Chapter 322: Seven major conglomerates join forces
A middle-aged man in a suit walked in and bowed deeply when he saw Hadi. "Hello, Mr. Hadi. I am Kato Ryozo, the Japanese ambassador to the United States. I am honored to visit you. I know that you have been appointed as Japan's special economic envoy. The Japanese government is very happy and looks forward to your early visit to Japan to provide economic guidance to our country."
Hardy nodded and said, "I have several tasks during my visit to Japan. The first is to solve the current economic difficulties in Japan, the second is to supervise the implementation of economic policies, and the third is to provide guidance on the future economic direction of Japan."
"I don't know much about the current economic situation in Japan. Please provide me with a list of all Japanese companies and their status before I go there. It must be true and detailed. This is very necessary for guidance."
Ambassador Kato Ryozo bowed quickly and said, "Yes, I will inform the country to prepare the materials. I wonder when the special envoy will go to Japan so that we can make preparations early."
"You have to wait a little longer. This time I am going to Japan not only to provide economic guidance, but also to bring investment to solve the economic difficulties. You should also know that Congress has rejected Japan's aid for the new year. Continuously asking for aid is not a long-term strategy. Self-help is the right way."
"Japan's industrial situation is sluggish now. I want to see if I can persuade other financial groups to invest in Japan. This will help boost the Japanese economy. What do you think?"
Ambassador Kato Yoshida was very happy.
"Is that so? Thank you so much, Mr. Hardy, for your hard work for the Japanese people. We are sincerely grateful."
Then he bowed deeply again.
Hardy smiled softly.
"It is one thing to persuade them to go to Japan to inspect the industry, but it is another to keep them. You have to understand that this opportunity is rare, so when you return, ask the government to compile a list of investment companies to facilitate these companies to invest in Japan."
"When we were investing in Europe, other European countries did the same thing. I hope Japan will show sincerity because this may be the only chance."
"Yes, Mr. Hadi, I will definitely inform the Prime Minister of your words." Ambassador Kato Ryozo bowed.
......
The plane landed at the New York airport. When Hardy got off the plane, he saw David Rockefeller standing next to the car. Hardy smiled and walked up to him and the two hugged each other.
"Thank you for picking me up, David," said Hardy.
"We haven't seen each other for four or five months since President Johnson's inauguration reception. Get in the car and let's find a place to have a good chat," said David Rockefeller.
David Rockefeller has a small manor on Manhattan Island. Although it is not big, it is very rare to have such a manor on Manhattan Island where every inch of land is valuable.
And this is not David's official home. His wife and children do not live here. This is just his residence for rest when he is working.
David Rockefeller poured Hardy a glass of wine, and the two sat under the shade of the trees in the yard, with the bodyguards standing far away.
"Hardy, will our investment in Hong Kong be lost?" David asked as soon as he came up.
He was talking, of course, about HSBC.
"I heard that you have been in Hong Kong for the past few months and have made a lot of investments. Are you sure?"
"I can only say it's 50 percent sure," Hardy shrugged.
Well, no one can be sure about this matter.
"I'm very curious why you plan to go to Japan again. From what I know about you, you would never support the Japanese economy for no reason. I know that you once fought in Asia, the enemy was the Japanese, and you were shot through the chest by a Japanese bullet," said David.
Hardy smiled and said, "My purpose is very simple, of course, to make money. I think Japan will have great opportunities to make money in the future, so I am ready to go. As for becoming an economic envoy, this is an accident."
"President Johnson and I talked about planning to invest in Japan and acquire industries there, which might involve the government seizing materials. You know the government has imposed economic sanctions on Japan, split up Japanese conglomerates, and confiscated many industries and machines. I planned to acquire them, so I naturally had to tell him about it."
"Then we talked about the Japanese economy. After the Dodge Plan was implemented, the Japanese economy suffered another blow and became even more depressed. I looked up the figures. Last year, Japan's total industrial output was only 58 million US dollars, and this quarter is even worse than the same period last year."
"Japan is now facing a food shortage and a severe economic recession. The Japanese government asked our government to continue its aid and support, but President Johnson was obviously unwilling to invest in Japan, so he rejected their request."
"I proposed to go to Japan this time, and President Johnson thought that my investment was a response to Japan's request, so he gave me the title of special envoy, so I was semi-private and semi-official."
Hardy explained with a smile.
"That's right. But if you go to Japan to invest, do you think the Japanese economy is worth investing in?"
David Rockefeller asked.
"Do you have a world map or a globe?" Hardy said.
"Of course there is. There is a map hanging in my study, and there is also a big globe. I like to look at maps when I have nothing to do," said David.
"Go to your study."
The two came to the study. David was right. His globe was really big, almost one meter tall, and extremely delicately made. You could tell at a glance that it was very expensive. Hardy turned the globe to the east.
Then he pointed out the location of Dongfangxing and the Soviet Union to David.
He then talked to David about the war in the East and finally explained his reasons. David then understood.
"In this case, Japan will become a very important chess piece," David said suddenly.
"That's right, so in the future the strict control policies against him will be relaxed. It is actually very easy for a country with a population of 80 million and a complete industrial system to recover. I dare say that within 10 years, our investment will definitely double or even higher." Hadi said in an affirmative tone.
"Well, I believe in your judgment, even more than you believe in investment in Hong Kong," said David.
Hardy was somewhat helpless.
The family is still obsessed with their investment in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong is indeed very dangerous, and basically few people are optimistic about it, but can I tell him about the future?
Hardy quickly changed the subject.
"David, I have an idea. Since we are going to invest in Japan, we must try our best to control it. Otherwise, it is very likely that when they recover, they will turn around and drive us away."
When they are weak, they will naturally welcome your investment. But when they become stronger, people's hearts will change. They will naturally try every means to get rid of your control, or even drive you away and devour you. Such things are common in the business world, and David naturally understands this.
"So what do you want to do?" David asked.
"I want to bring as many people as possible over there to control the core industries there. Even if there is a recovery there, we won't dare to have other ideas. If there are local companies that are rising, we can work together to crush them and maintain our long-term advantage."
"Otherwise, we will create the market, but others will take it away, which is not in our interests."
David hesitated for a moment and said, "Can you call other financial groups? I can help you contact them."
As a member of the Rockefeller family, Davis did not disappoint Hardy. He contacted the Morgan Foundation, the Cleveland Foundation, the Texas Foundation, the DuPont Foundation, and the Mellon Foundation.
Although the person who came was not the head of the family, he was also an important partner of the family.
For example, the person who came from Morgan Financial Group was Harold Stanley, and the Stanley after Morgan Stanley was his family name.
Many people believe that the top 10 conglomerates will certainly be very antagonistic, after all, they have to compete for the market and political resources. In fact, the reality is that there is both competition and cooperation among them, and the cooperation far outweighs the competition. They are not as antagonistic as outsiders imagine.
For example, Morgan controlled half of Wall Street, but it also borrowed money from Rockefeller. For example, the Cleveland Consortium, their own financial strength was a little weak, and their main target for raising funds was Morgan.
Rockefeller and Mellon jointly owned several steel companies, Goodyear Tire, which was jointly controlled by Rockefeller, Chicago and Cleveland consortiums, and the Texas consortium's oil industry cooperated with Rockefeller.
Many of these conglomerates have overlapping interests.
The same is true in politics, where more than one consortium is nominating a president.
To be honest.
Hardy was very envious of the connections and appeal of old-established conglomerate families like the Rockefellers, but it didn't matter because he was just starting out.
We are still young and have a bright future.
It was at David Rockefeller's small estate that Hardy met several partners from the consortium. Although Hardy was a newly rising figure, none of them dared to underestimate him.
It would be very unwise to look at Hardy with arrogance and prejudice, as he was able to build assets of billions in just a few years and become a partner of the California Consortium, helping President Johnson to win re-election.
They are people with many years of experience in the business world and they are not that ignorant.
David Rockefeller asked Hardy to speak, and Hardy once again elaborated on his views, starting with the new world order after the end of World War II, the bipolar world, the Cold War confrontation, Japan's geographical location, and its own foundation, predicting that Japan's economy will rise again in the future.
"To be honest, we must always be vigilant against Japan. They are a nation that is humble when down and arrogant when prosperous. This can be seen from their performance in World War II, and many historians have also given this analysis."
"I would like to invite everyone to invest in Japan. I want everyone to control Japan's industry in all aspects. On the one hand, we can make money from Japan, and on the other hand, we must control the development of its own industry and make it a profitable industrial base for us."
"A country with a population of 80 million has sufficient labor force and a huge consumer market. At the same time, we can cover the whole of Asia through it. I believe that as long as we control it well, we can make huge profits from Japan, and it will continue."
After listening to Hadi's speech, everyone present felt that Japan really had great potential, and they all agreed to join the economic steering group chaired by Hadi.
They represent not only their own industries, but also the industries of the conglomerates behind them.
Finance, metallurgy, steel, petroleum, aircraft, railways, automobiles, transportation, rubber, textiles, clothing, food, chemicals, light textile industry, resource industry, energy industry, agriculture, and manufacturing.
The industry covers all aspects.
The seven major conglomerates joined forces and prepared to start crazy exports to Japan.
Hardy certainly did not help Japan to rise again. Since he knew that it would definitely recover, he made arrangements in advance, inserted countless tubes into it, and waited for it to get fatter before sucking its blood crazily and taking away the profits.
To make it more than just a military colony.
It also wants to become an economic colony.
Of course~~Cultural colony is also one of Hardy’s plans, but he doesn’t need to tell his consortium partners about it.