Chapter 657 Don’t worry about scarcity but inequality
Dubai's transformation has been relatively successful. Thanks to its crazy miracle engineering projects such as The World Island, Palm Island, and the Burj Khalifa, it has gained high attention around the world. Against the backdrop of the near-depletion of oil resources, it has successfully blazed a new path with greater potential for sustainable development.
In the UAE, the richest place is obviously Abu Dhabi.
This largest and richest emirate owns about 90% of the country's oil and natural gas resources, and often provides welfare to several other impoverished emirates to maintain regional stability.
Dubai has to work very hard to make money from tourism, shopping, finance, etc., while Abu Dhabi can earn hundreds of billions of dollars every year from selling oil, and its population is only more than 140 million, which directly pushes up the per capita GDP.
When Fan Wumian and his party arrived in Abu Dhabi and checked into the Emirates Palace Hotel, which is said to be more luxurious than the Burj Al Arab, they found that this hotel, which cost more than 30 billion US dollars, is itself like an exquisite work of art. It is luxurious in every place, with large green lawns and spectacular bay views, which has a strong visual impact.
Moreover, the city's infrastructure and the mental outlook of the local residents seem to be much better than Dubai, probably like the difference between a nouveau riche and an old-established wealthy family.
Fan Wumian had just finished recording at the hotel and was about to go to the suite to rest for a while.
A wealthy man in a white robe, accompanied by an interpreter, assistant, bodyguards and others, came to the door and said that he would transfer 5000 million US dollars to the account of WM Rogers' hedge fund. He was in a hurry to go to London to attend a party and hoped that they would have a good time there. He also left a business card and asked them to call the number on it if they needed anything.
He only stayed for a few minutes in total, and he seemed very anxious.
After listening to the hotel waiter's introduction, Fan Wumian realized that the other party was one of the younger brothers of the Abu Dhabi Emir and also the head of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. He managed assets worth 700 to 800 billion US dollars, including this hotel.
A big part of the reason why he couldn't get carried away after becoming rich was that his horizons had broadened, allowing Fan Wumian to deeply understand the truth that "there are always people better than you".
For example, the total size of the assets hidden by Li Chaoren in the family foundation is estimated to be as high as tens of billions of Hong Kong dollars, which is equivalent to the total wealth of two or three Fan Wumian, not to mention the huge amount of assets that are displayed in the open.
In the past two years, Uncle Li has made a huge profit of 40 to 50 billion Hong Kong dollars from stock trading. At the end of last year, on the day when his eldest son got married, he was asked about this by reporters and he admitted it openly.
The gap that others have created after spending several generations and decades or even hundreds of years accumulating is obviously not something that Fan Wumian can easily surpass. The accumulation of capital takes time.
An emirate like Abu Dhabi, which is rich in oil and gas resources, has used all its national strength to support the entire royal family. Of course, it is extremely rich. While Fan Wumian was glad to have received the attention of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, he also regretted that he only received 5000 million US dollars and failed to seize the opportunity to fight for more.
This time when I came to the UAE, I didn’t arrange any games like bonus challenges. I was just like a travel video blogger, taking everyone to experience the luxurious life there.
After a seafood dinner at noon, we walked around the Folk Village in the afternoon. Places like the "Ferrari Theme Park", "Presidential Palace that Used 40 Tons of Gold" and "Louvre Abu Dhabi" that Fan Wumian was familiar with had not yet been built.
There is no need to guess. It must be because Dubai has opened up the road, so the wealthy Abu Dhabi followed suit and began to spend money to build various magnificent buildings to stimulate the tourism industry and advertise crazily around the world.
Although he didn't give away a luxury house like in Dubai, when he went to dinner with a senior executive in charge of the local tourism industry that night, he gave Fan Wumian two white gyrfals that he bred at home. This kind of eagle is also known as "Saker Falcon", a first-class protected animal in mainland China.
Worried that bringing them back would cause trouble, Fan Wumian planned to try to report to the Yanjing authorities to see if he could keep them in the Yanjing courtyard.
This kind of thing is difficult for others to accomplish, but with Fan Wumian's current strength, he can give it a try.
I continued traveling and filming for the next two days and collected enough material.
The tourist attraction can only be said to be pretty good, but the relationship between Alexandra Daddario and Fan Wumian quickly heated up during this period.
However, because Britney Spears couldn't stay idle at night and always wanted to go out and have fun, there was no substantial progress between the two sides.
Unlike the Victoria's Secret supermodel circle, whose atmosphere is similar to that of a "sorority" on American campuses, Daddario was born into a middle-to-high-income family in New York, received elite education in private schools since childhood, and whose parents are a prosecutor and a lawyer respectively. She has a more serious personality and cannot bring herself to do things like knocking on doors or throwing herself into someone's arms in the middle of the night. She still hopes that Fan Wumian will take the initiative first.
One to two to go.
The trip to the UAE ended quickly, and the group continued to board the royal family's Boeing 747 private jet and headed directly to Shanghai.
Everyone knows that the "Monster Ms." account was invested and incubated by Fan Wumian. Seeing him spending money like crazy abroad, he has already caused dissatisfaction among mainland audiences, and they hope to go to the mainland to do a few shows.
Our ancestors have long explained that it is not the lack of wealth that is worrying, but the inequality of wealth. This time, the Jianyi filming team and Britney were there. A few days ago, Fan Wumian had already arranged the itinerary and had someone submit an application to the Shanghai Municipal Government, hoping to be allowed to plan a program with a total prize of 200 million RMB.
When it comes to bonuses, of course they must be reported in the mainland.
The Shanghai Stock Exchange believes that this kind of activity will help increase its international visibility, and Fan Wumian has also promised to donate all proceeds to several children's welfare homes. Naturally, local officials will not turn away such a good thing.
At this moment.
The Boeing 747 had just taken off for more than two hours when Fan Wumian sat across from Britney and Daddario with his legs crossed and said:
"This trip to the UAE should allow us to produce two episodes for broadcast, plus Hong Kong and Shanghai, Britney, you can finally take some time off."
"In Shanghai, I originally wanted to purchase tens of thousands of little yellow ducks and hold a little yellow duck rafting competition on the Huangpu River. The scene would be very spectacular. But there are too many little yellow ducks. I can't find enough little yellow ducks in the short term, and it's also troublesome to print numbers on them."
"Someone helped me look for it, and we decided to use ocean balls instead of the yellow duck. Ocean balls are cheap, and I can just write numbers on them with a waterproof acrylic pen, and also stamp an anti-counterfeiting stamp to ensure that no one can take advantage of them."
"We have purchased more than 6 ocean balls in total. The Shanghai Stock Exchange and volunteers from several universities will assist us. These ocean balls will be sold at a price of 20 yuan each, and all the funds raised from the contestants will be donated."
Britney thought hard for a while, and finally asked:
"Each ocean ball is 20 yuan, and there are more than 6 in total. How much can they sell for?"
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Fan Wumian and Daddario were speechless, and Daddario told her:
"More than 120 million RMB? If we arrange a 200 million RMB prize, we will only lose part of it. But for a super large event like this, the labor cost must be very high."
Fan Wumian smiled and said:
"There is almost no labor cost. The Shanghai government has coordinated volunteers for us. There are 1000 college students and many police officers responsible for maintaining order on both sides of the Huangpu River. A helicopter was also arranged for us to take aerial photos. Several local companies in Shanghai, including my Bandit King Foundation and Tudou.com, will also contribute part of the sponsorship fee. In the end, we should be able to raise to million RMB to donate."
Britney Spears was just the host, and there was a team helping her plan the details. After listening, she smiled and said:
"It's amazing that everything was arranged in just a few days. Now I have to go back to my room and get some sleep. I may not have the chance to experience such a luxurious private jet next time."
After Britney stood up, waved goodbye and left, only Fan Wumian and Daddario were left in the living room.
He lowered his eyes and glanced twice, taking the initiative for once, and found an excuse to ask:
"Do you want to go to bed? I have a script on my computer. Can you come to my bedroom and take a look?"
Daddario made a decision in an instant, smiling and saying, "Okay."
Just closed the bedroom door.
The girl plucked up her courage and immediately stood in front of Fan Wumian, stretching out her hands and standing close to him. She was really worried that he would really ask her to read the script.
After a deep kiss that almost caused him to suffocate, Fan Wumian picked up Daddario and brought him to the bedside, where he was soon covered to the point of suffocation.
With her head dizzy, she saw a spectacular scene she had never seen before. She had met so many girls, but only Zhuang Muxi could barely compare to her.
I once thought about finding some new experiences on an airplane, but I didn’t expect that the first time would be to borrow someone else’s private plane.
Not long after, Daddario finally understood why the two Victoria's Secret models walked out of his room with smiles a few days ago. The feeling was too high. (End of this chapter)