Chapter 2429: Fighting

Paulson looked at him fiercely. Feng Yiping picked up the mineral water, drank it slowly, and looked at him calmly, with a smile on his face.

It was just a competition of eyesight. He was never afraid of such a thing.

Also, I want to recruit you, so what?

By this time next year, you will pack up and leave. By then, you will definitely find a place to go.

And by then, you will only be a former minister. A former minister of the United States, it can be said, is really nothing.

The US government only treats the presidents who have left office well.

The presidents who have left office can not only receive a pension equal to the annual salary of the highest head of a federal government department - because the salary of the cabinet minister changes every year, the pension of the president who left office will also change. Generally speaking, the highest is about 200,000 US dollars.

Because the highest paid cabinet minister in the United States - for many years, he has been the postmaster general, and the salary of that position is less than 250,000 US dollars.

The US government can also provide them with an office to pay for the salary of an employee, and enjoy the protection of the Secret Service together with their spouse and minor children.

Originally, the outgoing president was protected by the Secret Service for life, but Clinton amended the relevant law, and the president who took office after 1997 only had a 10-year protection period.

But Obama Jr. knew how to behave. In 2013, he changed the period back to life, allowing Clinton, who had been out of office for more than 10 years, to enjoy this treatment again - Obama Jr. may have considered himself.

In addition, there are also benefits such as the establishment of a presidential library and enjoying a state funeral.

But other outgoing officials, including the vice president, are sorry that their treatment is the same as that of ordinary federal employees. Those who have not reached retirement age have to find their own way to make a living.

If you have reached retirement age, you can enjoy the federal pension you deserve based on the length of service to the federal government, and the maximum shall not exceed 80% of your annual salary when you are in office.

In other words, the general maximum will not exceed $200,000.

In the United States, 62 is the earliest age to apply for retirement benefits. Paulson will be 62 next year, which is exactly the right age. However, if you start to receive retirement benefits at the age of 62, the regulations will give you a 30% discount. Considering that Paulson has only worked for the federal government for more than two years, this ratio will be even lower.

Also, because Paulson has only worked for the U.S. federal government for more than two years, less than five years, he cannot enjoy the preferential policies for government employees when purchasing medical insurance.

In this regard, the outgoing president is the same. The premise for enjoying this preferential treatment is to work for the federal government for 5 years. If you have only served one term, that is, 4 years as president, then you will also not have any preferential treatment when purchasing medical insurance.

So, for a guy like Paulson who is not very old now and used to earn tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of dollars a year on Wall Street, how could he care about that little retirement salary?

What can he do with that little retirement salary?

But it is not good to live off the savings, so he will definitely continue to work.

And Feng Yiping knew better than anyone that after this crisis, Paulson would definitely not be able to go back to Wall Street after he resigned from this building.

Not only Goldman Sachs, he could not go back, but all the companies that originally belonged to Wall Street, he could not get involved.

And Feng Yiping's company in the United States is already a big company, and it is fully qualified to recruit people like him.

Feng Yiping felt that Mr. Zhou's implicit proposal was really very good.

If you can invite such a person to be a consultant for your company, it would really be a good idea.

Besides, let alone the former Secretary of the Treasury of the US government, even the former President of the US government, if a domestic company offers a price, wouldn't he still go to endorse related products, or attend some meetings that are actually not high-end?

Paulson just looked at Feng Yiping, and soon, his eyes were full of smiles again, "Haha, Feng, you don't know that your judgment in Mumbai has brought me a lot of pressure."

Since he changed the subject, Feng Yiping didn't continue to hold on to the previous topic.

"Really?" He said with a smile.

He knew that when even Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke believed that the crisis was over, he said that the crisis was far from over, which would bring pressure to them.

But so what? He didn't care.

Didn't the United States always advocate freedom of speech? What's wrong with me expressing my views freely?

Besides, in China, he still had to consider the relevant impact and political correctness, but what political correctness did he have to consider for the United States?

"I don't think there is any pressure on you," Feng Yiping said with a smile, "Do you think that the minister and other senior government officials also think that the crisis is over?"

"It shouldn't be!"

"We all know that the real estate market is still in a downturn. As long as house prices don't return to the state of sharp rise before 2006, there will still be more people who can't repay bank loans,"

"That is, those real estate securities will become less and less valuable. Coupled with the panic of investors, this trend is probably impossible to reverse,"

"The result will be that the losses of investment banks and investors will become greater and greater, the liquidity of the market will become more and more tense, and more and more industries will be affected and affected,"

"At that time, more companies will have to lay off employees to save money because of operational difficulties, so there will be more people who default on their credit because they cannot pay their mortgages,"

"Under such a general trend, people will have to save money either forced or voluntarily, which means that their willingness to consume will decline..."

"The consumer index has plummeted, and oil prices are still rising... Therefore, economic growth will definitely slow down,"

"Slowing economic growth will in turn affect employment and consumption..."

"...It's hard to say whether this will be a vicious cycle, but under the combined efforts of these multiple aspects, the energy of this crisis will definitely grow..."

"Based on these reasons, I think many people can make such a judgment, right?"

Paulson listened quietly to Feng Yiping's speech without any intention of interrupting.

He was also observing Feng Yiping carefully. It had been nearly two years since their last meeting.

In the past two years, he has come to a new position.

This new position faces many challenges. He can only move around in a limited space and win support from multiple parties.

Because of this, he felt that compared with his time on Wall Street, his ability to solve problems, communicate with stakeholders, and finally reach compromise and consensus had obviously improved significantly.

But compared with the young man in front of him, his progress was nothing.

When he first met Feng Yiping, who was still in college, he was already an outstanding talent who had achieved great success not only in business but also in academia.

But at that time, he was obviously still a little immature, and when dealing with people, how should I put it... he didn't have his own rhythm.

He was gentle and humble, but sometimes his ability to control the situation was obviously insufficient, and he also lacked some confidence.

But now, this young man who is still dazzlingly young and has even more dazzling achievements, is very tactful in dealing with people, and can even easily make himself follow his rhythm.

As for confidence?

In someone else's office, and in the office of a heavyweight senior official in the US cabinet like him, his confidence was almost overflowing to the sky, and he couldn't be more confident.

He has already been in the office of the Minister of Finance, recruiting the Minister of Finance, and this Minister of Finance is the former emperor of Wall Street - how can he be more confident?

But his confidence is very confident, and he is very measured. He is not so confident that he is arrogant and makes people feel disgusted, but only impressed by him.

His understanding of the complex issues such as subprime mortgages is clearer than most experts, including the chairman of the Federal Reserve who claims to be an expert on the Great Recession.

Therefore, his growth in recent years is incredibly fast.

After listening to Feng Yiping, he smiled, but the question he asked was not too gentle, "It was also based on this judgment that you set up such a fund last year and bought a large amount of credit default swaps that are now giving many companies on Wall Street a headache?"