My Ranch Chapter 12

Chapter 12: There is still much to do

Translated by me, edited by Kai.

Don’t think American citizens have better living standards Yes, they get paid in USD, but they also spend USD. Except for some specialized dishes which are cheaper than the ones in China, everything else is a lot more expensive. Their income really isn’t much when compared to the current situation in China.

Other than businessmen and capitalists, everyone else works for their wages. A study of 200 common occupations in America showed that people who are in the oil sector, mathematicians, pharmacists, IT workers, doctors, s.p.a.ce engineers, lawyers and air traffic controllers earn the most on average. These people earn at least 100,000 USD annually. Doctors especially can earn more than 180,000 USD a year. This is mainly because doctors charge much higher per hour and see many more patients or ‘clients’ than others.

This is also the same in China. The normal wages for doctors really isn’t a lot, but the job comes with tons of bonuses, and money from medical supplements, drug supplements, and other medical equipment makes the majority of the population envious. Jiang Hai has a friend who is working at a 3rd tier hospital as a nurse, first at the surgery ward and then the emergency ward. In 5 years, his family went from having nothing to having 3 different houses, 2 new cars, one of which is worth more than 300,000 Yuan. And according to him, he is only getting the leftovers. As long as doctors or head nurses want to, then earning a few million yuan is definitely not out of the question. For example, a steel plate used in orthopedic operations, originally costs 5000, but the hospital sells it for 25,000. This 20,000 is pure profits (1). Deducting the section that belongs to the hospital, doctors can easily receive 6 to 7 thousand. Then there is the follow-up medication. This is where all the money is. If some medicare drug is said to have bad effects as well as side effects, but you still want to use it, then they will prescribe it for you. Under these conditions, who would still use these drugs? Yet, these people constantly call themselves poor. Towards these people Jiang Hai can only say ‘f you’ and that is about it.

This type of grey income is drastically reduced in America since as long as you pay your taxes then you’re pretty much covered by the state healthcare system. But if you don’t have any medical insurance, then you’re royally screwed. If they do not charge you a couple thousand for a simple cold, then it’s because they pity you. Also, all of the doctors incomes in America are open to the public, but they still earn a lot. On average they earn 180,000 annually, they rank number one in annual incomes in America. The difference is pretty obvious. For example a lawyer only earns an average of 110,000 yearly.

Naturally, this has no connections to Jiang Hai and Robins since a farmer only earns 69,000 USD annually, but a cowboy earns much less than that. A cowboy is basically a labourer. They’re very similar to those lumberjacks, dock workers and construction workers, with an annual salary of somewhere between 20 to 30 thousand. Robins has a weekly salary of $616 which is 32,000 annually. To cowboys this much salary is already pretty good since the middle cla.s.s in America annual salary doesn’t go beyond 50,000.

If you do the calculations then sailors earn a bit more. Those fishermen working on internationals fishing trawlers earn 50,000 annually, making them the middle cla.s.s, but those working in coastal areas pretty much earn the same as cowboys. Hearing this, Jiang Hai calculated a bit before hiring him with a weekly wage of 800 USD. That is roughly 40,000 a year. Hearing this Robins automatically became excited and explained what they need to get the ranch running.

Hearing about everything that needed to be done, Jiang Hai finally understood why managing a ranch is so much more difficult than described in those novels (2). First, they need to replace all the missing equipment in the ranch as well as renovate the whole residential area. This will have to be decided by Jiang Hai as to how complex and luxurious he wants the place to be. Next is to hire more workers. A ranch and a fishery can’t be operated by just Jiang Hai and Robins, they require more hands.

The amount of people being hired is proportional to how many heads of cows he is going to raise. With some calculation, the 1200 acres can easily raise 40 thousand heads of cows. However, Jiang Hai is only going to raise 10 thousand first for testing purposes. Especially because the cattle he wants to raise is of premium grade, not like those average ones. 10 thousand cattles require at least 5 cowboys with some additional shepherd dogs for support, thus increasing the workers required count by 5.

Next, the fishery also need some manpower. A 100 tonnage fishing trawler require at least 3 people, as well as teams on routine patrol duty. Generally 2 people a team is enough, thus requiring at least 5 fishermen. Then there is the winery. Since it is currently winter and there exists unfavorable conditions for growing grapes, thus hiring brewers can wait until next year. Nevertheless, he still requires at least 3 brewers to operate the winery. Like this Jiang Hai needs to employ at least 12 additional workers.

After hiring the required manpower, he needs to solve the transportation problem. Which means buying trucks. Once they have the trucks then they’re on the right track. They can go buy cattles, lambs, horses, boats, nets, cages and anything else they might need. Hearing all of this, Jiang Hai kind of regretted buying this place. He generally isn’t interested in these types of things, but now he found this much work to do.

“Don’t worry boss, I’ll help you with all of these things. Half a month is more than enough time to finish all of it.” Seeing how Jiang Hai understand none of these things, Robins can only offer his support.

“Well, it can only go like this.” Muttered Jiang Hai embarra.s.singly.

The next day, he had Robins drive him to Philips headquarters in Boston to finish the paperwork of buying this estate as well as to apply for a green card. Normally, it is very difficult to apply for a green card in America. People need to wait in line, then their capitals needs to be checked and so on. Making the whole process quite troublesome. However this is completely different for Jiang Hai since he is is an immigrant investor. Specifically an immigrant who has invested 280 million into an estate with a ranch, fishery and winery. He can also provide at least 10 jobs to people in the agricultural and fishery sector.

Towards these type of investment immigrants, America is 120% welcoming (3). Especially since Jiang Hai is not a fugitive, or seeking political asylum. Thus, towards these kind of investors America has its doors wide open. As such, when Jiang Hai finished signing the papers, he immediately pa.s.sed the audit and obtained the right for permanent residency. But this required a period of time to process so he needed to go back to China for sometime.

Jiang Hai is really indifferent about this since he also needed to go back to settle some unfinished business. But before he heads back, he still needs a renovation company to renovate his mansion. The mansion currently is completely barren and everything needs to be redone. This includes a new paint job for the walls, new hardwood flooring, central heating, tiles for both the kitchens and bathrooms, bathtubs, toilets, beds, closets, refrigerators, ovens, stoves and so on. Jiang Hai followed the design from the renovation company and paid 1.2 million USD for the makeover. This made the other side extremely excited as a job as profitable as this is extremely rare.

Having settled every thing that needs to be done on this side, Jiang Hai booked a plane to return back to China. If there is any problems then Robins is the one in charge. This is a trial by fire since if he screws this up then he basically can go packing and find a new employee. As such Robins became every strict on the renovators. Since Jiang Hai does not care about the process but only the result, so when he returns, Robins should have finished overseeing the full renovation.

After staying 2 more days at the estate, Jiang Hai boarded a plane headed to Los Angeles, then transferred to a flight back to China. It might be because of his credit card, but the seat he received on the Airbus A380 was first cla.s.s. This airbus not only has a bar, a dining room, touchscreen TV, but also real leather arm chairs and private rooms for first cla.s.s pa.s.sengers on the second deck. He has never experienced flying in these type of planes. When he flew to America he only had a bed, but when he went back he also had a private room? (4)