Don't think that the lives of American residents are much better than those in China. Yes, they earn U.S. dollars, but they also spend U.S. dollars.
In addition to foods like Kaifeng dishes, which are indeed much cheaper than those in China, other things are quite expensive as well.
And their income, when compared to the current domestic situation, is actually not that high.
Aside from businessmen and capitalists, those with fixed salaries were surveyed in a study that selected 200 common professions in the United States. Among these, the ones with the highest average incomes are petroleum engineers, mathematicians, pharmacists, astronomy artists, network sales managers, doctors, space engineers, lawyers, and air traffic controllers. These individuals can earn more than $100,000 per year. Among them, doctors earn the most, reaching an average of $180,000 annually. This is why doctors hold such a high status in the United States, and why they are so highly regarded. It can be said that every doctor is a part of the high-income group.
This is also true in China. Although doctors' fixed salaries aren't high, the bonuses, medical subsidies, drug subsidies, and money from equipment suppliers make it enough to make others envious. Jiang Hai had a friend in the past who was two years younger than him. She eventually became a nurse at a tertiary hospital, working first in the operating room and later in the emergency room. After five years, although her family didn't have much money initially, she had bought three properties in Bingcheng with full payments, changed cars twice, and finally upgraded to a car worth over 300,000 yuan. According to her, this was only a small portion of the money. Some chief physicians at the same level, or head nurses, could easily make tens of millions or even hundreds of millions a year if they dared to take advantage of the system. As for the red envelopes rumored by the people, they actually looked down on them. A red envelope was usually worth three to five hundred yuan, or at most a thousand yuan, and they would be scolded behind their backs for such small amounts. For example, an imported steel plate used in orthopedics originally costs five thousand yuan, but the hospital sells it for twenty-five thousand yuan. The remaining twenty thousand yuan, except for the hospital's share, is theirs. Each piece could make six or seven thousand yuan, and the subsequent medicines and treatments contribute even more. As for medical insurance drugs, the doctor will clearly tell you that their effects are poor and they have side effects. If you still want to use them, they'll let you, but in that case, who would choose to use such drugs?
But this group of people claims they are poor every day, and Jiang Hai couldn't help but give them the middle finger.
In the United States, there is much less gray income. As long as you pay your personal income tax, you don't have to spend a penny to see a doctor. Of course, if you don't pay for medical insurance, it's a different story. You might end up paying thousands of dollars even for a cold. The transparent income of doctors in the United States is high, with an average annual income of $180,000, ranking first among all professions in the country. Lawyers, by comparison, only earn $110,000 a year, which is far less than doctors.
Of course, this has nothing to do with Jiang Hai and Robbins. The average income of a family farm owner is only $69,000 a year. As a cowboy, Robbins naturally doesn't earn that much.
To put it bluntly, a cowboy still does manual labor. Their wages are similar to those of lumberjacks, dock workers, and construction workers, and even less than some technical construction workers. These workers typically earn between $20,000 and $30,000 a year. Robbins' previous income was settled on a weekly basis at $616, which is about $32,000 annually. This is already a good income for cowboys in the U.S. After all, the middle class here only earns $50,000 a year.
In fact, seafarers earn slightly more. Fishermen on ocean-going fishing boats earn about $50,000 a year, which can be considered the middle class in the United States. However, those working in near-sea fishing have it worse, earning almost the same as cowboys.
After hearing Robbins' words, Jiang Hai did a little calculation and decided to hire him. He increased the weekly salary to $800, which amounts to more than $40,000 a year. In his opinion, this is still a good income.
Robbins was excited when he heard Jiang Hai's offer. He immediately shared his enthusiasm with Jiang Hai.
Jiang Hai realized that running a ranch was not as simple as he had imagined from novels.
First of all, since the previous owner had taken everything from the ranch, he needed to decorate the place himself. This depended on Jiang Hai's preferences—he could choose to keep it simple or make it luxurious. It was entirely up to him. Secondly, he had to hire people. A ranch and a fishery couldn't be run by just Jiang Hai and Robbins. Hiring more people was essential.
The number of people hired would depend on how many cattle Jiang Hai wanted to raise. In China, 100 acres could support 60 cows, so on 12,000 acres (or 72,000 acres), he could raise 40,000 cows. However, Jiang Hai wasn't planning on raising so many at once. He wanted to raise 10,000 cows just for fun. He hadn't forgotten that he planned to raise premium cattle, not ordinary beef cattle.
Ten thousand cows would require at least five cowboys, plus enough cattle dogs to help manage them, so five more people would be needed.
Additionally, the fishery would need manpower. Operating a 100-ton fishing boat requires at least three people. A ship needs someone to drive it and patrol, so there would need to be at least five fishermen. The wine estate would require workers too, but since the best planting season for grapes in this region was early spring and early autumn, there was no immediate rush. The winemaker could be hired next year.
The winemaker would need at least three people, so Jiang Hai would need to find at least twelve more workers to help out.
With the manpower sorted, transportation became another issue. He would need to buy vehicles. With a car, he could buy cattle, sheep, and horses. He would also need a boat, along with fish fry and cages.
Listening to Robbins' explanation, Jiang Hai regretted buying the ranch. He had no particular feelings for these things before, but now, there were so many tasks to handle.
"Boss, don't worry, I'll help you. We can tackle these tasks one by one, and everything will be set up in about half a month," Robbins said with a smile, as if he could tell his new boss was overwhelmed. "Haha, that's the only way," Jiang Hai chuckled awkwardly, muttering to himself.
The next day, Jiang Hai sat in Will Anthony's car and headed to the Phillips office in Boston to sign the contract to buy the ranch. Additionally, he needed to apply for a green card.
For ordinary people, applying for a green card in the United States can be quite a hassle with long queues and qualification checks. However, for Jiang Hai, it wasn't very difficult.
He was an investment immigrant, having invested in a large-scale animal husbandry, fishery, and wine estate worth $280 million. It would create jobs for more than ten people and employ even more during busy farming and fishing seasons.
The U.S. government welcomes such investors, especially ones like Jiang Hai, who is neither a fugitive nor a political asylum seeker. Naturally, the U.S. government hopes to attract more investors like him.
So, as soon as Jiang Hai signed the documents, the review passed quickly, and he was granted permanent residency. However, he would still need to return to China to finalize some details. Fortunately, Jiang Hai had planned to return anyway.
Though his parents had passed away, there were still matters to handle in China.
Before leaving for China, he needed to deal with one more thing—finding a decoration company to handle the renovation of his villa. The house was still empty, like a haunted mansion, and Jiang Hai couldn't get used to living there.
The entire house was repainted, wooden boards were laid down, underfloor heating was installed, tiles were put in the bedrooms and kitchen, and bathtubs, toilets, bedding, wardrobes, refrigerators, various cooking utensils, ovens, and stoves were bought.
Jiang Hai followed the design plans provided by the decoration company. They were responsible for labor and materials, and the entire decoration of his villa cost him $1.2 million, which made the company very happy. It was an unusually high price in the United States.
Once everything was completed, Jiang Hai boarded the plane back to China.
He entrusted the ranch's affairs to Robbins. Of course, this was also a test for Robbins. If he didn't manage things properly or messed up, Jiang Hai could replace him at any time.
Fortunately, Robbins wasn't foolish. After Jiang Hai entrusted him with the tasks, Robbins handled them with great care, making sure everything was done right. He wouldn't allow a single tile to be laid improperly.
When dealing with other people's money, one must show their best side, and Robbins did just that.
However, Jiang Hai wasn't concerned about the process. All he needed were results. He trusted Robbins to manage things in his absence.
After staying in the fishery for two days, Jiang Hai left for Boston, then flew to Los Angeles before heading back to China. The green card made things easier for him.
Jiang Hai had bought the best flights for his journey. The planes were completely different from the domestic ones he was used to. They featured not only bars and restaurants, but also individual touch-screen TVs in the economy class. The most luxurious planes Jiang Hai took had leather recliners similar to small beds, and even included a private room on the second floor of the plane. He had never flown on such a plane before. When he arrived in the U.S., it was just a simple bed. Who would have thought there would be a private room for his return flight?