In the next few days, although there was no particularly important work, the daily tasks were enough to keep Mayor Hong busy. Mayor Hong was busy, which meant that Liang Jian had to run around and be busy.
It doesn't stop.
On the 18th, Mayor Hong attended the city's work conference on accelerating the development of the cause for persons with disabilities. On the 19th, he participated in the city's comprehensive rural land consolidation and farmers' housing renovation and construction work report meeting. On the 21st, he received the mayor of Shaoxin, Lv Chuxiao, who led a party and government delegation to Jingzhou.
inspection.
On the 23rd, I attended the 38th city-wide leading cadres forum. This was originally a matter for the party committee, but Professor Cai Fangming, deputy director of the Institute of Cultural Industry of Peking University, is an old acquaintance of Mayor Hong. Professor Cai came to give a speech to the leading cadres titled "China
"Cultural Soft Power" report, it would be unjustifiable if Mayor Hong, as an old friend, did not participate.
Mayor Hong not only attended, but also drank with him in the evening. Since he was a university professor, although it was an official banquet, it was somewhat different from receiving central and provincial leaders. The atmosphere was more of a chat and less of a social event. Hongshi
I know that Professor Cai is not only educated, but also has a drinking capacity. Not only is he capable of drinking, but he also toasts with many new ideas and perspectives that are different from ordinary people.
Perhaps wanting to give Liang Jian a chance to broaden his horizons, Mayor Hong said to Liang Jian: "You can eat with us tonight and do some service work." Liang Jian obeyed.
After three rounds of drinking, Mayor Hong asked Professor Cai a question: "Dean Cai, there is actually a question that has been bothering me. I just have the opportunity to ask you for advice today." Professor Cai said: "You're welcome.
Mayor Hong, feel free to ask, we will discuss it together."
Mayor Hong said: "In our work and life, which one is better, luxury or frugality? The central government has repeatedly emphasized frugality. Frugality has always been a fine tradition of our party. But we have also seen that sometimes,
'Moderate' 'waste' is conducive to promoting consumption and stimulating employment. Since I became the mayor, I have been more concerned about consumption issues and found that sometimes everyone in an area is a bit 'wasteful'. The more money is spent, the more prosperous the place will be.
If we are timid and dare not spend money, there will be fewer people coming in and out, development will be slow, and people's lives will not be rich. To put it simply, if we eat in the government canteen today and not in this big hotel,
The waiters here will lose one day’s employment opportunities, right?”
Dean Cai had been listening attentively. After Mayor Hong finished speaking, he pondered for a moment and said with a smile: "Mayor Hong, what should I say? This is really a coincidence. The question you are thinking about was something I also thought about at different times.
I have thought about it. When considering the issue of "simplicity" and "luxury", we have always considered it from the perspective of morality. For example, "simplicity" has an advantage over "luxury" in the moral sense, but if we do not consider it from the perspective of moral sense,
If you think about this issue only from the perspective of economics and social development, you will probably come to a different conclusion..."
Mayor Hong said "Oh?" with great interest, "Dean Cai will tell us all and let us look at this issue from another angle."
Everyone knew that Dean Cai would definitely have something novel to say, so they all stopped talking and listened to what Dean Cai said. Liang Jian was also very interested in Dean Cai's views. He asked the waiter to refill everyone's tea cups.
Listening attentively.
Dean Cai was very interested when he saw that everyone was taking the matter seriously: "Everyone should know that during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, there was a famous reformer in Qi State named Guan Zhong, right?" Everyone said they knew.
Dean Cai said: "Guan Zhong's economic thought contained a very peculiar concept, which was not easy at the time. This concept was to encourage consumption. He even advocated luxury. This cannot be said to be unique among state rulers throughout the ages. At least they are rare.
"In his monograph "Guanzi", he dedicated an article "Luxury". He put forward the view that "frugality will hurt things". In his view, if everyone does not consume and saves money, it will cause the circulation of goods. The reduction of goods, thereby hindering the production of profitable activities, is called "hurting things". What is a commodity? Commodities are used for consumption. Without consumption, there are no commodities. How can we promote consumption? His answer is, consume more, even luxury to consume.
"Guan Zhong's statement is a bit heretical in the eyes of orthodox Chinese scholars. Even to us today, as a qualified Chinese, it seems difficult to accept it. For thousands of years, Chinese scholars, many of whom are also believers of Guan Zhong, either turned a blind eye to his views, ignored him, or defended Guan Zhong in every possible way. It was not until recent times that the historian Guo Moruo gave a reasonable explanation. He said Guan Zhong affirmed enjoyment but opposed thrift. He valued circulation but opposed despising commerce. He advocated full employment and opposed passive relief. In order to achieve full employment, he advocated large-scale consumption and even advocated generous burials.
"His focus is on the aspect that mass consumption can promote mass production. The reason he advocates luxury is that if the caves of cinnabar are not blocked, merchants will not be able to do it. The rich will waste it, and the poor will do it." That is to say, as long as Without artificially blocking the source of profits, merchants would work day and night without rest, while wealthy people would only have to continue consuming, while poor people would have work to do. He even suggested carving the eggs before boiling them. This is Guan Zhong’s view on ‘luxury’. He is also the only politician in history who dares to say these words about luxury!”
A female deputy director of the Propaganda Department of the Municipal Party Committee seemed to disagree with this view. When Dean Cai finished speaking, she said, "But could this be Guan Zhong trying to justify his luxurious life?"
If someone else had asked this question, it would be questioning Dean Cai’s point of view, but this female deputy minister is quite beautiful and is good at creating an atmosphere in the wine shop. Everyone knows her, and her asking this is nothing more than a question. She wanted to make the banquet more atmospheric, a tit-for-tat atmosphere, which would be more conducive to toasting. Therefore, Mayor Hong did not interrupt her.
Liang Jian also wanted to see how Dean Cai argued, so he listened carefully. Dean Cai continued: "The questions raised by our female minister are very good, but I think we should first see that Guan Zhong is a mature man. A politician, he specifically talked about extravagance in his book, not just for his own sake. He also talked about a very advanced point of view. He said that whenever the years are bad and the people have nothing to do, the country will The construction of palaces and pavilions should be carried out to promote people's employment, especially to employ the extremely poor who have lost their property. The construction of palaces at this time is not for enjoyment, but to promote employment and balance the economy.
"This method of stimulating economic recovery and promoting employment through government investment in fixed assets took Westerners more than two thousand years to learn. Take the world war depression of 1929 as an example. At that time, the United States, Germany, etc. were all
Only by adopting such a policy did the country of Qi get out of the trough. At that time, with Guan Zhong advocating consumption, commerce developed rapidly and the country became stronger, so that during Guan Zhong's lifetime, Qi became the overlord of the time. We have to pay attention to
, the rationality in it.”
After Dean Cai finished speaking, Mayor Hong was the first to applaud. Mayor Hong said: "Dean Cai not only taught us a very good lesson for the city's division-level leading cadres in the afternoon, but now he has also taught us comrades here,
I made up a lesson." Dean Cai said with a smile: "I won't charge for this class!" Mayor Hong said with a smile: "Since we don't charge money, let's charge for the bar. Let's all raise a toast together.
Dean Cai.”
The female minister said: "Dean Cai, let's have a little extravagance today! After the wine is finished, we will arrange an event later to increase consumption and promote employment!" Dean Cai laughed and clicked
The female minister said, "You are really smart, and you can learn and use it flexibly." Everyone laughed and drank the wine.