Manhattan Reborn 1978

a new day.

new York.

Manhattan.

42nd Street, above Wildfire Bar.

David walked out of the bedroom and saw Lilith and Susan sitting side by side in the dining room in an intimate manner. He shouted with a depressed face: "Hey~ you can't do this to me!"

"Us? What's wrong?"

David "angrily" forced his way between Lilith and Susan, grabbing someone with one hand and complaining: "How can you still sleep until midnight... No one is alive?"

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Hahahaha~"

"Who made you snore in the middle of the night... so that I couldn't sleep?"

Susan took David's hand, bit it gently twice, and retorted.

"Am I snoring?"

David seemed to have heard the most "outrageous" explanation in the world, and opened his mouth wide and complained: "You snore too!"

"Every time you snore, I..."

"Ah~ don't bite!"

"It hurts! It hurts!"

"Hahaha~" Lilith also followed Susan's example, grabbed one of David's hands, and bit it hard~

in the kitchen.

Cui Yingying, who was preparing breakfast for several people, leaned out half of her body and saw David's "grining" expression. However, she did not use brute force to shake the two women away. Instead, she imitated the two women's behavior and chased and bit her. Went back. .He couldn't help but smile and shook his head.

"It seems...you don't need breakfast anymore?"

"Uh~eat!"

"Bah~ Of course I want to eat it!"

"Ugh...your meat stinks!"

"You stink!"

"No! You are the one who smells! I smell good!"

"Hahaha~"

. . .

Breakfast hour.

Polly, who came from home with an undressed look on her face, "broke" through the door in a hurry, ran to the surprised David, calmed her breathing, and asked curiously.

"What did you say to my dad yesterday?"

"Forehead.."

"It's nothing~"

"Would you like to sit down and have something to eat together first?"

"..good!"

Polly handed her bag to the housekeeper Acklade who came up, nodded to Susan, Lilith and Cui Yingying, said hello, and then stared at David again. .

David shrugged helplessly, glanced at Chasida, the maid who brought Polly the tableware, and smiled.

"I just gave them two old men some basic knowledge about banking investment~"

"After all, you are taking over a small bank that has gone through bankruptcy and liquidation."

“If we don’t have enough understanding of it and the current situation of this industry, we will only be the ones who suffer in the end~”

"..that's all?"

"Of course~"

"You didn't say anything else?"

"Uh... I said it!"

"I said, if they have concerns about the bank's profitability, I can ask the insurance company to come up with a fixed income one."

"Bang~"

"That's right! That's it!"

Polly suddenly hit the dining table with her fist, gritted her teeth and asked, "Can depositors' deposits in the bank buy products from insurance companies?"

"This...I don't know either~"

"Pine should know, I haven't had the chance to ask him yet."

"Then you dare to brag?!"

David picked up the tableware again indifferently and smiled at Polly: "Don't be impatient yet!"

"Take a breath first and listen to me tell you slowly!"

"..."

Polly nodded to her girlfriend Chasida, took the tableware, calmed down, and said, "Just tell me~"

"Hehe~"

David's eyes swept around the dining table, and finally landed on Lilith's face, and asked with a smile.

"Polly's question, Lilith, do you have an answer?"

"I?"

Lilith was surprised and swallowed a piece of watermelon in her mouth, blinked her big eyes and thought for a while, looked at Polly and raised her eyebrows.

"On Wall Street, as long as you have money, someone can help you find any loopholes in laws and regulations~"

"..."

"Take advantage of loopholes?"

"Is this... no problem?"

"Of course there will be problems!"

"But as long as no one maliciously reports this kind of thing, basically no one will come over to investigate~"

"Everyone is doing this, who is willing to take the initiative and lift up his skirt?"

"Then..." Polly was speechless for a few seconds, frowned, and stared at the tableware in her hands for a while, then she heard David's voice again.

"Lilith is right!"

David slowly picked up a peeled hard-boiled egg, placed it in front of Polly, and said with a smile: "While you eat, I'll explain it to you clearly... in a twisty way~"

"..good!"

"Hehe~"

David also picked up a piece of watermelon, put it in his mouth, and said: "Actually, before the dollar was decoupled from gold, the currency value of the dollar could no longer support Bretton Woods after several dollar crises. The gold standard system under the system.”

"So, before the rice dollar was decoupled from gold, the rice dollar was still rice gold..."

"If I were the one making the decision at the Federal Reserve Bank of America, I would definitely turn on all the rice dollar printing machines and print banknotes day and night while the price of gold is still at 35 meters per ounce. In the financial market, everyone can obtain very low-cost funds and go to domestic and foreign markets to buy, buy, buy assets with growth value like crazy!"

David looked at Polly who was holding a boiled egg in her hand, who was a little dazed, then picked up a peeled egg, put it on his plate, and said with a smile: "That's right!"

"This is to use the short-term fixed exchange rate difference of currencies to rob all countries in the world of their various high-quality domestic assets!!"

"Let's not talk about it from afar, let's take... the housing prices in Manhattan as an example~"

“1970年，曼哈顿的房价还处于很平稳的时期，平均房价为每平方英尺30米元左右。”（1平方英尺≈0．93平方米。）

"But over the next few years, housing prices in Manhattan began to rise steadily."

"In August 71, after President Nixon announced that the dollar would be decoupled from gold."

"In 1972, the average housing price in Manhattan had risen to about $40 per square foot."

"In 1973, the oil crisis broke out, and Manhattan's economy suffered a huge impact. At this time, the average housing price reached 50 meters per square foot."

“But by 1975, due to the continuous interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve + the collapse of the stock market + the substantial slowdown in domestic economic development + the rising domestic unemployment rate + the significant reduction in people’s income, the average house price in Manhattan dropped to Feet is about 35 meters.”

"But this kind of tidal wealth harvesting using the fluctuation of the dollar exchange rate... is it really that simple?"

"No!"

David chewed the egg in his mouth, paused for a moment, and saw that Polly had completely calmed down before continuing.

"If you still don't understand why housing prices fluctuate so much in just a few years..."

"We might as well take a look at another set of data!"

“In 1970 and 1971, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates only twice, each by 0%~”

“But by 1972, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates three times in total, with a total increase of 0%~”

"1973: 3 times, a total of 1.00% interest rate hikes"

"1974: 4 times, a total of 4.50% interest rate hikes"

"In 1974, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates by a total of 4.50%, which can be said to be one of the most stringent interest rate increases at the time."

"The Fed's interest rate hike not only allowed the rice dollars to flow overseas, but also completed the harvest of high-quality assets."

"It also allowed some high-quality domestic assets to be quickly included in the capital list by various large companies and consortiums with strong funds."

"In the past few years, the wave of large-scale domestic mergers and acquisitions initiated by investment banks on Wall Street was precisely against this background."

“After the Federal Reserve finally understood the huge power of raising interest rates as a tool to regulate monetary aggregates, it started a new round of interest rate cuts.”

“And the financial value-added product that is most affected by interest rate increases and cuts is the U.S. long-term Treasury bonds backed by the credit of the U.S. government!”

David saw the maid Chasida coming out of the kitchen, took the fruit platter from her hand, placed it in front of Polly, and said.

"Speaking of long-term national debt, it is a very unfamiliar thing to ordinary people~"

"After the United States made a lot of money as a victorious country in World War II, it has become the world's creditor!"

"This can be clearly seen from the fact that the United States invested more than [-] billion yuan in funds, equipment and technical assistance in support of the Marshall Plan for the reconstruction of Europe, the main battlefield of World War II."

"In the post-war reconstruction of the island country, the United States also poured out a large amount of funds, equipment, technical assistance, and a large amount of low-interest loans for reconstruction, which allowed the island country to return to the world's economic power in just a dozen years. in the sequence."

"Therefore, U.S. long-term Treasury bonds have been regarded by international financial institutions as a low-risk wealth appreciation tool and product in the past few decades."

"Because the United States has the largest gold reserves in the world after World War II!"

“The Bretton Woods system established the dollar’s ​​dominance as an international currency!”

"Will the United States become a defaulting country on its long-term national debt?"

"Certainly not!"

. . .

From the corner of his eye, David saw Susan and Cui Yingying stop and watch his "performance" quietly, and couldn't help laughing.

"Have you finished eating?"

"Ok!"

"Then what plans do you have today?"

Susan glanced at Polly who was deep in thought and smiled: "We are going to pick out Christmas trees and holiday decorations for the bar and home today~"

"Oh~"

"Then when are you going to go to Shirley's place to measure the size of the dress?"

"Are we going to make dresses too?"

David raised his eyebrows, shrugged, and asked, "Don't you want to attend my and Lilith's engagement ceremony?"

"Uh... I think so~"

"Then what are you going to wear to attend?"

Susan turned and looked at Cui Yingying, and said with a smile: "We want to wear cheongsam!"

"cheongsam?"

David's eyes widened in surprise and asked, "Have you?"

"Yes, I have!"

"Yingying has a cheongsam that she used to wear, and the size is just right for me..."

"Wow~"

David looked at Cui Yingying with a "nostalgic" look, and his eyes seemed to look through her body up and down.

Susan moved her body angrily, blocking David's "aggressive" gaze, and teased: "You look so wretched... Do you want to eat Yingying today?"

"Hahaha~"

"Okay~ you go~"

"Just do whatever you want!"

"Ok!"

"Polly, Lilith, let's go first!"

"Ok!"

. . .

Susan and Cui Yingying left hand in hand~

Lilith also stood up with a smile, walked to David, kissed him on the face, glanced at Polly, and left~

David watched the back of her leaving, turned to look at the housekeeper Acklade, and after asking a few questions, he saw Polly's eyes recovered and smiled.

"Shall we continue?"

"Ok!"

David reached out and picked up the juice cup and said with a smile: "What I told my father yesterday and what I tell you today are all to tell you..."

“The bond market that once seemed calm is now experiencing an unprecedented super storm~”

"Moreover, as the U.S. government's fiscal deficit continues to increase + the Federal Reserve continues to raise interest rates to control inflation + the economic cycle is at the bottom."

"Bonds will be the honey and poison that guarantees the lowest return in the long-term asset holding list of the banking industry."

Polly put down the tableware in her hands, stood up with a frown, moved her chair to David's side, and asked.

"Why do you say that?"

David happily pulled Polly who had just sat down, held her directly on his lap, played with the buttons of her clothes with his hands, and smiled.

"It's very simple~"

"The U.S. economy is in a period of rapid recession~"

"In the future, if the U.S. government is still unable to solve problems such as fiscal deficit and trade deficit, the U.S. government will have no choice but to watch as the money in the treasury becomes less and less... sitting on empty seats~"

"If you were the president of the United States...how would you solve this problem?"

Polly opened her arms, put her arms around David's neck, rested her head on his shoulder, and replied softly: "Issue... bonds?"

"Hahaha~ That's right!"

“The federal government’s treasury is out of money, so it can only borrow money from the Federal Reserve Bank of America!”

“Where does the Fed’s money come from?”

“Issue national debt!”

"So, if we want to run the bank well, we must learn and understand all the important knowledge points related to bonds!"

"Especially long-term government bonds and MBS products that are closely related to interest rate adjustments!"

"mbs?"

"Correct!"

David sat back in his chair, lowered his head, kissed Polly on the lips, and said with a smile: "I already told my father and the others yesterday~"

"In order to prevent sudden bank runs, banks usually allocate a certain proportion of low-risk circulating assets in their long-term asset allocation list."

"The most sought-after risky liquid assets on the market, the first choice is of course U.S. long-term Treasury bonds, followed by corporate bonds of super large companies, and other low-risk + high-liquidity assets."

"And I have repeatedly emphasized the long-term asset allocation list, bank runs, and selection of circulating assets, in order to plant in your subconscious a high awareness of risks and crises."

"Because the data and information I reviewed in recent years show that nearly half of the small and medium-sized banks that go bankrupt in China every year have long-term asset allocation, which has triggered a decline in depositors' confidence in the bank and led to a wave of runs. . . ”

"There are also some bankrupt banks that have raised their lending ratio to the highest warning level in their asset allocation tables."

"When loan default rates continue to soar and the number of dead and bad debts increases rapidly, they will have no choice but to seek help from the federal government."

"So, in this period when the banking industry is in the worst condition, we choose to take over a small bank at a low price."

"We must think of all the worst consequences in order to have the last laugh and become the winner!"

"...Hmm!" Susan half-opened her eyes, looked at David, and nodded with a smile on her lips.

David's hands moved back and forth around her body, he chuckled and picked her up like a princess, and asked.

"How long do we have?"

"...Half an hour?!"

"Hmm...that should be enough, right!?"

"..not enough!"

"Tsk~ Be good!"

"Half an hour! That's enough!"

"...Okay then! Just half an hour~"

"Hahaha~"

----

Manhattan.

Gramercy Hotel.

Griselda Blanco, after having breakfast and dressing up in her bedroom, welcomed the first visitor of the day.

"Field? Why are you here?"

Blanco's agent in New York, Field, stood in front of the suite in a straight suit, raised the briefcase in his hand and smiled.

"I made an appointment today to discuss the company's trade matters, so I need to talk to you first..."

"Have you dated someone?"

"Yes~"

"Then I...come back at another time?"

Blanco, who was standing at the door, thought for a moment, gave up half his position, shook his head and said, "Forget it~ You come in first."

"Ok!"

. . .

ten minutes later.

There was a knock on the door~

Blanco threw a sign at Field, got up, walked to the door of the suite, and opened the door.

"Good morning, Ms. Blanco!"

"We meet again~"

"Hmm~ Good morning!"

"Please come in~"

"Ok!"

. . .

Blanco invited the visiting middle-aged man to sit down in the living room.

She looked up and down curiously and asked, "This time, can I ask your name?"

"You can call me Penterio."

"Oh~"

"So Mr. Penterio, do you have any good news for me?"

The middle-aged man named Pontet Liao smiled and took out a document from his briefcase, placed it in front of Blanco, and said.

"I know your time is valuable~"

"So, I just want to be more direct?"

"Ok!"

"This one is our current reworked fee form."

"It has gone up a bit from the last time we met!"

"...price increase?"

Blanco looked down at the fee form in surprise and asked, "Can you explain it to me?"

"Of course!"

Penterio straightened his body very formally and said: "The reason for the increase in handling fees this time... is actually related to the Federal Reserve's interest rate hike."

"The Fed's sharp interest rate hike this time has accelerated the return of many foreign dollars to the country."

"So, our business volume has almost doubled in the past half month~"

"But the total amount of business we can absorb in the short term restricts us."

Blanco quickly flipped through the documents in his hand, feeling a bit dumbfounded and asked: "In the money laundering business... will the service fees increase because of too much money and too much volume?"

"Uh...hehe~"

"terribly sorry!"

"Today's international market situation is like this. It goes against common sense~"

"I personally don't have any solution~"

"...Okay, got it!"

Blanco put down the document in his hand, frowned and thought for a moment, and asked.

"It's written here... The price of rice dollars entering the country has increased~"

“But what’s the price at which the rice dollars flow out?”

"For now, unchanged?"

"Yes!"

Penterio asked Blanco with his eyes, and after receiving approval, he took back the document, put it back in the briefcase, and explained.

"I heard that you are planning to set up an international trading company..."

"Then you must be familiar with the terms trade surplus and trade deficit, right?"

"...Hmm!" Blanco hesitated for a moment and nodded.

Penterio leaned back relaxedly and continued.

"From our perspective, the accelerated outflow of rice dollars from the country in the past few years has given us a very good opportunity for industry development!"

"However, with the continuous interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve Bank of America in the past year, these rice dollars, which have gained huge profits abroad, have shown a general trend of returning to the country under the trade-off between rising domestic interest rates and less foreign profits~"

"However, no matter which country in the world the rice dollars return to China, they need to be reported to the tax agencies of the federal government and state governments."

"The IRS doesn't care where you make your money."

“They only care if you pay enough taxes!”

"I think you can roughly guess the huge amount of taxes..."

"So, it is this trend of rice dollars flowing back into the country that is an important factor in the increase in our handling fees!"

"As for funds flowing from domestic to foreign countries, we have no plans to adjust the handling fees for the time being."

"Because under this general trend of the return of rice yuan, the total business volume of rice yuan outflow is rapidly decreasing."

“Our internal professionals are also actively watching, analyzing, and judging future trends~”

"So, we decided to strive to explain clearly and gain understanding to all high-quality partners like you before expanding the processing capacity of the total business volume!"

"Oh.."

Griselda Blanco quickly digested the meaning of this passage in her mind. After feeling that she understood most of it, she asked again.

"Then... what if the Fed continues to raise interest rates?"

“Are your handling fees going to continue to rise as well?”

Penterio smiled wryly, spread his hands, took out a business card from his pocket, and said, "I'm sorry!"

"This kind of decision, which involves hundreds of millions of dollars, is not something I can have the final say on."

"So, I have a 24-hour consultation phone number here for you."

"I suggest that you make this call once to inquire about the latest charging standards before finalizing every business deal."

"So as not to cause unnecessary losses to you..."

Blanco took the business card with a grin, and the "ridiculous" feeling in his heart became even stronger.

She stared at the business card for a few times and joked: "Are you... going to be my business manager from now on?"

"Yes!"

"Then I want to interview you directly. Do I need to make this call?"

"Yes!"

"As long as you leave a message on the phone in person, I will rush to you as soon as possible!"

"Wow~"

"..Fine!"

Blanco, after silently memorizing the phone number on the business card, handed it back to Penterio and smiled.

"How do I feel... The two of us are like agents working for our own masters, exchanging important information related to national security??"

"Hahahaha~"

Penterio put away his business card, stood up with his briefcase, extended his right hand to Blanco, and said with a smile.

"I have no interest in being an agent serving the country..."

"Money is the biggest temptation to me!"

"please do not worry!"

"There will be no flaws in all our transactions."

"Even if one day, you learn about my arrest from some channels..."

"You don't have to worry about your safety either!"

Blanco withdrew his right hand, frowned and asked, "What do you mean?"

"It's nothing! Don't get me wrong!"

"I just wanted to say..."

"This is not...the drug business you were in."

"Smuggling and drug trafficking crimes in the United States are punishable by at least 20 years in prison + a large fine."

"Financial crimes in the United States will result in a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison + a large fine~"

"And, through operation, I can choose the prison where I want to serve my sentence and perform well to get more chances to reduce my sentence~"

"So, you don't have to worry about your safety!"

Blanco twitched the corners of his mouth a few times and smiled dryly: "Haha~"

"Your joke is so funny!"

"Hahaha~"

"Have a nice day! Ms. Blanco~"

"Don't worry ~ I'm not ready to go to jail yet!"

"..."

. . .

After sending Penterio away, Blanco returned to the living room and sat down, frowning and thinking.

At the bedroom door.

Field, who had been leaning against the door in the bedroom to eavesdrop, walked quickly to Blanco and said hesitantly.

"You...don't trust him?"

"Hey~ We can't talk about it for now..."

"But he said it twice in a row...please don't worry!?"

"Ok!"

Blanco raised his head, waved to Field, raised his eyebrows and smiled: "Are you worried about me?"

"..nonsense!"

"Hahahaha~"

"What are you afraid of?"

"You are not involved in this business~"

Field sat next to Blanco, pursed his lips and whispered: "No one... would want to go to jail, right?"

"Hahahaha~"

"Don't worry, I'm not ready to go to jail yet!" Blanco told Fielder's words again.

"..." Field grimaced with a wonderful expression and was speechless. .

"Hahaha~"

PS:

In some previous chapters, the time when the U.S. long-term Treasury bond futures contract appeared was mentioned incorrectly. .

The correct time is: In August 1977, the Chicago Exchange launched the first long-term U.S. Treasury bond futures contract.