Darkstone Code
Chapter 156 - 0155 The Power of Insignificance

Chapter 156: 0155 The Power of Insignificance

"I need some advice!"

The mayor standing on the podium rubbed his temples, "Now, the number of unemployed people in our city is increasing, and the public safety is worsening. It is said that there have been some serious criminal cases in the surrounding cities. If we cannot curb this situation, the city we have built over decades will regress to a primitive state!"

Everyone knows that destruction cannot bring prosperity, only construction can. However, the current situation has forced some people to walk a path they are unwilling to take.

If one can eat and dress well without committing crimes, most people in this world would still prefer to be good.

But these words from the mayor also made some people frown, because not long ago, they had just donated a sum of money. Now, the mayor gathered them again to discuss how to save the city, giving the impression that he wanted to take some more money out of their pockets.

It was a terrible feeling, no one likes being extorted, even if the extorter is the undisputed ruler of the city.

The silent room echoed with no other sound, as the mayor looked at these people with eyes full of hope, wishing they could come up with some solutions to the problem. However, it was clear that his hope was a bit too optimistic.

No one spoke, everyone maintained a gentleman-like posture, looking at the mayor on the podium, as if they were decorative figures used to make up numbers, placed there.

The expectation on the mayor’s face gradually faded. His gaze swept over these people’s faces, most of them avoided eye contact, but he couldn’t get the answers he wanted.

This meeting was destined to fail, this fact had actually been anticipated when Lynch took out a hundred thousand dollars on Wednesday, forcing many people to also take out more money, they felt like they were being robbed.

Whether they investigated it later or not, some people might eventually conclude that Lynch was not the mayor’s arranged "shill", but they were still robbed.

If this had been a few years ago, taking out thirty or fifty thousand was something they could do anytime, back then everyone still had money to spare.

Now, everyone’s days are not so good, taking out thirty or fifty thousand is actually quite reluctant, everyone felt some pain.

Now the mayor gathered everyone once again, and the purpose was actually well understood by the people in this room. They knew what the mayor wanted, but they were unwilling to compromise again, at least this time they wouldn’t compromise.

Endless compromise would only lead the mayor to blindly and wrongly estimate his influence, but actually, people didn’t depend on him that much, and now they already have a "role model."

On Monday, the stock price of Ristone Group started plummeting ceaselessly, many people treated this as an interesting piece of news, sometimes having such a dominant group company in a city was not a good thing for other small companies.

This was because the upward channels were basically in a semi-closed state. The City Hall would prioritize giving a large number of policies to this dominant local pillar enterprise rather than supporting the development of those developing small and micro enterprises.

Only if this group collapsed, most enterprises would get some new opportunities and some new policy favors. So they always watched the show, seeing the stock price of Ristone Group fall all the way down, some even sold their Ristone stocks, just to give it a shove on the cliff’s edge.

This was also one of the reasons why people were willing to take out money on Wednesday. They saw the City’s Hall’s frightening power, it merely issued a statement, and the stock of Ristone Group began to plummet. It was said that Neo and the board issued some announcements, but could not change this fact.

Besides, after Ristone Group collapsed, it would be beneficial for the merchants in this city, as they could acquire Ristone Group’s assets at low prices, making a big profit essentially. So even if they bit the bullet, they still had to take out money to support the mayor’s initiatives.

But the current situation was somewhat different. Neo stated publicly that he planned to end Ristone’s business in Sabin City and move the headquarters to the neighboring state’s Conservative Party territory.

The mayor of the neighboring state’s capital city also expressed on Friday evening that they would try to introduce external forces to help them overcome this difficulty. They also promised society that if Ristone Group could settle in their city, it would provide no less than three thousand jobs for their city.

This was only the initial phase; by next year or the year after, the job opportunities they provided would exceed five thousand, igniting cheers from the entire city’s citizens.

In fact, in the current grand era background, people’s needs are actually very simple, they don’t want to starve and just want to have a job, especially a job.

Jobs represent the stable life of an entire family, jobs are a must. At such a time, nothing could be more important than job opportunities, absolutely nothing.

Now looking back, all of this seemed not as simple as people thought at the beginning. Ristone wasn’t necessarily out of options, they might have already found a way out, which was why the mayor and the governor expressed dissatisfaction with them.

The power of a role model is infinite, Ristone used a vivid experience to tell people that if they wanted to solve some troubles in hand, the best way was to switch to the Conservative Party, as the Conservative Party now faced the same troubles as the Progressive Party, but they were easier to talk with.

People sat below watching the mayor, and the mayor also watched them. In the end, the mayor still had to voluntarily speak, making him feel somewhat humiliated, "I need you to provide more job opportunities..."

"That’s impossible, sir!" Someone directly interrupted the mayor’s speech, while this guy also attracted everyone’s attention.

Lynch couldn’t help but look at this brave soul with curiosity. How bold must one be to interrupt the mayor during a meeting?

He was a young man in his early thirties, about thirty-two or thirty-three. He even stood up voluntarily, not to mention he had a pleasing appearance, though not as good as Lynch.

He was calm, not manic, which indicated he knew what he was doing.

Looking at the mayor, he continued to repeat his earlier words, "That’s impossible, sir. I run a small metal parts processing factory with just twenty-seven workers, and that is already the largest scale I can maintain."

"Since the second half of last year, the things I produce have been difficult to sell, yet I have maintained this scale without changes. I still pay the workers, although in some people’s eyes paying the minimum wage according to the ’Hourly Wage Law’ might be unethical, at least I ensure these workers still receive a monthly wage from me!"

"Since May of this year, I have not received even a penny in payment for three months, I am incapable of sustaining this factory and the workers’ salaries. Let alone hiring more workers, if I fail to find a way out before October, I would have to shut down my factory, so I absolutely cannot expand job positions!"

"Moreover!" He raised his voice sharply, making the mayor’s scalp tingle, he pursed his lips, watching this man, and this young man continued speaking, "Besides, I believe the current issue in Sabin City cannot be solved just by increasing job opportunities. The problem lies in the fact that there is no market for our products, Mayor, as well as the state government and the Federation Government, should help us find a market instead of making us bear responsibilities we shouldn’t have!"

These words sounded very justified, at least to Lynch it did. Others also started applauding, and soon the applause became a unified chorus, making the mayor’s expression turn even uglier.

He did have a lot of correct points in what he said, if there’s no sale of products, enterprises cannot get profits and returns, they cannot afford to hire workers.

At this time, asking factory owners and entrepreneurs to add new job positions is no different from robbing their money.

His words represented the most genuine feelings in the hearts of many merchants at this moment, they naturally supported him.

The mayor looked at this young man, memorized his appearance, but this young man seemed not to fear the "malicious" gaze from the mayor, he wasn’t scared at all.

This unavoidably led the mayor to speculate about some things behind him, perhaps he came from Ristone and was arranged by Neo.

The applause soon died down, they were well aware that if the applause continued too long, it might worsen some matters, what they needed was merely to express their attitude, not to confront the mayor.

Not everyone could leave this city like the Ristone Group.

Going to another city could indeed temporarily escape some of the current dilemmas, like the workers’ wages, but new cities would present more severe competition and policy pressure, if they couldn’t impact the majority’s life as Ristone did, it was better not to mess around.

The mayor pinched his nose bridge, he raised his hand to gesture for the young man to sit down, then apologized to everyone, "I overlooked your pressure in this regard..." This was the most apology-like apology he could make, and everyone gladly accepted it.

"So, does anyone have some suggestions? I’m not asking any of you to solve problems even the President cannot resolve, but at least alleviate a bit, our situation is indeed not great!"

Facing the mayor’s inquiry, people still remained silent, at this time, whoever had a plan would be declaring war against the entire capitalist community of Sabin City.

Seeing no response in the conference room, the mayor for the first time realized that some things weren’t as easily resolved as before, his face turned darker, and during his gaze sweeping through, he saw Lynch sitting in the corner.

This made him recall the dinner he had with Lynch last week, the words Lynch said.

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