Celine Dion accompanied Du Wei to the room that Schwarzenegger had prepared for her. Schwarzenegger personally brought Li Mu to his room and enthusiastically introduced the layout of the room and the placement of various items.
The room that Schwarzenegger had arranged for Li Mu was a very large suite. Outside the bedroom, there was a small, luxuriously decorated living room.
Li Mu felt that Schwarzenegger might have something to say to him, so he invited Schwarzenegger to sit down on the sofa in the living room. He smiled and asked him, "Arnold, you're going to be governor soon. How do you feel?"
Schwarzenegger crossed his arms, leaned forward, and put his elbows on his legs. He said seriously, "To be honest, I'm very excited now, but I'm also very nervous."
Li Mu smiled and asked him, "What are you nervous about?"
Schwarzenegger said, "California is so dazzling in the United States, and its development in various fields is among the best in the United States. However, only when you really go deep into it will you know how many problems there are inside. I'm worried that I'm not capable enough to make California develop better."
As he spoke, Schwarzenegger asked Li Mu, "Mr. Li, as an extremely successful businessman, do you have any good suggestions?"
Li Mu smiled and said, "I'm not very interested in politics, so I haven't done much research. However, Hua Xia had a great thinker who put forward a concept of governing more than 2,000 years ago. It was called governing by doing nothing. It meant that you should try not to interfere too much with the people and let the people exert their own creativity. Don't think about leading them forward, but encourage them to go as far as possible under a reasonable and legal framework."
After that, Li Mu added, "In fact, to put it bluntly, it's to give the people, especially entrepreneurs, the opportunity to let go of their hands and feet. You have to be a shepherd dog, protect the sheep, but don't disturb the sheep too much. Only when individual sheep make mistakes will you intervene. Don't try to be a leader. There are tens of millions of people in California, and you can't lead them."
Schwarzenegger did not quite understand the meaning of Li Mu's words. He hesitated for a moment and asked, "Mr. Li, can you give me some more specific suggestions? For example, how I should reduce California's fiscal deficit and make its economy develop faster and better?"
Li Mu smiled and said, "Arnold, I believe that your advisors have already thought of countless suggestions for you. They are more professional than me, so their suggestions are far better in theory and practice than mine."
After a pause, Li Mu continued, "That's why I can't give you a specific solution to your problem. However, I can give you some suggestions on a broader level for your reference."
Schwarzenegger hurriedly nodded and said seriously, "Please go ahead."
Li Mu said, "First of all, the first suggestion. Don't just think about solving California's fiscal deficit by reducing all kinds of expenses. It's like a family. Most of the energy should be focused on how to make money, not how to save money. If your aides are bent on reducing expenses and trying to reduce the deficit through various means, they will only get a bigger and fiercer rebound in the future."
In Li Mu's impression, when Schwarzenegger came to power, he was full of ambition to reduce the government's expenditure. As a result, he failed to reduce the deficit. On the contrary, it increased a lot. This was also the key reason why the people pointed at Schwarzenegger's incompetence.
Therefore, since Schwarzenegger had been elected, there was really no need to rack his brains to reduce spending. It was better to do something else.
Schwarzenegger was a little taken aback. What his advisor was focusing on right now was exactly what Li Mu had warned him not to do.
He said a little awkwardly, "Mr. Li, to tell you the truth, we are now thinking about how to reduce the overall spending of the California government and reduce the government deficit …"
Li Mu smiled and said, "Your advisors are like aircraft manufacturers. They see fiscal spending as the weight of the aircraft. They only want to make the aircraft as light as possible under the premise of ensuring that it does not crash. Light is good, but it may not be suitable for your situation."
Schwarzenegger nodded lightly and said, "I will definitely arrange time to communicate with my advisors and members of Congress about this."
Li Mu nodded and said, "The second suggestion is to strengthen the cooperation with Hua Xia, both at the government level and the private level.
"I am giving you this suggestion not because I am Hua Xia's man, but because you must unwaveringly believe that Hua Xia will become the world's second largest economy in the next ten years, surpassing the United Kingdom, Germany, and Japan. Therefore, for so many states in the United States, whoever runs the fastest will benefit the most."
Schwarzenegger stared at Li Mu, looking forward to what he would say next.
Li Mu said, "In fact, California is particularly suitable to be the first to have in-depth contact with Hua Xia. California has a cultural carrier like Hollywood and a large number of excellent cultural and artistic works that are not considered exports. Hua Xia has the world's largest population and the most potential market. It is easy for both sides to find ways to deepen the cooperation and then mutually benefit. However, this needs you as the governor to promote it. Like a shepherd dog, you drive your sheep to the most fertile grassland. You don't have to worry about the rest, they will open their mouths and eat desperately.
"In addition, California also has Silicon Valley, the world's IT center. There are so many high-tech companies that need a bigger market, cheaper labor, and lower costs. Believe me, at this stage, there is no place more suitable than Hua Xia. The traditional manufacturing industry in the United States has long begun to develop towards Hua Xia, but the high-tech industry has moved much slower. You can think of a way to promote it."
Schwarzenegger thought for a moment and nodded gently. He asked Li Mu, "Mr. Li, if I want to strengthen the economic cooperation between California and Hua Xia, can you provide me with some help?"
"Of course." Li Mu said with a smile, "I can help the entrepreneurs in California introduce Hua Xia's private entrepreneurs and help the American companies and Hua Xia's companies find more opportunities for cooperation."
As he spoke, Li Mu had an idea and said, "I think it's better that after you take office, I will come forward and organize a China-US Entrepreneur Forum with the California state government. We will delineate a few industries and first gather the entrepreneurs from both sides in this industry. We will get them to sit down in a banquet hall. We don't have to do anything else. They can create countless sparks on their own."
"If the first Entrepreneur Forum is successful, then we can consider adding a few new industries in the second forum, expand the scale of participating entrepreneurs, and then promote this forum to a higher level."
"At that time, the California state government can take the lead, unite banks, and large companies, and jointly establish a venture capital fund with the same name. It will be used to invest in the excellent projects in the forum. Not only will it support the development of American companies in Hua Xia, but it will also support Hua Xia's companies to test the waters in the United States. As long as the companies have needs, they can submit an application. This will not only improve the reputation of the California state government, but also increase the income of the California state government."
Schwarzenegger's eyes lit up and he blurted out, "Is this what you mean by governing by doing nothing?"
Li Mu said with a smile, "More or less. Be a good shepherd dog, drive the sheep that need to grow meat to the best pasture, and drive the sheep that need to mate to the best opposite sex."
Schwarzenegger was immediately tempted.
If he could organize an entrepreneur forum for American companies and Hua Xia's companies as Li Mu said, it would not only help the economic development of both sides, but it would also be a great political achievement for him to govern California.
Li Mu looked at Schwarzenegger, smiled faintly, and said, "Having said so much, I will talk about something personal next."
Schwarzenegger also sat up straight, nodded, and said, "Please speak, Mr. Lee."
Li Mu said, "I hope you can strengthen the cooperation between California and Hua Xia, not only because I firmly believe that Hua Xia will soon become the world's second largest economy, but also because I am from Hua Xia, and I also hope to be able to contribute to the economic development of Hua Xia.
"So, as long as you are friendly to Hua Xia during your term of office and seek common development with Hua Xia's companies, then I will definitely fully support you in governing California for the next four or eight years. I can invest one billion dollars or more to support this venture capital fund for Sino-American companies.
"Not only that, in the future, I will also increase the scale of my own investment in California, providing more tax revenue and jobs for California. However, as your partner and ally, I may also need you to provide me with certain conveniences in the future."
Schwarzenegger was excited to hear this. Not to mention anything else, just the entrepreneur forum that Li Mu mentioned, once successfully held, would bring him a lot of praise. After all, in the United States, there were not many states that could make such a big move.
For him, if he could really create a venture capital fund, it would naturally be a better situation.
As for what Li Mu said about needing him to provide certain conveniences in the future, this kind of thing was actually very common in the United States. It could even be said to be a common occurrence.
Whether it was the governor's election or the presidential election, behind it was inseparable the support of consortiums, companies, and families. When they invested a lot of money to help the candidate campaign, they had already negotiated with the other party for various chips.
Some of them wanted positions. Regardless of whether it was the president or the governor of the United States, they had the right to appoint their own people to some special positions. For example, the director of the CIA, the secretary of state, the chief justice, etc. Once the new president or governor took office, the new person in charge was likely to be a family member who supported the president's campaign.
Some of them wanted resources. For example, arms dealers in the United States would often invest large amounts of campaign funds for presidential candidates. This was so that after the election was successful, they could directly use the help of political policies to sell more guns to more ordinary people, or let the government and army purchase more of their own products. In short, it was all for money.
Schwarzenegger naturally knew that Li Mu naturally helped him in the election and helped him consolidate the public's opinion. Li Mu should also have his own personal demands.
If Li Mu had only helped him but never mentioned his own demands, Schwarzenegger would not have dared to cooperate with him. However, when Schwarzenegger found out that Li Mu had this demand, he was relieved.
In the world of adults, people preferred to make deals, not simply take things. After all, taking what you need was the best mode of cooperation.
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