Chapter 615

Yeltsin is the first time to set foot on the land of the United States. Before he walked into the supermarket on the outskirts of New York City, Yeltsin would not have thought that the American life would be so rich. This is too big a blow to him. Yeltsin lost control of his emotions in the car and cried because he felt that his belief, which he insisted on from childhood to adulthood, had completely collapsed at this moment. The collapse of belief made Yeltsin feel desperate for the socialist road pursued by the Soviet Union. He asked himself: "is what we insist on really right?"

When Yeltsin's driver told Xie liaosha what happened in Yeltsin on the road, Xie liaosha didn't know how to persuade him. As the actual leader of the Soviet Union's foreign trade, coupled with the experience of two generations, Xie liaosha had an extraordinary understanding of the society on both sides of the iron curtain. The wealth of capitalism is indeed worthy of the admiration of the people in the socialist world, but Americans themselves have their own troubles. Because of the popularity of personal credit transactions, almost every American works for a bank, and most Americans are burdened with all kinds of debts. Once they lose their ability to work or their jobs, Then the banks will mercilessly deprive them of their houses and cars and turn them into proletarians. This kind of thing was unimaginable in the Soviet Union.

After hearing the driver's report, Xie liaosha told the other party not to mention it to anyone. The next day, he arranged for his men to continue to take care of Yeltsin's next trip. On the pretext of attending the meeting, he left New York and left for Boston.

In the next few days, Yeltsin, with the support of the center for Soviet studies at Harvard University, began his own inspection tour. It was almost the end of the year, and in a few days, it would be Christian Christmas. These days are a good time for Americans to purchase, and the sales promotion of businesses also stimulated consumers to contribute their wallets. But when it comes to your most anticipated Christmas product, it's iridium enabled satellite phones. At times square in New York City, Yeltsin witnessed the whole night waiting in line for the sale of iridium phone. When he learned that it was a mobile phone that could support wireless access in Europe and America, Yeltsin was again surprised and speechless.

A few years ago, for the honor of the Soviet Union, Brezhnev once established a set of wireless communication network Altay in Moscow. However, due to the lack of capital investment and the high price of car phone, the Altay system soon fell into a situation of no one interested. When Yeltsin was a senior city official, in order to save money, he deleted this project from the government budget. Now, the American people are beginning to use satellite phones, which makes Yeltsin's heart ache again.

Under Yeltsin's questioning, the invitation revealed some information to Yeltsin. The cost of this visit was provided by Philip Morris, the world's largest tobacco company. They heard that many Marlboro cigarettes were smuggled to the Soviet Union for sale as high-end cigarettes. In addition, the news that Volkswagen and the Soviet government had set up a joint venture automobile factory seemed to indicate that the restrictions on foreign investment in the Soviet Union began to loosen, So Philip Morris wanted to ask Yeltsin about the possibility of Marlboro cigarettes entering the Soviet market directly.

Although Yeltsin had already quarreled with Gorbachev, in front of the Americans, Yeltsin consciously maintained the dignity of the Soviet Union. Regarding Philip Morris's consultation, Yeltsin explained in detail the Soviet Union's open attitude towards foreign investment in economic reform. He guaranteed that after Philip Morris entered the Soviet market, he would get preferential treatment including tax and policy. As long as Philip Morris abided by the laws of the Soviet Union, they would be treated completely equally with Soviet enterprises.

Yeltsin did not know that the contest between him and Gorbachev made him widely known among American scholars of Soviet issues. When the news spread that Yeltsin accepted the invitation of Philip Morris Company, more and more Soviet research institutions and organizations issued an invitation to Yeltsin. Companies like Philip Morris, whose products have entered the Soviet market, have some expectations of Yeltsin's inspection in the United States. They hope that the economic reform of the Soviet Union will open the door for them.

So in the following days, Kraft Foods and McDonald's also invited Yeltsin to visit and inspect. Yeltsin was surprised by the enthusiasm of American enterprises. Originally, he thought that his inspection tour to the United States would soon end, but now it seems that it is not the case. Because there were so many invitation, Yeltsin had to apply to the Soviet embassy for an extension of his return to China. After getting the approval from China, Yeltsin accepted these invitation and began to continue his trip to the United States.

Yeltsin left New York and went to Chicago, where Kraft's headquarters are located. Yeltsin saw thousands of products in Kraft's showroom, and a large part of them are still on sale.

Yeltsin focused on the origin, output and sales of some popular biscuits, coffee and other products. He is very concerned about these issues and listens very carefully. Yeltsin is not as depressed as he was at home. He seems to feel that he can contribute to his country even if he doesn't hold a leadership position. That is to learn from the advanced economic systems of the United States and introduce them to the bureaucracy of the Soviet Union.

With this attitude, Yeltsin paid more attention to the activities of investigation and visit. At his request, Yeltsin also made a special trip to Texas, a large agricultural state in the United States, to investigate the farming and animal husbandry here. Texas has the largest animal husbandry in the United States. Yeltsin's visit to Texas gave Yeltsin a chance to get in touch with the forefront of American agricultural production. Yeltsin also visited collective farms when he was in China. People there tried every means to live in cities, which was totally different from the life of the leisurely farms in the United States.

By the end of Yeltsin's one month trip to the United States, he had returned to the Soviet Union ahead of schedule. Before leaving the United States, Yeltsin made a phone call with Xie liaosha. He hoped to open a column in the Communist Youth League Pravda to introduce the economic situation in the United States after returning home. Xie liaosha agreed without thinking about it. Xie liaosha was happy for Yeltsin to pick himself up again. As for Yeltsin's idea that several American enterprises funded his investigation wanted to invest in the Soviet Union, Xie liaosha also agreed to consult Gorbachev.