"That's how it should be. In the current situation, the split, although it will cause us a little inconvenience in terms of operation, will not destroy our de facto control over the market. In a sense, our control over the market has become more flexible. "And if there is a new technological innovation, a new market, and a new competitor who has a technological advantage in this area, with this bill, he will not be able to monopolize the whole new market and expand into other markets on that basis." He would have to accept the kind help of MacDonald, or someone else. That's a good thing indeed. Mom, you say, does what I mean by making sense? ”

"Not bad." Dorothea nodded with satisfaction, "You can go see your father again and talk to him again." ”

"Okay, Mom." Gladstone nodded.

……

"Son, in addition to what you said, there is one more reason why MacDonald and I are in favor of this bill." Morgan said to his son, "You know, Macdonald has a much better reputation than I do. Because he's so much more hypocritical than I am. But over the years, although he has been playing some small things to whitewash himself, he still has a big weakness in maintaining a good reputation. That is, there are many productive enterprises that directly employ a large number of workers. Many years ago, when his business was not as large as it is now, his companies had very high profit margins because of their technological advantages, which allowed him to raise the wages of his workers and at the same time promote the eight-hour work day and so on as a means of attacking competitors. But as he grows, his earnings certainly increase, but the overall profit margin decreases. And the decent competitors have also been suppressed, he no longer needs and can no longer maintain a high salary. Therefore, over the years, although MacDonald has not directly and drastically reduced wages, he has reduced the ratio of wages to profits by increasing productivity without increasing wages. In many cases, they will even take advantage of the economic crisis to lower wages or something.

MacDonald once said something very interesting, that is, there is no class that turns its back on its own interests. The same goes for workers. It's been a long time, although MacDonald is still selling all those things of his? Morgan asked suddenly.

"It's chicken soup for the soul." Morgan Jr. replied from the sidelines.

"yes, that's it. You know, again Scrooge joked with me, he said that a reporter went to interview a rich man and asked him, 'Do you think the most important thing in life is money?' The rich man replied: 'My motto has always been that income is the least important thing, what matters is how much you contribute.' The reporter was taken aback and asked, 'So, sir, did you make a fortune by doing this?' The rich man replied: 'No, I made my fortune after convincing my employees.' Scrooge has been fooling his employees and brainwashing them in a similar way. But there are no classes that turn their backs on their interests. These methods cannot be said to be useless, but the effect is indeed limited, and this kind of trick will naturally be recognized by more and more people if it is used more. So although Scrooge's trick of pretending to be a good guy is very skillful, it is becoming more and more difficult to pretend. And you know, how important it was to Scrooge to be dressed in lamb's clothing, and he didn't know how much he earned by that. So Scrooge couldn't throw away the lambskin. Relying on this kind of trick, he can further hide behind the scenes, and even once he hides behind, the companies he actually controls can immediately turn around, and no longer have to think about MacDonald's reputation, how to make money, and how to make money. Anyway, those companies are nominally no longer controlled by Scrooge. This guy is such a delicate hypocrite, admirable. ”

Indeed, as Morgan said, although Scrooge pretended to be a philanthropist everywhere, and put all kinds of chicken soup for the soul full of the brilliance of humanity everywhere, none of these things could fool people forever, even if most of the media were on his side.

It's like the super-rich man in the Pearl City of the Hereafter. Although he is also "happy and charitable", he often releases chicken soup for the soul such as "I can earn ten yuan and only earn five yuan". And relying on these tricks, he once became the idol of the city and became a hero of the city. But although he is so good at packaging himself, although almost all the media in the city are singing praises to him, and helping him fool the stupid people that it is the tourists who have harmed them. But the question of where the money goes is not to be fooled. When the economy of the entire Pearl City is becoming more and more sluggish, and the pockets of the common people are getting flattened and flattened, his wealth is like blowing up balloons and cannot deceive people. As a result, even those stupid fart people gradually felt that this superman was not a good thing, and Pearl City fell to this day, largely thanks to him. Of course, at this time, he has earned enough, and he can completely pack the money and run to other places where he can make money.

However, Scrooge could not leave the United States, and for the foreseeable time, there was no place for capitalists with more potential and more money than the United States. Therefore, in order not to become the public enemy of the whole people, he completely retreated to the background and became a complete philanthropist.

Historically, Rockefeller often played the feat of shooting striking workers with machine guns mounted in armored vehicles, so that his reputation once surpassed that of Satan. But since the break-up of Standard Oil, not only has his personal assets expanded several times at once, but he has also been able to focus on being a "philanthropist", and finally he has become a noble, pure, and beneficial person for the people and society, and to this day, many people regard him as a moral role model. Although the oil companies that were spun off after the standard split did not fail to do good things like suppressing workers and provoking wars everywhere. But this is no longer directly commanded by Rockefeller after all, so "shedding this man's blood" is naturally "not my sin".

Moreover, after the death of President McKinley last time, many people said behind their backs that President McKinley's death was because he offended Wall Street. Although no media would support such baseless rumors. But Dad, you know, people are born with a love to believe rumors, especially those that sound plausible. So if this time, President Roosevelt can successfully push through the bill that seems to be such a blow to big business, but it is unscathed, such rumors will naturally be self-defeating. Not only is this rumor self-defeating, but more rumors in the past, such as those propagated by socialists, that the US government is nothing more than the spokesman of big capital on Wall Street, naturally no one believes it. Little Morgan nodded.

"Well, that's a good point, son!" Morgan was pleased, "When I was your age, I didn't understand these things as well as you did." That's great! If I had your current understanding, maybe our assets would not be much less than Scrooge's now. ”

……

When President Roosevelt unveiled his draft of the "Antitrust Act" to be submitted to the Senate and House of Representatives for consideration, almost the entire American society was stunned. Then various newspapers immediately started a big discussion around this matter.

Left-wing newspapers almost unanimously applauded President Roosevelt, praising him for his ability to withstand the pressure of big capital on Wall Street and defend the interests of the majority of the American people. Right-wing newspapers, on the other hand, focused on discussing whether Roosevelt's approach violated the principles of economic freedom.

Even Scrooge stepped up. First of all, he expressed his grievances, claiming that his monopoly position was obtained by means that were not only legal but also reasonable, and that he had never caused harm to the development of the American economy. But Mr. Scrooge also said he could understand everyone's concerns.

"I know that I now have enough economic power to use it to undermine free competition. This is true, although I wonder to myself that this power has never been used in this way. But this concern is not entirely unfounded. As the great liberator General San Martin said, the presence of a general with a sword who has been too illustrious in battle will become a threat to democracy in the political arena, regardless of his position. So General San Martín was willing to retire. I, too, would be willing to follow the example of the sages if the congressional vote showed that my presence in the business world was a concern for the free market. And, to be honest, there are other things I love more than doing business. ”

Naturally, Scrooge's open-minded attitude was unanimously praised, and although there were also voices saying that Scrooge was just pretending, most of the media still behaved rationally and peacefully. Those overly extreme remarks are naturally not very convincing in such a comparison.

Morgan naturally did not let Scrooge pretend to be alone, and he also stood up and said that although he did not like this bill, the United States is a democratic country, and respecting the will of the American people is the foundation of this great country. So if the American people decide to support this bill, of course he will comply. Although he thinks this bill is stupid.

A reporter asked Scrooge and Morgan the same question: "If this bill passes, will you transfer your wealth out of the United States?" ”

To this question, both Scrooge and Morgan gave a firm answer: "Ah Mei, you see that it is my motherland, and at any time, I will never leave her and betray her." ”