Darkstone Code-Chapter 855 - 853: Neither Spicy, Nor Absurd, Nor Satirical
"Sorry, I’m too hungry!"
After swallowing the food in his mouth, Legislator Landon picked up a napkin to wipe his hands, removing the grease on his lips, and casually placed the napkin beside him.
"What project, about what aspect?"
Lynch handed a cigarette to Legislator Landon, and the two of them leaned their heads together to light it up. As Lynch spoke, he exhaled smoke, "The Military Appropriation Committee, the Ministry of Defense has set up a new budget, a little over thirty million, but this money won’t be handled by the Ministry of Defense’s own account, Congress has to allocate it..."
Sounds a bit messed up?
Actually, that’s perfectly normal.
Does the Ministry of Defense and the military have money?
The answer is yes, and plenty of it, so much that they don’t even know how to spend it all by the end of the year.
It’s only February now, you could say the year has just begun, part of last year’s budget was approved for this year, and a large amount of military funds will continue to be allocated.
In addition, a large number of active-duty soldiers were just discharged, allowing them to retire, but the budget seemingly forgot this event and still calculated based on the pre-major reduction scale.
But even though the military and the Ministry of Defense have more money than they know how to spend, they won’t use their own money to pay for orders outside their budget.
Like Lynch’s order, it’s not inside last year’s budget, so it needs to go through a process again, once the Military Committee believes the money needs to be spent, they’ll pay Lynch.
After all, the military also "has no money."
Here’s a joke, the generals at the Ministry of Defense say that every cent of the Ministry of Defense and military’s money already has a place to go, and the soldiers are so poor they can hardly afford bread.
Hmm, they’re not lying; they’re eating beef and lamb to the point of nausea, and it’s said the pasture procured is actually operated by the military itself...
Some things everyone knows in their hearts, but knowing is one thing, doing is another.
Congress members are unlikely to offend the military for the country’s and taxpayers’ money — the Ministry of Defense is the Ministry of Defense, the military is the military, sometimes they are united, but more often they are separate.
In Congress, these committees related to budget and appropriation don’t approve every application, occasionally rejecting some helps elevate their image among people, making them seem like the ultimate guardians of taxpayers and taxpayer money.
It also helps improve their status in Congress and even in the whole Federation political arena, knowing that the main members of those powerful committees are almost all Senators.
Someone said Congress is like a maze; if someone unfamiliar with the internal situation barges in, not only won’t they find a way out, they might not even have an opportunity to leave.
But once you understand the situation inside, Congress is home, legislators are brothers and sisters, nothing is unnegotiable.
"In relation to the Ministry of Defense...", Legislator Landon’s expression became a bit serious; the full name of the Military Appropriation Committee is "Federation Military Planning and Equipment Preparation Appropriation Committee."
This committee and the "Federation Military Budget Review Committee" tightly control how much funds the military can take from Congress each year.
One responsible for budget and one allocating based on the budget, clearly able to complete in one committee, but just to "reduce pitfalls" they’re split up, sometimes making people spend money twice on the same matter.
Truly wanting to control cannot be controlled, yet what shouldn’t be controlled requires running back and forth, that’s the sweet freedom and justice.
He thought for a moment, "The Military Appropriation Committee, the people here have a big appetite, you know, every year those Military Industrial Groups run there..."
Like the ship companies producing warships, casually picking out a "little boat" is a transaction worth tens of millions spanning two to three years.
The profits here are astonishing, they pay quite generously.
Also, the ordinary Military Equipment Group companies, regardless of Federation’s reduction in active soldiers, there are still hundreds of thousands, each person changes two sets of new clothes, two pairs of boots, a belt, a pair of gloves, some other items...
Just these alone bring tens of millions to hundred million orders every year, not to mention those big companies manufacturing weapons and ammunition, a military exercise is a loss of millions, these people always send money generously to Congress.
Lynch was already prepared, he thought for two or three seconds, holding the cigarette, "How much does my order need to feed them?"
Legislator Landon shook his head, seemingly feeling it’s somewhat excessive, "Three to five million as a starting point, specifically how to proceed, it’s hard to say."
His hands clasped together, forming fists, elbows pressed on the table edge, "You don’t have any advantage in this aspect, they might bite you hard, you should be mentally prepared."
"It won’t be too ugly.", Lynch chuckled twice, "Anyway, this matter is entrusted to you, if there’s anything specific, just call me, during this time, I’ll stay here and won’t leave temporarily."
As he spoke, he took out a promissory note from Golden Exchange Bank from his carrier bag, placed it in a dedicated folder, and handed it over.
"Five million, I’ll give you some extra reward once it’s done."
Looking at the folder pushed by Lynch, Legislator Landon tugged at his collar, suddenly feeling hot.
Five million, this isn’t a small number, now it’s lying in the folder in front of him.
The nature of a bank promissory note is convenient, not needing to verify any information, as long as the promissory note is genuine, it can be settled at any bank immediately.
They won’t ask the holder’s name, identity, where they got the promissory note, what the money will be used for, they only exchange the money for the promissory note holder.
As a party involved, Lynch cannot have direct interest exchanges with these Senators and Representatives, such pure and straightforward relationships are prohibited.
The process must be completed through third parties or even more parties, this is another industry with Federation characteristics unique to Bupen, not illegal but also not legal, considered as laundering but not fully so.
It has no exact name, but every year lots of money passes through these companies and changes form, flowing into countless private foundations in Bupen.
On a certain dividend day, it enters an account of a big figure, these big figures don’t even need to pay a cent of tax for this money — financial investment income isn’t taxed!
Death and taxes are inevitable?
That’s because you haven’t truly gained freedom yet!
The meal went quickly, after Lynch left, Legislator Landon didn’t immediately leave but continued enjoying the delicacies.
Recently, he ran to the western mountains to inspect environmental issues, the local food was very..., he thought he would miss the city due to its prosperity, but he didn’t expect the first time he intensely wanted to return to the city was due to the food.
While chewing a fifty-dollar portion of veal steak, inadvertently, a worker’s half month salary was swallowed into his stomach with a few bites.
With a sip of wine, another half month’s salary was gone.
He sat in the chair, thinking about the things that needed doing next.
Indeed, investing in Lynch had the right timing, for a legislator wanting to open his networking in Congress, money is a must.
Sounds a bit incredible, but this is precisely the essence of Congress, as long as you have money, willing to spend money, someone will be willing to befriend you.
Lately, Legislator Landon has personally experienced this, and the influence of money is truly magnified infinitely.
You may not have to give face to a Representative, but you cannot deny face to a Senator who comes to politely persuade you to change your mind.
If you’re able to refuse a Senator’s friendly request, then are you capable of rejecting a request from a former Governor, or even a former President or Vice President?
No, you can’t, that’s impossible, and then there are the party’s big figures.
Wanting to be friends with them is actually quite simple, just give them money.
Sometimes, even the Members of Parliament themselves are unsure why Congress becomes like this, but soon their reflection on Congress’s current state is forgotten in the dance of special ink-scented bills and checks flying around.
The next day, Legislator Landon began to take action, removing the handling fee, the five million remained over four hundred and thirty thousand, this money now can legally flow into any foundation anytime, anywhere.
Now, what he needed to do was bring this money and chat with those Senators.
Borrow Lynch’s money, open his network, it’s a good choice.
Of course, he’ll always be Lynch’s loyal friend, if Lynch can keep having money.
For several days consecutively, no good news came from Congress, however, Lynch established a connection with the Mayor of Bupen.
This is unavoidable, whether Congress approves the funds or not, once the research is done, it always needs selling.
If the military won’t buy, sell to the wealthy.
If wealthy won’t buy, create localized conflict, someone will always pay for these planes!
Also, because batch production is about to start, more than a dozen production lines had orders placed, hiring workers would follow swiftly.
Federation has production lines for engines and aircraft fuselages readily available, they’re mature products only needing simple adjustments for use.
Within a month, they could officially start production.
Thousands of job positions, enough for the Mayor to personally welcome an unknown person, let alone someone as reputable as Lynch.
Why do wealthy people always know major figures?
Because any casual move of theirs can change the local landscape and impact a bunch of people.
Whether the influence is good or bad, local politicians must actively address it.
In a cozy, warm room, the Mayor of Bupen, the Mayor’s secretary, and his staff all smilingly chatted with Lynch.
Not feeling "a thousand job positions" is a "small matter" at all, their enthusiastic attitude automatically makes one overlook that elsewhere they’d have different faces!
