Chapter 591: Sadness and Joy (Subscription Request)

America is furious!

Why have oil prices gone up again?

As the world's largest oil consumer and the world's largest oil importer, although the United States' annual oil production ranks second in the world, and its daily oil production even exceeds 10 million barrels, it is still far from being able to meet its own oil supply. , every day the United States has to import a large amount of oil from all over the world.

Rising oil prices will have the greatest impact on the United States, because the United States has to pay the most.

In recent years, the U.S. government has tried its best to curb inflation. The U.S. dollar interest rate hike cycle has been nearly ten years, which has sucked the U.S. dollars out of the hands of Latin American countries. Even now, they are still deep in economic crisis. In addition to raising interest rates, the U.S. government also issued a large amount of national debt. From the time Reagan took office to the present, the U.S. national debt has snowballed.

By raising U.S. dollar interest rates, issuing large amounts of national debt, and overissuing U.S. dollars, the United States has transferred the crisis to the world and made the world pay for it.

It's fine now, but before I can take a breath, the price of oil has risen again.

Reagan, who had been criticized a lot over the years, was so angry that he slammed the table and cursed, without caring about his own image.

If Reagan was high-spirited when he first came to power, in recent years he has become so disgraced that he lost both houses of Congress, became a lame duck, was constrained, and could not accomplish anything.

Countless Americans regard him as a worse president than Hoover.

This is an election year. According to the situation, the Republicans don't even have to choose against the Democrats, they can simply surrender.

"Old man, we need to send warships to escort and ensure the safety of our merchant ships!" Reagan said to his partner Bush.

Bush nodded and said, "Old man, I support you!"

Bush gave up business and entered politics in 1964. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 1966 and served as a member of the House of Representatives for two full terms. During the Nixon era, he was first appointed by Nixon as representative to the United Nations, and then was appointed U.S. ambassador to the United Nations the following year. In 1972 and 1973, he served as chairman of the National Council of the Republic. In 1974, he was appointed by Ford as director of the U.S. Liaison Office in Beijing.

And Bush also served as the director of the CIA.

In 1980, he partnered with Reagan and successfully became the vice president of the United States. In these years, Bush has greatly assisted Reagan in domestic and foreign affairs. He was trusted and valued by Reagan and was called the "best vice president."

And this year, he is relying on years of accumulation to compete for the throne of the White House.

It’s just that it’s very unfavorable for his election now, because Reagan’s two terms have done too badly in recent years. Inflation has never come down, U.S. debt has snowballed, and the depreciation of the U.S. dollar is obvious to all, and the people can feel it very much.

The American people were dissatisfied with Reagan, so naturally they would not have a favorable impression of him.

But in recent years, the Bush family's business has grown bigger and bigger.

As early as 1951, Bush founded the Bush-Overby Petroleum Development Company. In 1953, he co-founded the Zapata Petroleum Company. In 1954, he founded the Zapata Offshore Petroleum Company.

Although he gave up business and entered politics, it does not mean that his family gave up business. They are still rooted in the business world. The Bush family's industries have spread to oil, banks, military enterprises and even sports projects.

The sharp rise in oil prices has harmed U.S. interests. But for oil companies, that is absolutely positive.

Just look at the stock prices of U.S. oil companies that have risen sharply in recent years, and their market values ​​have reached new highs.

Not only the United States, but Europe is also troubled by this.

Originally, Europe imported oil mainly from the Middle East, North Africa and the Soviet Union.

The United States beat Libya hard before, and Libya's oil fields and ports were bombed. Construction has not been resumed yet, so oil exports are naturally out of the question.

And because of high oil prices, they had to import oil from the Soviet Union. Because the Soviet Union's oil was close to each other and a lot of it was through oil pipelines, the freight was low and the overall price was also low.

Now that a ship attack war has broken out between Iran and Iraq, prices have risen again, and oil supplies from the Persian Gulf to Europe are bound to be affected.

Faced with this situation, some European countries had to increase their oil imports from the Soviet Union.

In some aspects, it had to cooperate with the Soviet Union.

For example, in recent years, West Germany's voice in calling for German reunification has significantly decreased.

I don’t know when the Berlin Wall will fall.

At this time, the United States contacted its European allies to escort the Persian Gulf together.

Japan is full of joy and sorrow!

Fortunately, because of the appreciation of the yen, Japan has an advantage in importing oil; sadly, as oil prices rise, oil supply is affected, and Japan also suffers.

For Japan, which lacks oil, it has to rely on imported oil.

Therefore, Japan has always attached great importance to oil.

If there is great joy, it is the Soviet Union.

Now the Soviet Union's foreign trade, the proportion of revenue generated from oil exports has exceeded 70%. When the Soviet Union produces, it can not only satisfy its own needs, supply allies, but also sell to Europe.

Europe was the largest buyer of Soviet oil.

Moreover, through oil, the two sides are no longer at war with each other as before, and many matters can be resolved through dialogue.

The Iran-Iraq ship attack war broke out and oil prices rose, affecting oil supply. The Soviet Union's oil export trade could also make more money, and the Soviet Union could have more initiative and advantages.

It can be said that the Soviet Union has been doing well in recent years. The most important factor is that the oil trade can earn huge profits, which makes the Soviet Union seem chaotic but not out of control when carrying out internal reforms.

Moreover, the trade with China is constantly increasing, and China's light industrial products are pouring into the Soviet Union, which also prevents the Soviet Union from reaching the point where it is out of control.

Now the Soviet Union and the United States are of the same weight, brothers in distress, and their lives are not as good as before.

The Reagan administration was criticized and rated as the worst government in history, even worse than Hoover.

The current leadership of the Soviet Union is not much different. Gorbachev, who has reached the highest position at a young age, does not have enough prestige to convince the public. The bigwigs are fighting for power and profit, and the struggle is fierce, which makes the Soviet Union have no energy to focus on the outside.

Otherwise, given the current situation in the United States, the Soviet Union would have launched waves of attacks on the United States or the Western camp long ago.

In terms of struggle methods, the Soviet Union is not weak at all.

Moreover, the Soviet Union has a very special status in the minds of workers all over the world, and its appeal is amazing.

Now the Soviet Union wants to end the Afghan war and withdraw from the battlefield in a dignified manner. The rise in oil prices will allow the Soviet Union to have more money to provide pensions and clean up the mess behind. At the same time, the Soviet Union exports oil, taking the initiative and advantage, and can better realize the experience launch, rather than stage a "Saigon moment".

Gorbachev began to prepare for his visit to China in a good mood, so that the relationship between the Soviet Union and China can be truly normalized.

China is carrying out reform and opening up, and Gorbachev is also launching reform and opening up in the Soviet Union, intending to get the Soviet Union out of trouble.