Chapter 337: Welcoming Special Envoy Hadi

MacArthur sent a telegram to the White House Office, and the office secretary presented the telegram to President Johnson. In the telegram, MacArthur expressed his opposition to the sale of Japan's seized assets at a low price, thinking that this would cause hostility among the Japanese people and should be handled flexibly.

After reading it, Johnson said calmly, "Not only can MacArthur not stop this, but even I don't have the ability to do so."

He knows.

This time, Hardy brought together seven major conglomerates, and this price list is the result of discussions among the seven conglomerates.

He knew very well how influential the seven major conglomerates were.

He believes that this proposal will be easily passed in Congress without any resistance.

As for Johnson,

He would not object because he used this incident to raise the issue of limited health care with Hardy.

Johnson talked about the health care plan during the election campaign, but Hardy later objected and proposed a limited health care plan, which was considered an excessive plan. After his re-election, Johnson proposed a limited health care plan to Congress.

Funded by the federal government, local governments and the public, it provides limited medical benefits to the public.

even so.

The last vote still failed.

This made Johnson feel helpless.

The Communist Party of China and the Democratic Progressive Party now hold a majority of seats in Congress. He has long anticipated that many of his policies will encounter great resistance in Congress when he is in power in the future.

Don't doubt.

When it comes to party politics, sometimes some MPs oppose just for the sake of opposing.

As the Chinese say, it's just to show you a thing.

Let you know that even though you are the president, you can't handle it.

So when Hardy proposed the Japanese asset price list this time, Johnson seemed to see an opportunity. He proposed to Hardy that he hoped to persuade Congress to pass the limited health insurance plan at the same time through the seven major financial groups.

To put it bluntly,

That is, using Japanese assets to benefit the seven major conglomerates, and letting them work hard to persuade their own congressmen.

Hadi went back and told the matter to the seven major conglomerates. For reasons of self-interest, the other conglomerates decided to use their connections to lobby the congressmen.

To put it bluntly, this is a naked exchange of interests.

The price Johnson paid was Japanese assets, and what he gained was the ability to implement his own governance strategy.

MacArthur jumped out to stop it.

You stop a hammer.

Can you stop it?

In the entanglement of interests among the president, Congress, and the seven major financial groups, the power of MacArthur, the Japanese emperor, is not enough.

Even though he shows off his power in Japan, he is just a general in the United States, and there are many generals of the same level as him.

Naturally, Hardy also wanted to pass the limited health insurance plan because he also had deep interests in it. For this reason, he formed a new insurance company with Bank of America and Pacific Insurance Company of the California Consortium.

Once the 'Limited Health Insurance Plan' is passed, this insurance company can obtain 30% of the business and will immediately become a major insurance company.

Time passed quickly.

Voting day is coming.

A joint session of the two houses on Capitol Hill, with today's meeting chaired by Vice President Albert W. Buckley in his capacity as Speaker of the Senate.

President Johnson attended the meeting.

The first agenda item was a proposal to price Japan's seized military enterprises and allow their sale. This proposal was a general proposal, which meant that it only required a majority to pass. After final calculation, the vast majority of members voted in favor.

To Japan.

Those present here either have no idea or have no good impression of it. Dealing with Japanese assets has nothing to do with them. Moreover, many people have received calls from their financial sponsors in advance, so they will naturally not disobey their financial sponsors for such a small matter.

The second topic is about the "universal limited health insurance benefit plan" proposed by President Johnson. Since this policy will affect 150 million people in the United States, it is a relatively important bill involving the future and national security of the country. It needs the support of more than two-thirds of the members of both the Senate and the House of Representatives to pass.

Johnson had proposed this bill once before. He put a lot of effort into convincing Democratic lawmakers to support him. He also gave a speech in Congress, emphasizing the advantages and significance of this health care policy and answering questions from lawmakers. But he still failed in the end.

And this time.

There was no disturbance at the joint session. After President Johnson's speech, only a few members of Congress asked a few mild questions.

Hold a vote.

In the end, the proposal was passed with more than two-thirds of the votes.

President Johnson was excited.

Since his re-election as president, he has finally pushed forward his first reform proposal. The implementation of this limited health care plan will bring considerable benefits to the American people and lay a good foundation for future health care policies.

Can be used at the same time.

He was also very moved in his heart.

Before Hadi's support, he made so many efforts but just couldn't push it through because Republican lawmakers kept obstructing him.

And now Hardy is helping.

The motion passed smoothly.

Even as president, he could not resist the power of capital.

He recalled a sentence Hadi once said during a chat with him: "To survive in the cracks, to develop in competition, politics is an art of competition and compromise."

After the U.S. Congress passed the proposal to sell Japanese assets, the news quickly spread back to Japan, and both Prime Minister Yoshida Shigeru and cabinet members felt frustrated.

No matter how hard you struggle, you can't avoid the fate of being gradually eaten up.

They tried.

Various methods were used.

But it was of no avail.

Yoshida Shigeru was silent for a long time, and then said to the cabinet members in a deep voice: "This is just the first step. Those military factories are completely irreparable. Next, the special economic guidance envoy will also provide guidance to other Japanese companies. We must be prepared."

The Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister whispered: "Now our companies have no orders, no production, and no profits. They are all gritting their teeth. Many have already given up and are carrying out large-scale layoffs. Some factories have only retained a few dozen of the most backbone technical personnel, and all ordinary workers have resigned in order to save their last breath."

"Even so, they can't hold on for long. Under such circumstances, if Americans come to invest, do you think those entrepreneurs can hold on? The last time we gave the Americans a list of investable companies, there were more than 100 companies on it, and that was the result of our strenuous efforts to block it."

Assets were looted.

It's very humiliating and painful.

But there was nothing they could do.

Yoshida Shigeru was silent.

Other cabinet members also remained silent.

Because they had discussed this many times before, some problems were unsolvable in this situation.

I can only remain silent.

Japanese politics has a habit of facing problems in silence, which continues to this day.

Meetings often suddenly become awkward.

......

Congress's approval of the proposal to sell Japan's seized assets is good news for Hadi and other financial groups.

Hadi, as Japan's special economic envoy with the authority to handle these assets, once again convened a meeting of several financial groups.

Officially divide the cake.

Previously, everyone reached a cooperative consensus, and each company registered hundreds of companies in the Cayman Islands and then used these companies to purchase Japanese seized companies.

The economic team carried out careful share division and cross-holding, and finally all these enterprises were owned by these companies.

On the surface, each enterprise is held by three to five companies, but the internal division of shares is extremely complicated, which is equivalent to the seven major conglomerates jointly controlling these 300 Japanese enterprises, forming a large and relatively fixed interest group.

The Cayman Islands officially started operations even before they were built.

At the same time.

These enterprises then registered more companies in the Cayman Islands and registered their overseas enterprises under Cayman companies. In the future, operating funds can be transferred through Cayman accounts, which can save the enterprises a large amount of operating taxes.

Some companies in the Hardy Group have also carried out such operations. As long as it is legal, the IRS cannot do anything to them.

Now there is another issue.

That is the funds used to purchase these Japanese companies, totaling 570 million US dollars. This is a huge sum of money. Strictly speaking, this money does not belong to Japan because those companies were seized and confiscated by the US military.

But this money,

Hadi and other financial groups do not want to hand it over to the government.

There is no limit to the greed of capitalists.

Hardy led a delegation to negotiate with the US government, hoping that the money would be used for aid and economic reinvestment to Japan to facilitate the resolution of the difficulties Japan is currently facing.

Hadi was originally Japan's special envoy for economic guidance, so it was reasonable for him to make such a request. In the past few years, he had already provided Japan with more than 2 billion US dollars in supplies and food.

Although Japan is now planning to get rid of this burden and has implemented the Dodge Plan, it seems that the Japanese economy is becoming increasingly sluggish, the unemployment rate is alarming, ordinary people are unable to make ends meet, food is in short supply and can only be rationed, and many people are hungry every day.

The Japanese government cannot solve the existing problems in a short period of time with its current strength.

Finally, President Johnson agreed to the $570 million in funding to be used for renewed aid to Japan and economic recovery.

As economic envoy, Hadi has the right to use this fund.

Hardy was happy.

With this money, he believed that the Japanese government would honor him as it honored MacArthur.

For ease of use, Hardy requested that the $570 million be placed in Wells Fargo Bank, and the government finally agreed.

August 15th.

Today is the day when the economic guidance group arrives in Japan.

Originally, Hardy was scheduled to return to the United States from Hong Kong in mid-May. In between, he visited the UK and the Cayman Islands, and the consortium acquired a company, so the time was delayed until now.

Hadi was finally confirmed to arrive in Japan on August 15.

As for why it is August 15th.

There is no special meaning.

Hardy just picked a day at random, then looked at the almanac and saw that it was a good day for traveling, so he decided to go on that day.

Early in the morning.

There are many people busy at Haneda Airport preparing for the reception. As a special envoy for economic guidance, he has the right to guide and plan Japan's economic development. He can be said to be the economic emperor of Japan. A random order from him can make large Japanese companies tremble.

The Japanese Prime Minister and all the cabinet members came to greet him.

They learned that the funds agreed by the US government to sell Japanese assets would be controlled by Mr. Hardy and would be used to provide aid and economic management to Japan.

Whoever has milk is the mother; whoever has money is the father.

Hardy had such a large amount of disposable funds that he could do whatever he wanted and give it to whomever he wanted.

They don't think it's excessive to kneel down and call him dad.

In addition, there are many Japanese business owners who have also heard the news that the visitors are from the seven largest American conglomerates, which are currently the richest conglomerates in the world. These Japanese business owners really want to obtain their investment.

In addition, many reporters came, including a reporter from the Global Times.

The United States also notified MacArthur of Hardy's trip to Japan, but after reading the notification, MacArthur threw the telegram aside.

He was the commander-in-chief of the Allied forces and would never go to the airport to greet John Hardy, and he had no good feelings towards Hardy.

Selling off all the Japanese confiscated assets before the people even came to Japan and without any consultation with him was a sign of disrespect and contempt for him. MacArthur was so proud and was revered as the emperor in Japan. He was even more spoiled. How could he possibly have a good impression of Hardy?

Buzz buzz buzz~~~!

far away.

Two large planes flew in the sky.

The Japanese Prime Minister, cabinet members, and welcoming personnel standing at the airport all looked up at the sky. As the plane got closer, they could already see its shape clearly.

Many people felt a shudder in their hearts.

It was a B-29 bomber.

And there are two of them.

In the late stages of World War II, the United States carried out a series of bombings on the Japanese mainland, using B-29 bombers. The planes that later dropped two atomic bombs were also B-29s. The Japanese were very afraid of this type of bomber.

The plane landed at the airport.

After gliding for a distance, it stopped.

The cabin door opens.

Hardy walked off the plane with the consortium inspection team.

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshida Shigeru hurried forward with cabinet members, bowed and said: "Welcome Special Envoy Hadi to Japan."

Click, click.

Reporters filmed the Japanese prime minister and cabinet members bowing to Hadi.

They have already thought of the headlines for tomorrow's newspaper.

"The arrival of John Hardy, the Japanese economic emperor, in Japan, how will he transform the Japanese economy and finance?"

......