Chapter 624 Uncertainty and Certainty

Liu Tao frowned slightly.

Americans are too shameless!

The market competitiveness of American products is not good. In the final analysis, it is because the labor cost in the United States is too high, the power of American unions is expanding, and the quality of products is not well controlled.

In other words, the market competitiveness of American products is not good. It is the problem of Americans themselves.

There are no Japanese products, but there are products from other countries.

In other words, what the Japanese are experiencing now may also happen to other countries in the future.

Liu Tao had to think that maybe China will also have this treatment in the future.

"It seems that the existence of the Soviet Union is still very necessary." Liu Tao said secretly.

With the Soviet Union, the United States is more or less restrained and dare not go too far.

Liu Tao remembered a very famous saying: After we leave, they will build hospitals and schools for you and increase your wages. This is not because they have a change of heart, nor because they have become good people, but because we have been here.

The pattern of the United States dominating the world is not a good pattern. It is best not to have hegemony.

Look at what the Americans did in the last life, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, how arrogant they were, deploying military forces all over the world, and doing countless things that would destroy their descendants.

The current United States is the most brutal to its lackeys, and will stab its allies from time to time, but it is relatively friendly to other countries.

After the Vietnam War, it invaded a small country, and then the country that was hit the hardest was Libya.

However, Libya was also because Colonel Ka was too happy, directly offending the United States, Britain, and Germany. Even the Soviet Union was dissatisfied with this little brother, because Colonel Ka was clearly on the side of the Soviet Union at that time, but he actually flirted with Western Europe.

This is why the Soviet Union was not too strong and intervened strongly in "Operation Prairie Fire" and "Operation Golden Canyon". It just protected Libya and prevented the United States from sending troops to occupy Libya.

In addition, the United States is more likely to solve problems through politics, and will not easily resort to force if it cannot solve them.

"I don't know if the Gulf War will break out again after Bush comes to power." Liu Tao muttered to himself with a thoughtful look on his face.

The Iran-Iraq War has not ended yet. Although the United States has been dissatisfied with Iraq, there is no hatred between the two countries.

Otherwise, if Iraq had sunk two US ships, the United States would have turned against it long ago.

Saddam and Bush had a good personal relationship. Bush helped Saddam rise. Before the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq War, Iraq received support from both the Soviet Union and the United States. It can be said that Bush made a lot of efforts on the American side.

As far as Liu Tao knows, the Bush family's oil business in Iraq is not small. Relying on the oil business over the years, the Bush family has made at least several billion dollars.

However, there is a fundamental contradiction between Iraq and the United States.

In the final analysis, it is about oil!

Or, it is the price of oil!

In order to suppress inflation, the United States has always wanted to lower the price of oil, but it has not been able to do so until now. An important factor is the Iran-Iraq War.

And Iraq has been able to support the war over the years, has not owed foreign debts, and has a lot of foreign exchange reserves. The most important thing is the price of oil!

So Iraq wants to maintain high oil prices.

Other OPEC oil-producing countries also hope to maintain high oil prices.

This is the fundamental contradiction between the two sides.

In the historical time and space, during the Iran-Iraq War, the United States persuaded Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other countries to increase oil production, thereby suppressing oil prices, even as low as $20 per barrel. At that time, Iraq bombed the ports of Abadan and Khomeini, causing Persia's oil production and exports to suffer a devastating blow. At that time, the oil production in other parts of Persia, let alone exports, was difficult to meet the national oil demand of Persia.

After being caught off guard in the early stages of the war, Persia quickly stabilized its front, and then through several counterattacks, it drove the Iraqi army out of Persian territory and spread the war to Iraq.

This led to Iraq's oil production being less than 1 million barrels.

The sharp drop in production and low oil prices meant that after eight years of the Iran-Iraq War, the two countries not only consumed all their original foreign exchange reserves, but also owed tens of billions of dollars in foreign debt.

At that time, Iraq owed Kuwait alone more than 10 billion US dollars.

Saddam was resentful of Kuwait's increase in oil production during the Iran-Iraq War, which led to a sharp drop in oil prices. He also wanted to default on the tens of billions of dollars he owed Kuwait and turn Kuwait into a province of Iraq, so that Iraq could have more oil and increase its voice in oil. Therefore, Saddam brazenly launched an invasion of Kuwait.

And this led to the Gulf War.

It can be said that it was Iraq's invasion of Kuwait that led to the United States launching the Gulf War.

The situation is completely different now.

Iraq's foreign exchange reserves are not as good as before the outbreak of the "Iraq-Iraq War", but they are still a lot, and it has not yet owed foreign debts.

Whether Saddam will invade Kuwait again is not certain.

It can be said that history has changed a lot.

This also makes Liu Tao look at history no longer according to his memory.

Of course, whether Saddam will have a brain twitch and brazenly launch a war to invade Kuwait is also uncertain.

As for Persia, because the ports of Abadan and Khomeini are still there and have not been bombed, and even the oil pipelines and oil wells have not been damaged, oil production and refining capacity have not declined, so middlemen are needed. However, oil revenues are not lower than before the war. In fact, Persia currently only owes some foreign debts to the United States.

"Iran-Iraq War" caused more casualties, equipment loss, and consumption of bullets and artillery shells.

With so many thoughts in mind, Liu Tao could no longer see the future clearly, as if the future was shrouded in a layer of fog.

There are already too many uncertainties in this world.

But one thing is certain, that is China!

China will continue to develop rapidly, and China will become stronger.

Liu Tao then returned his thoughts and focused his eyes on the picture on the wall.

The Shanghai-Shenzhen High-speed Railway consists of the Shanghai-Hangzhou High-speed Railway, the Hangzhou-Ningbo High-speed Railway, the Fuzhou-Ningbo High-speed Railway, the Fuzhou-Xiamen High-speed Railway, and the Xiamen-Shenzhen High-speed Railway. It starts at Hongqiao Station in Shanghai and ends at Pengcheng North Station. The entire line is 1,622 kilometers long.

Because there are a large number of hilly areas in Fujian Province, a large number of bridges and tunnels need to be built, and the cost is relatively high.

The total cost of the 1,622-kilometer high-speed railway is as high as 70 billion yuan, which is equivalent to the total cost of the "Beijing-Kowloon High-speed Railway". The cost per kilometer is as high as 43.16 million yuan, which also set a new record for China's railways.

Such a high cost is shocking, but Liu Tao knows that the later the construction, the higher the cost.

Even 20 years later, the cost per kilometer will exceed 100 million yuan.

The earlier the construction, the lower the investment cost.

Of course, the earlier, the less money.

But this is a gift, as a farewell gift.

Liu Tao picked up the phone and called the Ministry of Railways.

Liu Tao and Li Senmao called and asked them to carry out surveying, geological drilling and design work.

After all, surveying, geological drilling and design work also take a lot of time, so these can be carried out first.