Chapter 351 The President Wants to Take Over
Panama is very important to the national interests of the United States. Does Rosen need to explain this here? Sheffield understands this better than anyone else. If he really didn't understand, he wouldn't have made this decision. It is precisely because he understands this very well that he seizes on this point and deliberately embarrasses the federal government.
It would be fine if we didn't talk about national interests. Talking about national interests would only encourage the arrogance of slave owners. If the federal government couldn't give a satisfactory price, Sheffield would really sell the Panama Canal to the Germans. As for national interests, who cares? This is not the Confederate States of America.
Therefore, this communication was doomed to be fruitless. No matter what Rosen said, even if he asked Sheffield to consider selling to other domestic companies, he did not get a positive response and finally left Rockefeller Manor in disappointment.
"Your goal is to sell the Panama Canal to the federal government?" Little Rockefeller, who appeared again, seemed to have come to his senses and told Sheffield his purpose.
"Who told you?" Sheffield was very surprised. The last time, Rockefeller Jr. didn't have this understanding.
Young Rockefeller blushed slightly. Who else could it be? It was naturally the real controller of the Rockefeller family, his father, old Rockefeller. It was old Rockefeller who said that the real purpose of the slave owners was to let Roosevelt buy the Panama Canal in the name of the country and clean up the mess for the United Company.
However, Rockefeller Jr. was still a little skeptical as to whether it could really become a reality. After all, the United Company had caused such a huge amount of negative news, and now the country was stepping in to clean up the mess for a private enterprise. There seemed to be no precedent for this.
It's just that Rockefeller Jr. didn't know that in the later United States, private enterprises made trouble and forced the United States to take over. Although there were not many, it did happen. It mainly depends on whether the industry under the control is really important to the country.
Sheffield's industry may not be very important, but he is sure that the Panama Canal is very important to the United States, and President Roosevelt is a president who attaches great importance to sea power. The Panama Canal is very important to the east and west coasts. The combination of a large navy and this canal can realize Roosevelt's dream.
"But can Roosevelt agree to it?" Rockefeller Jr. felt that Sheffield was thinking things too simply, and he still had reservations about whether this matter could succeed.
"If he doesn't agree, I'll just sell it to the Germans. It doesn't matter." Sheffield was not in a hurry and said casually, "Our president should understand one thing. Only when our big companies benefit can the country become strong. Big companies are the pillars of the country. To destroy this pillar is to weaken your own country. John, I thought of a good way to destroy the public education system. I just thought of it. Let's talk about it."
Rockefeller Jr. smiled helplessly, but this matter was indeed very important. "Let me hear your good ideas."
When did the public system of the United States, especially public education, collapse? In fact, it took big companies much longer to take over public education than public hospitals. Public health care was killed long before public schools.
Although public schools have long been the focus of attack by large corporations, they eventually destroyed the public education system in an unexpected way: the teachers' union of the United States.
The United States public education, once a model for the world's education system, now ranks last among developed countries in both natural science and reading ability. Behind this collapse is the rise of a huge interest group called the teachers' union.
The United States is a country that has to hold elections, and the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers are the two largest campaign sponsors in the United States, with a total amount exceeding that of the Teamsters and the National Rifle Association. The teachers' union has used this influence to exchange for huge guarantees. The probability of having the licenses of doctors and lawyers, two other respected and beloved professions in the United States, being revoked is about 1%.
However, public school teachers automatically receive tenure after two years of teaching, which has nothing to do with teaching quality. At the same time, once you get this qualification, you can almost live on it for life. The probability of having your teaching certificate revoked is one in 2,500, which is 25 times lower than that of doctors and lawyers.
"We can promote legislation to protect teachers in public schools. This will surely be welcomed by teachers across the country. Then we can set up a teachers' union to protect the basic rights and interests of teachers. In this process, the private universities that you and I form an alliance with will poach all the good teachers and pay them much higher salaries than teachers in public universities. In this way, there will still be a large number of teachers left for public universities, but there will be no good teachers, and things will be much easier to handle." Sheffield talked and talked, and finally solved the mystery. If you want to destroy the public education system, you must first turn the teaching staff into garbage. Students taught by garbage will naturally remain garbage.
Basic protection for teachers is a must. You can't catch a wolf without sacrificing children. At the beginning, you must give up some interests in exchange for long-term benefits.
The income of teachers in public schools is not high, and it can even be said to be very low and fixed. It doesn't matter whether you do a good job or a bad job. The difficulty and environment of the work are getting worse with the polarization of the rich and the poor in society, which has led to the extreme situation of teachers' passiveness and sabotage for a long time. Even if there are ideal and capable teachers, they can only waste their enthusiasm and energy in such an environment where the inferior survives the superior. The increasing number of bad teachers has also increased the teaching burden of good teachers, thus putting the school into a vicious cycle.
The collapse of the public system in the United States actually happened to coincide with the Republic. But in fact, when it started, it was the peak period of the Soviet Union. It's just that the consequences take time to manifest, and the Soviet Union didn't see that day. During the Cold War period of total confrontation, the United States was obviously slowly decaying, while the Soviet Union's situation was special, and it was directly brain dead.
Now Sheffield feels that he can enter this stage directly from the source. After all, as a slave owner, he does not want to see his own class being impacted. This is much more important than whether the United States will become stronger sooner.
First of all, you have to consider your own class issue. Once your class is stable, if you still have spare energy, it will not be too late to care about the country's well-being.
If Roosevelt knew that two of the richest men in the United States were discussing how to destroy the public education system, he would definitely be very angry. In fact, the President in the White House was also angry.
The source of his anger was the lack of decency and the intention to sell the Panama Canal to the German slave owners. Sheffield's estimate was not wrong at all. Roosevelt really valued the status of the Panama Canal. When the United Company obtained the right to dig the canal from the French, Roosevelt once expressed his appreciation to Sheffield in private with his friends, but now it seems that his appreciation was wrong.
If Sheffield sold the canal from the French to the even more difficult to deal with Germans, then this matter would become very difficult to handle, as it is obvious that the Germans are difficult to deal with.
"William refused and sold the canal company to a domestic enterprise. What he meant was that there were not many domestic companies that had the strength to take over the canal company. Each of them was a competitor of the United Company. If the company's strength increased greatly through the canal, he would not be able to sleep well." Looking at the telegram sent back by Rosen, Roosevelt was so angry that his liver hurt. He had a new understanding of the selfish Sheffield.
Roosevelt was worried. He didn't want to see the Panama Canal fall into the hands of the Germans. He once had the idea of using the power of the country to confiscate the Panama Canal.
However, the United Company is not as easy to deal with as the coal cartel, and the Panama Canal is not a domestic project after all. If this is done, it will affect the country's reputation.
The United Company had a large private armed force abroad, which Roosevelt saw with his own eyes in Cuba during the Spanish-American War. He witnessed this private armed force replacing the army and first landing on Cuban soil. If the Panama Canal was forcibly confiscated, the United Company would resist.
Then President Roosevelt would most likely set a record by using national forces and private enterprises to fight a civil war. Let's not talk about whether he would win or not. Even if he won, if one day he was no longer president, he would have to follow the example of Lincoln.
"Let Rosen talk to the United Company. If there are any operational difficulties due to the Panama Canal, the federal government can provide help. Feel free to ask. If you really don't want to continue operating..." Roosevelt hesitated and finally gritted his teeth and said, "You can sell the canal management company to the state. This is all negotiable."
The next day at Rockefeller Estate, Sheffield met Rosen again. Since the other party appeared for the second time, it proved the slave owner's judgment that President Roosevelt in the White House did not want the ownership of the Panama Canal to become Germany.
"In fact, President Roosevelt knows clearly the role of Mr. William in the country and the importance of the United Company to the economy." Rosen said carefully, "The president has said many times that Mr. William is a representative of patriotic businessmen."
"Of course, I can talk, and I can be patriotic." Sheffield crossed his legs and changed the subject, "But the premise is that I have the ability to be patriotic. I can't be patriotic on an empty stomach, right? If the United Company is in financial difficulties, how can I have time to be patriotic? The United Company suffered a great loss in this attack, and I hope the federal government can understand this. I have no choice. The Germans are also a good buyer and will not let me suffer a loss."
Rosen frowned secretly, as if the businessman in front of him didn't listen to his words.
(End of this chapter)
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