mtl008 Chapter 4414 Project Farstar (32)
Chapter 4414 Project Farstar (32)
Chapter 4414 Project Far Star (Thirty-Two)
With the enactment of the new tax law and the concerted efforts of the IRS, the Justice League, and the Sky Eye Society, the United States has essentially returned to the path of state capitalism before Christmas. More specifically, this is capitalism with strong state intervention, the so-called "visible hand."
The free market emphasized by capitalism is actually a redistribution of social resources through the market itself. But as you can imagine, this redistribution is inherently inertial.
Just like the Kent family farm, when taxes and subsidies are high, farmers can only rely on farm revenue; but once mandatory subsidies are eliminated, farmers will not reinvest cash in production, but instead use it for financial purposes.
This is not because they are bad, nor because they are stupid; it is simply the nature of the free market.
Think about it: after a year of toiling in the fields, from dawn till dusk, even though American agriculture is largely mechanized, the busy farming season is still incredibly exhausting. Even if you don't have to cultivate or harvest yourself, all sorts of farm chores will take up most of a farmer's time. In the end, after a year of hard work, the money you earn is limited, and most of it has to be spent preparing for the following year's production, leaving you with very little money left over.
However, if you invest all your earnings in the financial market in a given year, and the market is booming, you can become incredibly wealthy instantly, potentially earning more in one year than in ten. During periods of financial inflation, making a fortune through finance is simply the easiest thing in the world.
Especially for farmers and factory owners with real businesses, they can obtain a considerable amount of capital by selling their assets. After investing in the financial market, the profits are much higher than those from running a real business.
People are naturally inclined to seek profit and avoid harm. If they can get rich by simply watching the stock market and moving their fingers, why would they bother to work? In those days, many people would choose to sell their real businesses and gamble in the financial market.
The properties they sell off are then acquired by large landowners. For example, Bill Gates, who owns an astonishing amount of land, acquired much of it from these property owners who sold off their assets. The harms of land consolidation are self-evident, but at the national level, the biggest problem is that these large landowners and monopolists will not invest more money in production; instead, they will continue to create bubbles through their properties, leading to deindustrialization.
It can be said that pure free-market capitalism will become increasingly unproductive, leading more and more people to blow the same bubble until it eventually bursts, leaving behind a mess.
Capitalism, regulated by the state, can better avoid this problem. While maintaining a free market, it can also maintain the share of real industries through various policies, thus preventing financial bubbles from becoming too large.
Some might argue that the right path was paved by the emergence of an excellent leader, but the reality is quite the opposite. It was the appearance of a sufficiently powerful enemy that forced them to choose a leader who would follow this path, and then embark on that path themselves.
Because that was during wartime, and the Far East was already a formidable force. The pressures of war and ideology forced them to take this path. And the same is true today.
Although ideological confrontation has disappeared, the pressure of war is far greater than before. They are not facing humans like themselves, but Martians who are far superior to them in both physical strength and technological development. Therefore, the leader elected this time is stronger and more capable, and the policies are implemented more thoroughly.
To put it bluntly, it no longer resembles state capitalism. To use a song lyric to describe it, it's like "When I grew up, I became you."
It must be said that this is actually a kind of path dependence. Under Bruce's leadership, the Justice League's colossal lie cannot be said to be completely without flaws. However, because of past experience, no one bothered to investigate carefully, and they acted impulsively in a wave of emotion, which can also be described as being crippled by a single deception.
Of course, it could also be because the fabricated story isn't important; what matters are the tangible evidence on Earth that surpasses human technological capabilities. Ultimately, even a nail couldn't be made by humans. Regardless of who's behind it, if they dare to do this, wiping out humanity is just a matter of a wave of their hand; the pressure remains the same.
Nevertheless, Bruce prepared a great deal of detailed evidence, such as more and more photos of Martian cities, some Martian artworks that had been lost on Earth, and even some well-preserved home videos that they found in Martian cities.
This did not bring humans peace of mind; instead, it intensified their panic. They realized that Martians were very similar to them, and humans themselves knew perfectly well how anti-human they were. Therefore, Martians, being so similar to humans, would certainly not hesitate to turn against them. The imagined alien saints did not exist; the only possible outcome between them was either mutual annihilation or mutual annihilation.
As more and more details were released, it caught Clark's attention. He was also quite curious about Martian civilization, and unlike ordinary humans, Mars was very close to him; one could practically jump right up to it.
He didn't go before because being president was quite busy. Even just sitting in the office signing documents was a lot to do. He also had to give interviews, deliver speeches, handle diplomatic events, and so on. He was so busy that he didn't even have half an hour to rest.
On the other hand, he was not entirely confident in facing the Martian civilization, because the three nails the Martians had driven into Earth had proven that their basic scientific level was very high, and they at least had materials that could completely evade their lasers, so they might not be far behind in terms of weaponry.
His physical abilities are indeed impressive; he can even use magical energy and is partially immune to kryptonite, but he is not invincible. If his opponent possesses a sufficiently powerful weapon, he will inevitably suffer injury.
If he were just a superhero like before, he would risk injury to test the waters. But he is now president, carrying the hopes of all humanity. If he falls behind against the Martians and they launch a media offensive, panic will erupt on the human side, and newly implemented policies may be shaken. He cannot take that risk.
After much deliberation, Clark decided to go and take a look, but not in a grand manner; he had to go secretly. Fortunately, after a period of training, his mastery of magical energy had become increasingly refined. He could use magical energy to conceal himself, and under normal circumstances, he wouldn't be discovered. Even if he was discovered, he could escape.
So Clark took half a day off, which happened to be the afternoon of Christmas Eve. He quietly went to the vicinity of the Martian city.
While Martian city was already quite eye-catching, what actually drew Clark's attention first was the enormous spaceship hovering above it. This must be the Martians' flagship, right?
Although the spaceship's art style differed slightly from the city below, art style doesn't tell the whole story. What truly captivated Clark was that the spaceship blocked his senses. Clark's super-sensory abilities were completely unable to penetrate it.
That's why, when Clark approached Mars City and didn't find any signs of life there, he didn't think that Mars City was deserted. Instead, he assumed that the Martian civilization's materials science was so advanced that it could shield his senses, which was why he couldn't detect the Martians' presence.
Clark actually preferred entering the mainship to directly enter the Martian city, because he was more worried about the main guns. He believed that only the main guns' firepower could harm him, so once inside the mainship, the main guns would definitely be unable to fire at him. Moreover, there were more people in the city, and their combat strength was likely higher. Although the mainship was powerful in space combat, there might not actually be many people inside.
Thinking this, Clark gradually approached the spaceship. He certainly didn't dare go through the main gate. Fortunately, these flagships all had drop-off points for escort ships. He circled the bottom of the spaceship and found a boarding gate. The materials here weren't as strong, so he pried open a corner and squeezed inside.
The spaceship was huge, dimly lit, and could even block perception. Clark wandered around underground for ages, almost unable to find his way out. Luckily, he found a vent for the air circulation system and used it to reach the upper level.
Upon reaching the upper level, Clark sensed something was amiss. From the videos, the Martians appeared to be roughly the same size as humans, but the various facilities within the spaceship didn't seem designed for humanoid beings of that size. Some items were practically gigantic in size, making them inconvenient even for Martians.
Not to mention the lighting design here is a complete mess; it doesn't look like it was designed for a race whose primary sense is sight. Martians may be able to read minds, but they still need to see where they're going. What good does making the cabin pitch black do them?
As Clark made his way towards the center of the spaceship, he finally heard some noise. He became tense, continuing to conceal himself with magic as he cautiously approached the area ahead.
As you get closer, the sounds become clearer; it seems like people are walking around, and there's even the sound of eating. There might be conversation too, but it's not very clear.
As they continued walking, the lighting finally improved. However, Clark keenly noticed that some of the lights had been added later, the models of which were completely different from the originals, and the wiring was also added later. Although the wiring was done relatively neatly, it couldn't escape his eyes.
Continuing forward, they finally escaped the darkness and returned to a region of normal brightness for humans, which made Clark feel momentarily disoriented. The scene that unfolded in the brightly lit hall left him completely dumbfounded.
At this moment, in the center of the spacious and bright hall stood a huge Christmas tree, adorned with all sorts of exquisite decorations. Beneath the tree were piles of gift boxes and dolls, all the walls were covered with colorful lights, and Christmas wreaths hung on the cabin doors.
A young man with a youthful face sat on the sofa packing gifts; a tall, green-skinned man carefully stacked Oreo towers in front of the kitchen island; a green figure flew to the top of the Christmas tree and placed a shining star on it; a tall, hairy man was stuffing spices into a turkey while wearing gloves; a black man with half his body flashing with mechanical light was adjusting the colored lights on the wall; three women were setting the table—one was holding the table runner, one was placing a vase, and one was tidying up the tableware; while a man with white sideburns and another man in a suit were selecting red wine in front of the wine cabinet.
With a "thud," the star in my hand fell to the ground, the Oreo tower collapsed, the ribbons on the gift box came undone, the turkey's belly was punched through, the colored lights went out with a "whoosh," the plate fell to the ground, and the vase shattered all over the floor.
Only the figure holding the red wine turned around, looked at Clark, and smiled, saying, "You've come."