My 1979

"Mr. Li, do you want to go get something to eat first?" Seeing Li He staring at the ward in a daze, Jiang Jianjian reminded him kindly, "Mr. Wu will be fine for the time being."

"Just find a restaurant." From the moment he got off the plane to now, Li He has always been on an empty stomach.

The sun came out, and although the fog didn't scatter light, you could get a rough look at New York's true appearance.

Li He, who came to New York for the first time, could not believe how dirty and chaotic the place was. Pedestrians, bicycles, cars, and tricycles were walking side by side. Fast food garbage, cans, and bottles, and messy shopping bags were everywhere.

Halfway through, a little mouse sprang out from the ground.

After all, he had been to Washington before and had a very good impression. It was clean and green.

But on second thought, he thought it might be because of the age. After all, he had been to the United States in the 21st century.

"Mr. Li, you have never seen the underground subway. It is dirtier and messier. It is full of graffiti, garbage and homeless people." Jiang Jianjian has been traveling between the United States and Europe for official business in recent years. He is a veritable trapeze artist.

It's not surprising when Li He thinks about it. After all, New York has the largest landfill in the world, and the Fresh River has basically been filled in.

They, a group of white, black, and yellow people, did not attract much attention on the street. What attracted attention was the long line of luxury cars.

There are not many luxury fleets like this in New York, but they are uncommon.

The first reason why Ivanov is so prosperous in the United States is that he is white enough. Americans have a very careful classification of racial discrimination. The highest level is of course Anglo-Saxon white people, followed by Eastern European white people like him. Irish white, Western European white.

What's more, they are yellow and black. As for the Jews, they are special and generally occupy an intermediate position.

As long as they are white enough, there will be no problem in mainstream circles in the United States. Many Russians are doing well in the United States.

For example, Leonardo, Portman, Jovovich, Harrison Ford, Sergey Brin, Blavatnik, and the four Warner brothers.

Moreover, after he came to the United States, he did not simply unite among the Belarusians, but deliberately approached those from the former Soviet Union to unite all forces that could be united.

At the same time, the characteristics of the United States as a capital-based country can determine that it will live a happy and comfortable life, and will not be rejected wherever it goes.

Jiang Jianjian knew that Li He was not used to Western food, so he specifically instructed the driver to go to Chinatown.

The car entered New York's Lower East Side Chinatown, which became even more outdated and dirty.

Traditional one-store-by-store grocery stores, where the owner sits at a finely carved old-fashioned table to take care of the accounts, one store after another.

In addition to daily necessities stores, the most popular restaurants here are basically all kinds of domestic dishes.

The "post office shop" used to write letters and remittances because of the low literacy rate of the Chinese was still doing a prosperous business.

In addition to shops on both sides of the street, including in basements, there are also a long list of shops set up on the sidewalks, mainly because they cannot afford the expensive rent.

The most common color here is yellow. After the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States, more and more Chinese have poured in. They usually make this their first stop when going to the United States. The total number of Chinese has a tendency to surpass San Francisco.

Li Hetu was quiet. He did not go into a large Chinese restaurant with luxurious decoration and bustling life, but a small Chinese restaurant with many foreigners.

"The main supporting industries in Chinatown are the garment industry and catering. More than half of the Chinese in the United States are engaged in this. However, the U.S. economy has declined in the past two years. At the same time, you also know that our domestic textile industry has been severely impacted in the past two years. The garment factories in this area are not having a good time, and there are more and more catering companies. Even neighboring Brooklyn has hundreds of Chinese stores. The main reason is that the threshold is low and does not require many skills. Most of the Chinese here are not If you can speak English, you can't do it in other industries." After Jiang Jianjian sat down, he asked for a pot of boiled water from the waiter, refilled Li He's teapot, and then continued, "Both us Chinese and foreigners like to come here to eat. , not because the food is good, but because it is cheap. A meal in a Western restaurant costs twenty or thirty yuan, while a lunch box in a Chinese restaurant only costs five or six yuan."

Li He smiled, "Small profits but quick turnover are ingrained in the Chinese mind. What the Chinese sell is cheap and what they buy is expensive. This is a later story."

"What happened to Wu Bo?"

The person asking the question was Ivanov, but his eyes were turned to Jiang Jianjian.

Just as Ivanov was about to speak English, Li He immediately interrupted, "Speak in Russian."

Ivanov said, "Mr. Wu lives in an apartment in Brooklyn. The security there has always been good, so after staying here for a while, Mr. Wu refused to let our people follow him. He said he only wanted to work with his company. The employees were together. Mr. Wu lived with five employees of the company. The day before yesterday, he went downstairs to buy cigarettes. When his colleagues saw that he was not coming back, they came down to look for him. They found that he had been sent to the hospital. According to the police The preliminary judgment is that it may be a robbery. What exactly happened will not be known until he wakes up, but don’t worry, Mr. Li, I have sent people to investigate."

Bafula translated it in English, and then Jiang Jianjian added it in Chinese.

"Then wait until he wakes up." Only Wu Bo knew best. Li He then asked Ivanov, "How is your real estate business in New York?"

Li He's current basic thoughts are on real estate, and he is making plans at home and abroad at the same time.

The real estate projects of Shen Daoru, Yu Dehua, and Chen Lihua in the United Kingdom and Hong Kong have begun to take shape, while the domestic real estate projects of Ping Song, Wu Shuping, Fu Biao, and others are still in a period of accumulation, and it may still take a few years to truly explode.

Ivanov still didn't know much about what was going on. He just bought the Rockefeller Building after knowing it.

“Excellent, very good!”

When Bavla translated, he deliberately imitated Ivanov's exaggeration and excitement, which made everyone laugh.

"House prices in Sunset Park, Williamsburg, and Berry Island have increased by 2% this year, including the land in Queens that we just acquired has also increased by 6%, and it is expected to build 513 apartment units."

"What stage have we entered?" Li He was also blind to the real estate industry in the United States and knew nothing about it.

"It has entered the demolition stage." Bafra has followed Ivanov for a long time, and she can answer some things by herself.

"Is there any problem with this? Is there any homeowner who takes the opportunity to ask for more money?" Fang Fang unconsciously added, out of pure curiosity.

Li He explained with a smile, “The only sacrosanct thing in America is taxation!”

"What do you mean?" Xiang Fang was puzzled, "This is different from China. People's private property cannot be demolished at will, right?"

Seeing Li He and others suddenly talking in Chinese, Ivanov and others were also puzzled because they couldn't understand them at all.

Li He said with a smile, "One thing that is different in the United States is that there is no such thing as a nail household, because one cannot afford to be a nail household."

Jiang Jianjian also added, "There is a real estate tax in the United States. Not only do you have to pay taxes when you buy a house, but you also have to pay taxes every year in the future. Each state and each county and city within the state has different standards for levying property taxes, and the tax rate distribution It ranges from 1% to 3%, and changes every year according to the budget needs of local governments. It is generally paid once a year."

"I bought this house by myself, why do I have to pay taxes every year?" Fang Fang couldn't understand the Americans' thinking, even though he was also highly educated.

Jiang Jiangan said, "Not only do you have to pay taxes, but if you buy a house with a loan, you also have to buy house insurance, which is also a sum of money. If the homeowner stops paying taxes, the ownership of the house belongs to the U.S. government, and the owed taxes and penalty interest will be borne by the U.S. government." After the fine reaches a certain level, the local government can lien or auction properties that are in arrears with property taxes."

Xiang Xiang chuckled and said, "What about the farmers' land?"

Jiang Jiangan said, "I have just been here a few times. In order to learn more about the United States, I have inquired a lot, but not much. I don't know much about taxes, but it is just like in the city. I am not comfortable and controlled by others, such as New York. You cannot decide what trees to plant in front of and behind the house or what flowers to raise. The same goes for pastures. The style, specifications and height of the house to be built, and whether to plant corn or wheat in the ground are all decided by the relevant departments. We demand uniformity, otherwise we will be punished.”

"So many Americans can afford to buy a house, but they may not be able to afford it." When the meal was served, Li He picked up a piece of chicken and frowned, probably because he didn't like it, but he continued, "So the United States is the world's most powerful country. In countries with the most frequent relocations in the world, people generally like to move to remote places or areas with low property taxes, especially retired people, who like to move the most. In order to reduce expenses, they usually replace their big houses with smaller ones."

When European immigrants came to North America, they had a famous slogan: Where there is bread, there is the motherland.

Modern Americans have also inherited this spirit and move their families wherever property taxes are low.

So sometimes Li He also laments that it is really not easy for young Americans to take advantage of their old age.

"Then some houses can't be demolished casually, right?" Xiang Fang felt that Jiang Jianjian and Li He had diverted the conversation and brought it back again.

Jiang Jiangan said, "That's easy. Add real estate tax. According to the law, house prices must be re-evaluated and taxes recalculated every few years. There is a department in the United States that specializes in house price evaluation. If the house price evaluation is high, If you really can’t afford to live there, there are many ways to evict you. Moreover, the land acquisition system in the United States is relatively tough. The government has the right to acquire land, as long as the government acquires the land for public purposes and compensates the original landowner at appropriate market prices. , land expropriation is irresistible. There are two iron laws in the United States, one is not to mess with tax collectors, and the other is not to mess with the police."

"That's right." Li He couldn't help but smile.