1928: The Rise of Giants

Chapter 459 The Horror of the Great Depression

April 1929, the 11th year of the Republic of China (19).

What Ye Luo said at Franklin's villa didn't take long to come true.

美国11月的经济增速急剧下滑，国民生产总值由1928年的峰值1040.4亿美元，跌落到885亿美元；净国民产值由峰值958亿美元下滑到709亿美元。

Meanwhile, unemployment rates across the country are rising at an all-time high.

At the end of 1928, the U.S. government calculated that the national unemployment rate was 3.2%. By mid-November 1929, the unemployment rate had climbed to 11%.

Yelo knew that the very next year, the unemployment rate reached 26.7%.

This means that less than one in four people in the United States is unemployed and has nothing to do, which is equivalent to 3400 million men, women, and children who have no income at all to make ends meet.

The capital market, known as the cornerstone of American prosperity, also collapsed. The Dow Jones Index fell from a high of 390 points to 141 points, and the decline continues, seemingly never-ending.

One of the world's largest companies, U.S. Steel's stock fell from $262 to the current $22, a plunge of $240, causing countless speculators to jump directly from the rooftops.

This is also the first time that Chinese shareholders have entered a large enterprise in the United States.

In 1929, the status of the Chinese was not much different from that of black slaves. The Chinese workers who were deceived were either building railroads or working illegally. They could not get ahead in their lives and did not get the respect they deserved.

When are they willing to let this go?

Even the most powerful stock of General Motors fell from US$173 to US$58 per share, turning from a high-priced stock with great glory in the past to a mid-priced stock that no one cares about.

The price of goods has been significantly reduced, and the price of goods has dropped by 15% so far.

Only when the people started to rebel, they attacked their homes and killed them all.

Ye Luo transferred the 5% of the stock to President Sloan in advance. Looking back now, it turned out to be a wise move.

However, General Motors will still be one of the leaders in the automotive industry in the future. Now it is in trouble. Many upstream and downstream manufacturers have abandoned it. Ye Luo is one of the few investors who has never left.

Throughout the ages, even if the people were in dire straits and people exchanged their children for food, those businessmen, landowners, and powerful people would not release a grain of rice from their rice warehouses.

In the first half of November, Ye Luohao spent US$11 million to acquire 500% of General Motors' shares, becoming the company's second largest shareholder.

Ye Luo became the first Chinese to "stand up" in the true sense. His influence was unprecedentedly huge, surpassing that of Situ Meitang, the Hongmen boss who had been in New York for many years.

The United States also experienced severe currency depreciation.

When commodity prices fall, the company's profits will decrease, and the boss's wages to workers will decrease, and the number of workers will also decrease, thereby exacerbating the unemployment situation. One after another, it becomes a vicious cycle.

These consortiums had the same idea as him. Seeing that someone had started the operation one step ahead, they immediately invested funds in a panic and started to buy frantically.

Once the knot is tied, it will be difficult for anyone to use it.

Unfortunately, this is not possible.

The only way to save the current situation is for those consortiums that are superior and have grabbed a lot of funds and have not been greatly affected by the US stock market bubble to provide a large amount of rescue funds.

Ye Luo took advantage of this period to annex many American companies through investment, acquisitions, government assistance, etc. His actions were quickly noticed by consortiums.

As long as he raises his arms and calls out, countless overseas Chinese will respond to him.

However, there is a huge difference between a temporary act and a long-planned plan. Ye Luo's funds are still ridiculously abundant - a total of 30 billion US dollars.

After fierce competition, famous financial groups such as the Rockefeller Group and the Morgan Group soon realized that the Chinese funds were like a bottomless pit with no bottom at all.

At this point, no one knows that standing behind Livermore and Huixin is actually Ye Luo. Combined with his actions and behaviors along the way, the leaders of these consortiums were horrified.

You know clearly that this is a good thing he has done, but you can do nothing about it, and it really starts a war of public opinion. People believe that you, a consortium that makes money from dead people and has no social favor, still believe in this US stock market when it is at its most glorious, and you advise them not to invest. Stock young man?

Ye Luo counted every step carefully, and the occasional omission was harmless, leaving them helpless.

It didn't take long for the eight super consortiums to send their elites to negotiate with Ye Luo and the others.

This is upper class society.

There are no permanent enemies, only permanent benefits.

Since there is no way to squeeze you out of the gambling table, I have no choice but to cooperate with you and enjoy the cake together.

Seeing the olive branch extended by these consortiums, Livermore was surprised and sighing.

He has worked hard all his life, hoping that one day he can lead his family to become a giant in the United States like these consortiums.

But the exclusivity of these guys is so frightening that the Livermore family simply cannot succeed through just a few generations of hard work.

He even planned to slowly advance this ambitious goal within three to five generations.

Unexpectedly, with the arrival of Ye Luo and the US stock bubble, everything came so easily.

The olive branch of the consortium is the recognition of their status.

In the future, he can claim to the outside world that he is the Livermore Consortium.

While they were still busy signing various contracts and discussing how to carve up the remaining commercial market in the United States, Yelo took the time to invest in several good publishing houses, including the New York Times, and completely took root in the American journalism world.

The current press is a miserable place, a toilet for politicians, with no sense of autonomy.

Many years later, although they still cannot break away from this relationship, they have a very important say.

Public opinion can sometimes easily destroy a person.

In South Korea, many presidents have been overthrown by public opinion, and those behind the scenes are naturally those obscure chaebols.

The main reason for investing in publishing houses at this time is that he has two big weapons.

The first is "Gone with the Wind", which will make Vivien Leigh popular in the future. The original work is also called "Gone with the Wind". As long as it obtains the publishing rights of this book, no matter how bad the publishing house is, it can turn around during the Great Depression.

The second is the production of pocket books. Books with this special binding method have become popular even decades later.

Historically, the American book market, which was dying in the 30s, managed to survive only because of the emergence of pocket books.

At that time, many popular books could not sell 10 copies, but pocket books sold hundreds of thousands or millions.

Before e-books became popular, books were the only entertainment for the public. With a little guidance, many hit books could be produced.

During the Great Recession, such cheap entertainment became even more popular.

But compared to the high-end technologies and resources that Ye Luo and the others acquired, these are just small details.

In mid-to-late November, the U.S. stock market crash was not completely over, and terrible chain reactions were spreading.

When Ye Luo returned to New York, he saw long lines of people queuing up to withdraw money from almost every bank. Crazy bank runs led to the collapse of a large number of small and medium-sized banks, and even some large banks began to be stretched.

(End of this chapter)