Most of what this chapter talks about is my own insights and has little to do with the direction of the book, so it is free. If you don't like it, you can just skip it.
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Wang Xuexin was delayed in three stores for several days because of the Hongqi 61 incident.
In the past few days, I have been busy discussing, analyzing, and planning with Professor Su and others almost from morning to night. When I was hungry, I would take a few mouthfuls of steamed buns. When I was sleepy, I would lie on the table and sleep for a while. When I woke up, I would continue the discussion.
Surface-to-air missiles are not as simple as imagined, although at this time the Eighth Route Army already had the basis for developing this equipment in principle: with radar, computer technology, and a continuous thin-rod warhead.
But it is not easy to integrate all these things together, and problems of one kind or another will pop up from time to time.
Fortunately for Wang Xuexin, the estimated production cost of this missile is not high, to be precise, it is not high for China.
The main reason is that China's labor costs are very low, and at the same time, technology does not need to be imported and most of the products can be produced by ourselves, which can keep costs to the lowest possible level.
In fact, the biggest advantage is that military industrial enterprises are operated under the control of the Eighth Route Army. Just like modern state-owned enterprises, there is no possibility of monopoly.
In this regard, it should be said that state-owned enterprises and private enterprises each have their own advantages and disadvantages.
At this time, Yingjiang's military-industrial companies were all private companies, also known as contractors.
The way it works is that these contractors bid for whatever equipment the government needs.
During World War II, there were more than fifty contractors for Eagle Sauce. Once the government needed any weapons and equipment, these contractors would desperately lower their prices in order to survive and obtain orders. In the end, the government could obtain satisfactory products at extremely low prices... If
If the product is not satisfactory, it won’t take long for the contractor to be kicked out.
This is also one of the reasons why the military equipment of Eagle Sauce developed so rapidly during World War II. At its most exaggerated, it could reach an average of one aircraft carrier per month.
But such private companies can easily go to the other extreme: monopoly.
Because in the process of production and competition, the phenomenon of big fish eating small fish will inevitably occur among enterprises. The result is that there will be fewer and fewer military industry enterprises and eventually a monopoly will be formed.
In modern times, the number of military industrial enterprises in Yingjiang has been concentrated in the hands of six giants from the original more than fifty, and these six giants still monopolize different fields: some monopolize fighter planes, some monopolize warships, and some monopolize warships.
Land warfare equipment, etc.
At this time, the disadvantages of private enterprises appear: the military industry monopolizes the market and has the right to speak, which in turn controls the lifeblood of the country. The result is that the price depends on what the military enterprises say, ranging from more than a thousand dollars for a coffee cup to tens of thousands of dollars.
Toilet seats, these are all trivial matters, one shell of the DDG1000 destroyer can even cost as much as 700,000 US dollars...
What kind of artillery shell can cost $700,000 a shot?
If we use such artillery shells to hit the enemy, I'm afraid the enemy's treasury will have been emptied before they can finish it all!
In addition, no matter it is any equipment, whether it is an aircraft or a warship, the same configuration or even worse configuration, worse performance, but the cost is two or three times that of China.
Why is Yingjiang's military equipment so broken in modern times? As a technological power, the things it creates are always unsatisfactory?
In fact, capitalists are smart!
It's not that they can't make good things, but... if they can make good things for the country in one go, how much money will the capitalists make?
The more profitable way is, of course, to build a low-performance aircraft by cutting corners and cutting corners according to the country's quotation, in which there is a lot of room for upgrades and improvements.
As for upgrades and improvements...you have to pay more.
Therefore, the F35, which was originally positioned to be mass-produced "cheaply", became sky-high in price.
The government has nothing to do about this situation, because the technology has been monopolized by these military-industrial companies, and there is no other way except what they can produce.
The result is that Yingjiang, which seems to be technologically advanced, cannot make this or that thing well, and the things it makes look good but have no practical significance... In short, it is all about burning money but not producing many useful things.
However, China can catch up with Yingjiang in various ways with much less military expenditure than Yingjiang.
Therefore, it is not enough to have all state-owned enterprises, and it is not enough to have all private enterprises. State-owned enterprises and private enterprises should each perform their own duties within the country to reach a balance point.
Among them, industries related to the lifeline of the country must not be fully privatized, such as communications, energy, military industry, transportation, agriculture, etc.
Each of these industries is related to the life and death of China. If it is completely liberalized, even a small country is fully capable of devoting its entire country to mastering one of them. It can easily achieve a small country controlling a big country, and then the big country will fall apart as a result.
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The reason why capitalist countries dare to let go is simply because those who control the country are the same group of people as these private business owners, and they cannot give up their money-cow to others.
For example, is Lockheed Martin likely to be sold?
Controlling this company means unlimited wealth and power. Once sold, you will only get limited wealth, and these limited wealth will not be able to hold on due to the loss of power... No fool would do such a thing!
Similarly, industries related to the life and death of Yingjiang, such as transportation, communications, energy, etc., are also monopolized in the hands of a small group of people. They are also impossible to sell. They will cling to these industries to make money and control them.
Eagle sauce this country.
It is impossible for other countries to enter these industries and then pry the hawk sauce and jam its neck. This is what they call privatization... Can privatization that other countries' funds cannot enter still be called privatization? These privatizations
Chemical enterprises are controlled by the group of people who control the state. In other words, they are controlled by the state. Are they still called private enterprises?
The decline of Yingjiang is not because of anything else, but because of success and failure. In the past, it reached the top because of healthy competition between private companies, but now it is declining because of the monopoly of private companies.
What’s ridiculous is that even though Eagle Sauce has become a counterexample, there are still many people on the Internet clamoring under various names to privatize industries related to the country’s lifeblood…
What happens when these industries are privatized?
Is the outcome something we can afford?
Who will be the happiest?
China, which had no way to deal with it before, once an industry related to its lifeblood is completely privatized, it can easily defeat it by just printing US dollars like crazy!
Don’t be too happy!
Modern eagle sauce has actually discovered these problems, but cannot solve them.
Because this is not only a problem of corporate monopoly, but also a problem that the control of the country has fallen into the hands of these companies... Once the control and lifeblood of the country fall into the hands of these companies, who else can bring them down?
Who can say no to them? Who can stop them from continuing to maintain their dominant monopoly position?
So Yingjiang could only take one step at a time.
And if you can't reform it from within, then...you know!
If Yingjiang wants to maintain its own wealth and advantages, it can only bring other countries down and mess them up.