced over it, and some even took the newspaper to their factory owners and business owners, and read the contents of it to the hateful capitalists in front of their faces.

  People say that this is a law that protects the working class, but in fact it protects the capitalists, which of course is a different matter.

  Since the inception of the Act, many people have proved with huge fines and bankruptcies that it's a line that can't be touched, and there is a "punitive sentencing/punishment standard" guideline that exists in the Baylor Federation's judicial system.

  This standard is used when the court feels that a person needs to be punished severely so that he or she and the community realize that there are certain mistakes that cannot be made, and that a fine of $10,000 may become a million dollars.

  Let's say what would have been only a 1 year sentence all of a sudden skyrockets to 5 years, 10 years or something like that, and the purpose of doing that is to punish and set an example.

  Lynch's words made the mayor a little nervous all of a sudden, one slip up could set off a chain of events, a protest march by the workers then turning into a mob demonstration, and in the end it could all become a riot.

  It was important to realize that although these people at the bottom of society were indeed pitiful at times, they would more often than not do things that would make people angry, for example, they would blame their misfortunes on the unfairness of society and the unfriendliness of other people, they wouldn't look for the problems in themselves.

  Lynch would trigger this trait of theirs, and they would think that their unemployment was a result of the inaction or even persecution of capitalists or even politicians, and when the time came, it would be another storm.

  Not waiting for Lynch to finish, he interrupted, "Your idea is dangerous, Lynch, one slip up and this will be a big mistake, and then even if I'm willing to give you a hand, I won't be able to pull you."

  "There are some things you can touch, even if you fail people will forgive you because you are a young man."

  "But there are some things you can't touch, no matter if you're young or not, whether it's intentional or not, as long as you touch it, you'll be a sinner!"