In the week before the Christmas period that will start on December 15, in addition to the storm caused by Westeros suddenly announced the reduction of its holdings in Daenerys Entertainment stock, there is actually another big thing.

This is the new US Telecommunications Act officially passed the Congressional vote.

In history, the Telecommunications Act promoted by the Clinton administration was not finally passed until 1996. This time, with the joint efforts of many forces including the Westeros system, the bill was introduced in advance, which is also the most important bill in the past 1995 years.

Compared with other small bills that are only specific matters, this time the Telecommunications Act is actually a brand new law, a major amendment to the United States' Communications Act of 1934.

The Communications Act of 1934 was a law that emerged in the anti-monopoly tide of the United States. Therefore, the core of the bill was to prevent monopoly, and it was to strictly prevent monopoly. Some relevant bills published in the following decades were basically carried out around the Communications Act of 1934, such as strictly restricting cross-holding between different media platforms, strictly restricting business cross-operation between different communication companies, strictly restricting the merger of regional communications companies by national telecom giants, etc.

The Clinton administration's Telecommunications Act was a comprehensive loosening.

Of course, this is definitely not something that can be said on the surface.

Therefore, the amendment goal of this bill publicly promoted is to open up competitive markets by eliminating regulatory access barriers, promote the application of advanced technologies by private enterprises, and promote resource integration among different types of telecom operators, so as to provide the American people with better quality and cheap information technology and services.

A high benchmark was erected, followed by a thick new bill covering seven major items including "telecommunications services", "broadcasting services", "cable services", and "communication ethics".

Although the Washington authorities uploaded the complete bill content to the government website as soon as possible due to the principle of openness and transparency, it is obvious that there are very few publics who have the intention to study the complete bill and can see what impact the clauses will have.

This is the result that is needed.

As for the media, of course, there is no shortage of discerning people.

Many media people criticized the first time after the Congress voted, believing that this bill would not promote competition at all, and would only lead to another merger and monopoly.

However, because the telecommunications and media giants that control most of the core media in the United States have been looking forward to this bill for a long time, most criticisms have not splashed many waves. Instead, all media from newspapers to the Internet have begun to promote the various conveniences that the "three-network integration" will bring to the American people.

In Simon's memory, neither the better telecommunications service nor the cheaper expenses were achieved. Even many years later, there would be an embarrassing situation where Joe Gang could not find the signal on the spot at the Apple mobile phone press conference. You should know that it was in the bustling downtown San Francisco, not in the wilderness.

In fact, the final result of the "Telecommunications Act" launched by the Clinton administration was that major telecommunications giants quickly completed the annexation and integration of telecommunications resources across the country, re-forming the de facto telecommunications monopoly pattern.

As for better service and cheaper rates.

It does not exist.

If a company wants to pursue profit maximization, it must of course charge the most with the minimum capital investment.

In any case, since Washington's opening has been relaxed, Simon will certainly not be polite and will start to accelerate the IPO process of Verizon Telecom in order to merge with American Online in the future.

With its crazy expansion in recent years, American Online, which already has a large number of its own line networks, has also begun to develop landline and cable TV services outside of network access services, and officially embarking on the path of "three networks in one". Simon has laid the foreshadowing for this. The line network laid by American Online in recent years has left a considerable amount of vacant capacity, and this time it happened to be used.

In addition, with the Telecommunications Act passing a congressional vote, both GE and Time Warner, which are undergoing merger reviews by the U.S. Department of Justice, rose.

Time Warner has Warner Communications, which operates cable TV. With the enactment of the Wire Act, the company can also break through the legal barriers that have been in the process of becoming increasingly popular network services and traditional landline businesses in recent years.

December 15.

The North American Christmas schedule officially begins.

Knowing that "Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice" is about to be crushed next week, there will be three commercial films with more than 1,000 screens released this week, and they are all the key points.

First, Paramount produced a remake of the film "The New Dragon and Phoenix" which was the same name as Humphrey Bogart and Audrey Hepburn. The film not only starred by Harrison Ford, but also invited big-name filmmakers such as Sidney Pollack, Billy Wilder, and Fanny Ardan to join. The production cost also reached a bombshell level of $50 million, with 1,821 screens.

The second part is "Waiting to Wake Up" produced by Fox, which is a novel adapted from a black drama directed by Cannes black actor Folist Whitaker. It also joins two famous black actresses, Whitney Houston and Angela Bessett. The film production cost is 16 million US dollars and the number of screens to be opened is 1,253 yuan.

Finally, it is a spoof comedy "Vampire is Crazy" produced by Sony Pictures, starring Leslie Nelson, the "White-headed Detective" with a production cost of $30 million and a screen number of 1,425 yuan.

Even though the reputation of the three movies was not bad after they were released that day, the distribution scale was obviously conservative.

Moreover, on December 15, the most popular one was that the "American Idol" team officially launched the theme song "Dream It Possible" created by Simon for this reality show. The song was also launched on ABC TV, ABC Radio and YouTube platforms. The Broadcast website of Tinkobaier also launched the single for iPlayer player users to download for paid payment.

The song obviously did not disappoint the fans who initiated the petition some time ago.

At 8 o'clock that night, "Dream It Possible" was launched on YouTube less than 20 minutes, and it broke through the 10 million mark with a click. The single sales of the Broadcast website also reached 1 million in two hours that night. The smooth brainwashing tune quickly spread across the streets and alleys of North America in the following weekend.

After the votes passed between the two houses of Congress last week, the Telecommunications Act was signed by Clinton on December 18, and it came into effect.

Since Westeros announced the reduction of Daenerys Entertainment's shares last week, Simon has been closely following the trends of all parties. Then the Telecommunications Act voted again. After the President signed the bill, after the opening of the new week, the US stock market seemed to gradually disappear due to the news of last week's share reduction. Simon quietly flew to the East Coast and personally arranged some things.

Manor in the northern suburbs of Greenwich.

There have been several snowfalls on the east coast. Although it is sunny today, the manor is surrounded by silver. The temperature during the day is below zero. The manor villa is naturally warm like spring.

It's Tuesday afternoon, December 19th.

Joseph Schrapp, one of the heads of political lobbying affairs in Westeros, just arrived at the villa. Before that, Simon had met another head of family political affairs, Paul Spetz, who mainly arranged for next year's general election.

In 1996, in addition to the presidential election, there will also be a change of MPs.

In last year's midterm election operations, the Westeros system actually took a lot of risks. If you don't pay attention, you may poke a big hornet's nest. Fortunately, you will be in danger in the end. This time, Simon does not intend to gain more momentum, but instead takes a big step back.

While last year's "sniper plan" attacked a group of people, the congressmen who were supported by the Westeros system in disguise did not necessarily tend to be the Westeros family side.

Therefore, in next year's election, in addition to the few who actively show goodwill and reach a coalition, most of the members of the congressman who benefited in disguise last year will no longer actively support the Westeros system this year. In this way, the Westeros system's betting on the election will be much less, and it will also make both parties in Washington lower their vigilance.

As for the presidential election, the Westeros system will not participate in the openly, and of course it will not be lacking in secret help to Clinton.

The most important one is the online platform that has become increasingly influential in recent years, as well as the ABC TV network that Daenerys Entertainment has just taken over. These public opinion platforms will definitely be inclined toward Clinton.

Simon has never had any good feelings for the White House couple, but letting the other party continue to rule is undoubtedly the best choice for the Westeros system.

Even, after all, history has changed, and it is not impossible to push Hillary to the stage in the future.

Because Simon has realized another thing.

The Westeros system has controlled a company under the name of a golden retriever real estate developer. It used to play as a leisure game. Suddenly, it was discovered that doing so would actually completely block the possibility of the other party entering the White House again in the future.

American voters will not elect a spokesperson so closely related to the Westeros system as president in the future.

At that time, if you rashly compete for this position, you may even drag the entire Westeros system into it. After all, that position in the White House is definitely the ultimate goal of many American politicians in their lifetime. Whoever dares to grab it will fight to the death, just like Clinton, who has been in trouble in recent years, and a golden retriever who accidentally entered the White House in memory, because neither of their qualifications can suppress the position in the White House, and they are all in a mess.

Therefore, the Golden Retriever's real estate developer has completely become Simon's abandoned son.

In a study room on the first floor of the villa, Joseph Schrapp and Simon exchanged a brief greeting, and began to talk about some recent trends in Washington: "According to the news I received, the president was mainly dissatisfied with the announcement of the share reduction plan without notifying him in advance. Hillary Clinton also got angry. However, these are just private attitudes. On the public level, the president and his wife were not strange. I also had breakfast with White House Chief of Staff John Podesta on Saturday morning. What the White House is more concerned about is what kind of support we can give in the election year?"

Simon leaned on the sofa with a cup of warm coffee. After hearing Schlapp said, he raised the corner of his mouth slightly and said, "If I give money now, it will be a big help to them. I think they are not short of money now. ABC, plus Igret, only these two support, one or two hundred million cannot be bought."

Joseph Schlap said: "Actually, what John revealed is that he hopes you can lobby News Corp to reduce support for Dole."

The Republican candidate has not been finalized for next year's general election.

However, many people actually understand that if nothing unexpected happens, the high chance of playing against Clinton is the Republican Senate and current Senate Majority Leader Bob Doll, a veteran politician who has announced his candidacy and has a high voice.

As for News Corp.

Simon glanced at Joseph Schrapp, who had a little curious expression, and shook his head directly: "You tell there next time that I can't help with this."

In private, they have formed a tacit understanding with Murdoch, and both sides have supported each other.

Even if Joseph Schrapp had already guessed or even confirmed this, Simon would not be too honest.

In fact, if it is really necessary, Simon will definitely take action.

After all, betting on both sides cannot affect the overall layout of the Westeros system. If Dore comes to power, although he is also a very smooth old politician and has good relations with various capital groups in the United States, there are always variables.

Joseph Schrapp heard his boss denying it and did not delve into it. Even though he had already entered the core of the Westeros family, he still understood how to make a decision. It was normal for the young man in front of him to have some reservations about him, and this did not mean distrust.

If he is completely honest, he will even doubt the other party's IQ.

He nodded, saying that he would tell the matter, and said: "In addition, I talked with an assistant of Greenspan. Now both Congress and the White House are hesitant to launch interest rate hikes. They are worried that this will lead to a market turnover. After all, the US economy has been improving at this stage. Even if the Nasdaq is overheating, it is only one aspect and not a good time to tighten monetary policy."

In the past few years, the Federal Reserve has maintained a rather loose monetary policy.

Logically speaking, after the economic recovery, in order to avoid the market being overheated, it actually needs to start tightening since last year. However, because the market situation is too good and the frequent rumors of new technology bubbles that may burst, in order to avoid the abrupt end of the economic recovery after the Gulf War, the Federal Reserve has never announced a rate hike.

Simon wants to control the overheating of the market, in addition to the Westeros system taking the initiative to suppress excessive speculation through share reduction and public opinion control, the Federal Reserve's monetary policy is undoubtedly another powerful tool.

At this time, after hearing Schlapp said this, Simon understood that the Westeros system must be operated separately for a period of time.

Simon needs to use several share reductions and other accompanying operations to make the Fed confirm that interest rate hikes will not lead to a market crash, but will help cool down the market so that Washington can make up its mind.

Whether out of selfishness or justice, it is necessary to pour cold water on the economy at the right time, even Wall Street will not deny this.

In any case, Wall Street and its related capital are engaged in orthodox investment businesses. Although speculative capital such as hedge funds has increased significantly in recent years, it is still not mainstream. Since it is an investment, it will not lack long-term vision and focus on long-term flow rather than killing chickens and getting eggs.

Actively suppressing the rapid expansion of the new technology bubble, giving the US Internet industry a longer space for stable development, which is beneficial to everyone. Otherwise, Simon would not rashly launch the plan to boil the frog in warm water. He is not crazy, and he will not do such a thing as offending everyone at once.
Chapter completed!