Chapter 479 Conditions for Saving the Market
"The worst that can happen is that we can just drag it out. Time is on our side anyway, if President Roosevelt can bear being called incompetent. It's up to him." Sheffield arrived late, holding an apple in his hand. He sat down in front of the two men, swinging it. As for Alice Roosevelt, Sheffield could lick her casually in private, even raw, but he still had to do what he had to do. He would not delay his plans because of a woman.
Rockefeller Jr. made way for Sheffield to sit down, and asked curiously, "What did you do just now?"
"I just wandered around," Sheffield evaded the question without changing his expression, and continued, "As I said before, time is on our side. Every day we delay, the situation will get worse. If Roosevelt's communication with us is fruitless, many people will doubt his ability to govern. His original decisiveness will turn into recklessness, his tough stance against the trusts will turn into economic destruction, and his tough attitude toward foreign countries will turn him into a warmongerer. This is how politicians' reputations are, and reversals can happen in a matter of seconds."
Just as Sheffield said, there was no result on the first day, and the bosses of the three big companies walked out of the White House with expressionless faces. After this photo was circulated, all public opinion inevitably showed disappointment and made pessimistic estimates of the direction of the national economy. This was not a big problem for the three of them.
After all, the three of them are just businessmen and do not need to assume the responsibilities of the federal government. Even if the economy collapses, the three companies will still stand firm. They all have strong cash flow and enough confidence to persevere.
Cash is scarce in the country now, and no one knows when this crisis will end. In this situation, no one will let go of the little cash they have, and the whole country is filled with silent panic.
President Roosevelt's reputation as a politician is disappearing bit by bit. If no miracle happens, all his previous achievements will be wiped out just because of the failure to deal with this crisis. The rules of politics are so cruel.
Now the three of them are confident and not in a hurry. They have firmly grasped the President's weakness. Being in such an advantageous position, there is no reason for them to let go, unless the Soviet Union breaks through the historical torrent and jumps out directly, which may make the three of them feel guilty.
The next morning, Sheffield and his two companions went out together and left Roosevelt in the White House. This was an open demonstration. As soon as they left the hotel, Alice Roosevelt came to the door and invited the three of them to the White House for a talk. She also said to Sheffield in private, "You are going too far. You are forcing my father to bow his head."
"Alice, you can't say that!" Sheffield sighed and seemed to be in a dilemma. "This is hundreds of millions of dollars. We will not rescue the market like servants just because of the president's words. Our personal feelings are of course very precious, but if I back down, how will Morgan and Rockefeller view me?"
The slave owner said that everything he did now was out of his own accord, and he made things clear, "The president has a term limit, and this country is not yours. Is the president responsible for what it becomes? Your father is only the president, not the emperor of the American Empire. As long as we make some exchanges of interests, can we get rid of him?"
"Who are the real friends and who are the real senior voters? This is a very real question." Sheffield directly brought up the concept of senior voters, pointing at the passers-by outside and said, "Who are those people? Can they be compared with the likes of us? Who really controls this country, huh?"
Senior voters are actually just another name for the gentry in Chinese history. At least Sheffield thinks so. South Korea has two classes of aristocrats and Japan has hereditary members of parliament. These are not uncommon things. This is life and sometimes such things happen.
A network of banks, think tanks, multinational corporations, foundations and other institutions that they control directly or through other members of their power structure. Large corporations are already behemoths that are difficult to shake.
In the eyes of slave owners, people like Roosevelt were going against the tide of history, and the result was that they would inevitably be crushed by the wheels of history. If they were not crushed, it would mean one thing: Roosevelt eventually gave up the urge to touch the tide of history.
In this meeting, neither side was as tough as at the beginning. Sheffield, Rockefeller Jr., and Morgan Jr. sat side by side, listening to Roosevelt's earnest speech, and then scratched their ears. They knew that a hard approach would not work, and a soft approach would not achieve their goal either.
"This is your country, too!" Finally, Roosevelt looked at the three hard-hearted business owners, softened his attitude, and made a final effort, trying in vain to awaken the conscience of these people.
This will certainly not succeed. There was no noise this time, as negotiations are not a competition of who can speak louder than the last time. The British Empire's diplomatic achievements were not because their diplomats were so eloquent, but because they were the empire on which the sun never set.
"The three of us have heard the President's call." Morgan Jr. said calmly with his hands on the table.
Sheffield and Rockefeller Jr. nodded but did not interrupt, clearly showing a common position. When looking at the two, Morgan Jr. clearly received this signal of support and continued, "If shock therapy is not implemented, we have an alternative plan, that is, the three of us will inject capital into high-quality assets to stabilize the situation. However, we may not have enough funds, and we need help from the federal government. I don't know how much money the national public fund can take out now. Give us this money first, and we will rescue the market when we have enough funds."
"That's the first point. As for the banking sector, there are too many banks in the country and they are too diverse. The entry barrier to opening a bank is too low, so the order of the financial industry is disrupted. This is the common opinion of the three of us." Little Morgan kept talking, angrily denouncing the current chaos in the financial industry, as if he was not the most powerful banker in the United States. "We hope that the federal government will order all banks in the country to close within 15 days to calm the panic in the financial industry. As for the list of banks that will remain open, we have prepared it."
"My friend has finished speaking. Now let me tell you what will happen if we don't save the market where confidence has hit rock bottom!" Sheffield took over Morgan's words and described a terrible prospect to President Roosevelt. "If we don't act now, when the confidence of the citizen class hits rock bottom, things will be beyond saving. First, debt repayment will lead to asset dumping; the sell-off will cause assets to shrink significantly, and banks will reduce loans or even withdraw loans due to the shrinkage of mortgage assets, and the circulation of money will decrease; corporate net assets will drop significantly, and leverage will increase instead of decrease, leading to a break in the capital chain and bankruptcy; corporate bankruptcy or profit decline will lead to reduced output and layoffs; workers will lose their jobs, demand will decline, the market will be pessimistic, and the economy will be sluggish; market demand will further decline, and pessimistic expectations will lead to money hoarding; shortage of monetary liquidity will lead to increased corporate debt, further reduction in output or bankruptcy, more workers will lose their jobs, and the market will shrink further. This is a vicious cycle."
“Although the federal government claims that the American century has arrived, everyone knows that the current world hegemon is still the British Empire. When faced with a crisis, the British will never surrender until the last drop of Indian blood is shed. We, the United States, can only digest the crisis internally and start from scratch.”
Sheffield painted a lightly apocalyptic picture for President Roosevelt, and this was the consequence of continuing.
Finally, Rockefeller Jr. explained his thoughts, "If we continue to waste time here, maybe someone will come to rescue the market, and European funds may come back and buy our high-quality assets at a low price, so that our 90 million citizens of the United States will shed blood and sweat for the prosperity of European countries. Needless to say, the United States will also consolidate its position as the world's largest debtor country, leaving the second place far behind."
"Do you know what you are talking about?" President Roosevelt looked at the most powerful entrepreneur in the country and almost doubted his own ears. Even though the consequences could be so serious, the three people remained calm, as if nothing had happened.
"Mr. President, everyone in front of you is very sober. We may be the most sober people in the country." Rockefeller Jr. undoubtedly hit back. "It is precisely because we are so sober that we are here today."
"The bank you support can only open for business within half a month?" Roosevelt thought about the purpose of several people. The other party wanted to establish a financial system dominated by three people. It was too greedy.
"Mr. President, you misunderstood. It's not the banks we support that can open." Sheffield corrected calmly, "It's the federal government that used an executive order to close all small banks. In fifteen days, we will come up with a second list of banks that we approve to open. As for the other banks, they will disappear from the country. In fact, just like the banks that are going bankrupt now, these banks have changed the way they went bankrupt. It was the federal government who did it."
The three of them spoke of their plans for the future one after another, and began to divide the cake almost without any concealment in front of the president. After starting this topic, they didn't care at all that President Roosevelt was present, and each of them added details of the bailout plan. Of course, the federal government also played a role in this, such as handing over the national public funds to them, and then using executive orders to help the three of them clear obstacles. These are all roles of the federal government.
(End of this chapter)
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