Mediterranean hegemon

After hearing Roosevelt's judgment, Elinor said puzzledly: "But I have observed that the media does not question this aspect, and there are even many independent financial observers who are speaking for him. I don't think Ciano can buy everyone off. !”

"So his scam is very clever. He uses a lot of deceptive tricks and bluff packaging to exaggerate and exaggerate this impact. Every time his family and friends come to New York, they make large purchases, and even exaggerate to use a fleet of cars. I heard The people at the mall said that when they entered a counter, they didn’t ask for anything, but they said they didn’t want this, that, and this, and I wanted to wrap up the rest! Do you really like the products? This is not it at all! Using large purchases to show his strength is essentially marketing and advertising expenses!”

Elinor covered her mouth and laughed: "It sounds a bit like what you said. I find it strange that you can buy millions of goods in just a few days. What kind of magic is this? Italians are not country bumpkins who have never seen the world. !”

Roosevelt said: "So, I want to say that he is the biggest liar ever. He can borrow 3 billion US dollars, 4 billion US dollars or even 5 billion US dollars from us. Maybe he can loan 0 billion US dollars, but he can still loan 20 billion US dollars." Even 30 billion? This is impossible. The U.S. financial system cannot fill this bottomless hole, and it will become faster and faster, and will eventually explode if it cannot be realized. So now he has created a new one. A scam, issuing convertible bonds and using a vague conglomerate that has never seen any statements to guarantee the convertible bonds is like a chicken farm borrowing money from others and saying that it will be returned after the chicks are born, but there is no money on his farm. If there is no hen, where can the chicks come from?”

"Then what did he say in the end?"

"Explain? Convert all the loans into shares, and then withdraw it himself to achieve a perfect golden cicada escape." Roosevelt said slowly, "This is not an illegal scam, it is completely a legal trap."

Elinor asked nervously: "You're not going to expose him, are you?"

"No!" It was Roosevelt's turn to sigh. "First, I haven't become governor yet. A lawyer's advice on economy and business may not be heard by others. Second, his problems have not been fully exposed. Investment Because of the success of motorcycles and pharmaceuticals, my confidence in the United Group has reached a certain level. If I come forward to call for a halt, I will be regarded as a fool by them; thirdly, he has a bunch of accomplices on Wall Street, and they all share money in this model, especially They are those investment bankers and intermediaries who kill without blood. They not only encourage the United Group to spin off some profitable companies to go public and make money. I have also taken over such tasks. When I asked to sign that the funds obtained by these companies cannot be used by the group. When a statement or promise is made, the contract is lost.”

"Then what are you going to do?"

"After I succeed in the election, I will conduct a comprehensive investigation to understand whether there is any fraud in the entire process. His group is built on a kind of blind confidence and cannot be analyzed simply by economics. As long as this confidence is broken, his company will It's going to be over." Roosevelt said with emotion, "As long as the banks stop lending tomorrow, his business will be over the day after tomorrow. I can't let him take away a lot of capital and leave New York with a mess. This is a mess that I have to clean up. "

While the Roosevelts were secretly discussing Contini, the biggest liar of the century, Contini was discussing the situation of convertible bonds with Wall Street investment bankers and financial circles: As expected, he heard that United Group would give up its future plans. After the listed group shares were replaced by convertible bonds of listed shares, all bankers and investors put away their dissatisfaction, and now they are arguing about how to set the conversion price lower so that they can grab additional profits.

Just when Contini announced everything and the market had no time to digest it, the momentum of the US stock market, which had been soaring all the way, finally slowed down. Forecasting experts believed that this bull market should indeed come to an end. In January, the stock market fell sharply. Italian bank stocks owned by Giannini, the chairman of Bank of America and an Italian financial giant, were the first to bear the brunt. The sudden collapse of stock prices caused huge losses to investors. On March 1, Bank of America fell by $20, and Federal Security Bank fell by $0. The overall decline was as high as one-third. Although it was only concentrated in a few sectors, it dragged down the performance of the entire market, causing a large number of bankruptcies among small investors, especially in the over-the-counter market. It was so obvious that even Giannini himself stood up and said: "The stock price is now ridiculously high. I hope investors will be vigilant!"

As if they had made an appointment, all the bankers and investors came to Contini to discuss countermeasures and asked him what he thought. However, the reason for coming was to communicate about the situation of the 500 million convertible bonds.

Contini knew that this was just a small twist before the U.S. stock market went crazy, so he smiled and said: "The bull market has its characteristics. It rises slowly and falls quickly, but the decline can be pulled up quickly. Every squat is for Better to take off, only bear markets are circling and falling every day. I think this time is not a sign of turning from bull to bear, but a release of market risks, reminding us not to operate with excessive leverage. The higher the leverage, the faster we will die. , maybe you will die in this squatting movement."

Everyone was skeptical of his words, but soon they became excited, because Contini held a small press briefing the next day, at which he casually told reporters: "United Group believes that these banks are high-quality assets. Therefore, our group has spent US$2,000 to scan the market! Just look at the reaction!”

Sure enough, the New York Stock Exchange suddenly placed continuous and large buy orders for stocks that had fallen sharply yesterday. In particular, bank stocks, which had fallen by as much as one-third yesterday, were rising like rockets. Reporters rushed out to publish reports, and finally Within half an hour, the news reached the stock market, and all the stocks that Union Bank was scanning suddenly jumped sharply, and even the brokers had no time to respond to the customer's order to buy.

On March 4, stocks almost completely recovered their sudden drop in stock prices, and some of them even rose. Giannini, who had just warned of risks two days ago, suddenly changed his tune and said: "This is a short-term setback on the road ahead. In the end, the stock price will definitely move in the direction of The goal of 000 US dollars is making great progress!”

United Group issued a statement: This investment is not a temporary speculation, but a correction of market errors and a financial investment that is optimistic about the market outlook. In order to maintain market stability, the Group voluntarily locks in the year and will absolutely not reduce its holdings within one year. The one-year period expires. Finally, if the Dow Jones index is below 350 points, the holding will not be reduced. The market value of the stocks purchased by the group the day before yesterday was approximately US$50 million, and the price has now increased to US$100 million. The group may further purchase other stocks that the company believes have investment potential in the future, including but not limited to the banking sector, but the maximum will not exceed US$500 million. Security deposit.

This statement undoubtedly gave the market a boost, and everyone cheered. Only Roosevelt was exchanging views with a few close investors: "What is going on? The current trade is weak and credit is expanding. In such a situation Are people crazy that such an astonishingly high stock price can occur under market conditions?”

This is a question in the minds of some people who still remain rational, but in the face of the rising stock price, they dare not say anything. United Group has doubled in a few days, and the stock commentator who said the bull market is over two days ago was slapped in the face. Snap.

On the other hand, speculators with strong financial resources laughed at them in unison: "You are so conservative! How can you make big money if you are so timid? Look at this CEO, he is called a winner in life!"

These people are represented by William Durant, Arthur Caton, the Fisher brothers and John Raskob. Behind them they represent a very powerful speculative force of Jewish consortia. They buy crazy despite the high stock prices. They believe that now the national people The stagnation in production is completely temporary. Isn't the United Group going to launch a procurement storm soon? The economy will definitely improve before long. What's more, even the president is optimistic about the stock price, which makes them feel like they are close friends.

The bad investors said: "The stock price plummeted two days ago. United Group used $20 million and leverage to buy more than 50 million shares. Did you see that the stock doubled in less than 5 days? You often envy the president's family for being able to... Fifth Avenue spends money like buying land, but you are scared when you have the courage to do it, so success will always belong to a few people, it is never too late to follow the president!”

The news that the CEO made 50 million in five days was widely publicized by the media and almost drove people crazy. There are more and more examples of the stock market turning a person into a millionaire overnight. This temptation is irresistible to most American people. Who doesn’t want to get rich quickly? As soon as the stock market began to rise again, most people rushed in frantically to buy stocks. They did not bother to study and predict future situations, and were even less willing to listen to forecasting experts. The president was boldly optimistic about the market outlook and said he would hold it for at least one year. , and also said that he would increase his investment to 500 million U.S. dollars, so what are you afraid of? Go ahead!

The slogan at that time was: 2 times leverage, a happy life; 3 times leverage, make a fortune; 5 times leverage, a prosperous road; 0 times leverage, as long as you dare to gamble, you will be a winner in life!

Even the driver who drives for a financier will listen to his employer in the back seat talking about Bethlehem Steel stock trends instead of driving because he may have bought exactly 50 shares. Due to the huge trading volume every day, the New York Stock Exchange made an exception and closed trading on Saturdays many times (it was a day-to-day work system at this time), so that stockbrokers who had to work overtime every day could take a breather. Of course, these brokers still lend, and their lending volume continues unabated, causing credit inflation to continue to expand.

This situation confused Federal Reserve officials. They had previously raised the rediscount rate from 3.5% to 4%, hoping to cool down overheated investment slightly. This was also the fuse of the monthly sharp decline, but they were surprised to find that the effect only lasted. Days later, half a month later, the market fully recovered. The investment boom not only did not slow down, but intensified. It was simply illogical and violated the principles of economics.