Era: Starting from divorce from female college student

May 1987, Beijiang City.

"Today's meeting is crucial. It will have a very important role and impact on the economic development of our Beijiang City in the next few years. Everyone must make all the necessary preparations!"

Today's meeting was personally chaired by Zhao Mancang.

Even though Yunlan City was about to be established, Zhao Mancang still rushed back to Beijiang City after finishing his busy work to preside over today's meeting.

Executives from several financial companies, including Beijiang Bank, Yanshitang Securities, and Shakou City Investment, all gathered here just to attend the lecture.

In addition to these financial company executives, there were also two managers from Beijiang City, Lu Wenzong and Yang Kangsheng.

"This year is a very crucial year, and I hope you can seize the opportunity."

So what exactly is Zhao Mancang planning to do this time?
It's very simple, it's about reaping Sam's benefits!
Short Sam!

What kind of year was 1987?
Nothing special!

However, Zhao Mancang was very clear that Sam would experience the most severe economic crisis since World War II that year.

Since the end of World War II, the United States has enjoyed a great opportunity for rapid economic growth.

For example, the famous Walker-Bush, Bill Clinton, and Donald Rogue.

All of them were born in 1946.

The eighteen years from 1946 to 1964 witnessed the most devastating baby boom on the American continent.

Because at this time, a large number of babies were born in the United States.

The birth of these babies has spurred the development of many new industries, such as the diaper economy and the toy economy.

It was under these circumstances that Sam's economy grew at an even more incredible pace.

By 1964, these babies had grown up and, in the 1970s and 1980s, gradually supported Sam's real estate market.

A large number of babies have grown up and need to buy houses and get married.

As a result, their economy experienced a new round of growth.

To this day, the United States has been on a bull market for half a century.

Even if a cow is very powerful and doesn't need rest, it must be tired after running for half a century.

Moreover, Zhao Mancang's research also revealed that the market capitalization of most companies on the US stock market was severely inflated.

Many of his companies, such as Mayflower Media Group, Robotics Computers, and Mario Airways, are not publicly listed companies, so they do not have the so-called excessively high valuations.

However, companies like General Motors, ExxonMobil, IBM, and General Electric were all propelled to heights that didn't belong to them by the market's fervent enthusiasm.

On the other hand, even now, a large amount of international capital still enters the US market.

Yunlan City is pretty awesome, right?
But how big is Yunlan City?
The international community is enormous.

For example, in the past few months, Kimura has invested over $30 billion in bullish Sam assets on the New York Stock Exchange.

If this money were invested in the Yunlan City financial market, it would inevitably cause a huge impact.

But on the other side of the continent of Sam, everything is perfectly fine.

George Soros of the Quantum Fund, although he hasn't taken any action yet, has already realized something, so it's estimated that in a few months, he will also withdraw the funds from Kimura and bring them all back to Wall Street.

Because Soros is bearish on Kimura's economy and bullish on Sam's assets.

Among the Wall Street giants are Goldman Sachs, Magellan Fund, Berkshire Hathaway, Bridgewater Associates, and others, all of which have been taking long positions in Sam's companies.

Even though Sam and Moscow have both been dealt with by Yunlan City in the past few years.

But people are still optimistic about Sam's economic development.

Who can blame them when Yunlan City, in terms of economic strength, is far inferior to Sam's?
Otherwise, based solely on the transaction amounts of Yunlan City's desert greening projects with the Saudi Empire, it would be enough to dominate the world.

After all, a single transaction can amount to as much as $108 billion, which is no small sum.

While the global economy is bullish on the US economy, Zhao Mancang is shorting US assets at this time.

This is absolutely perverse!

"Boss, you just said you were shorting Sam, right?"

The head of Beijiang Bank looked at Zhao Mancang with disbelief and asked in surprise.

The same was true for the other officials, including Lu Wenzong and Yang Kangsheng, the top two leaders of Beijiang City, who were also frowning at this moment.

Upon hearing this, Zhao Mancang smiled confidently:
"Yes, you heard right, we're going to short Sam, and this is a very rare opportunity, so you all need to prepare in advance."

"Furthermore, let me make this clear to you: today's meeting is not for discussion, but for orders. Is that clear?"

Lu Wenzong remained silent, but Yang Kangsheng couldn't help but speak:

"Boss, perhaps I should suggest you reconsider? After all, directly shorting Sam's stock, and investing such a massive amount of money, would be a huge burden for our Beijiang City itself."

"It's better to be safe than sorry."

Zhao Mancang, however, did not rush to debate, but instead looked at Lu Wenzong and said:

"Xiao Lu, what about you? What do you think?"

"Sir, I think we should proceed with caution. We all know that the United States is currently the world's largest economy, and their market is quite mature and extremely large."

Lu Wenzong immediately responded:
"If we rashly short the other side's stock market at this time, it could very well backfire, and for us, it would be utterly disastrous."

"Our Beijiang City is developing steadily now. We should proceed step by step with a solid foundation, rather than relying on such unfounded 'luck.' Gambling is never sustainable."

Even if we are lucky enough to win this time, what about after that?

"So my thought is not to do it, it's too risky!"

Upon hearing Lu Wenzong's words, Yang Kangsheng offered another piece of advice:

"Yes, boss, shorting Sam is definitely too risky for us."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Mancang's face immediately fell in disappointment.

Sam's stock market has been bullish for so many years, now all it takes is a tiny spark to ignite the entire market.

This is a very rare opportunity.

However, in the eyes of people like Lu Wenzong and Yang Kangsheng, it was not worth the risk.

Ugh!
It's true what they say: the timid starve, while the bold thrive.

As our ancestors have said, a horse won't get fat without night grass, and a person won't get rich without unexpected wealth.

Without windfall opportunities like shorting Sam's stock, it would indeed take many years to become wealthy.

Others may not know, but how could Zhao Mancang not know why the stock market crash occurred in 1987?

"Don't you want to know why I'm so convinced that a stock market crash is inevitable in the US?" Upon hearing Zhao Mancang's words, Lu Wenzong and Yang Kangsheng felt a chill in their hearts.

It seems that Zhao Mancang has no choice but to do this.

They were greatly troubled.

Although Zhao Mancang was the true leader of Beijiang City and the only one who made great contributions.

However, if Zhao Mancang is allowed to invest his funds in the Sam Stock Exchange...

To be honest, this time it might cause a big problem.

This is no small matter.

Therefore, they don't want to know the cause of the Sam stock market crash; they just want to know if they can avoid such dangerous actions.

However, Zhao Mancang raised one finger and said:
"First, you can take a look at Sam's fiscal deficit in 1985 and 1986. I won't go into the earlier fiscal deficits, as I doubt you can find that information."

In the original timeline, in 1986, the US had a fiscal deficit of $221 billion and a trade deficit of $156.2 billion.

Both sets of data set new historical records.

However, in this timeline, due to Zhao Mancang's influence, the fiscal deficit reached a staggering $258.2 billion, and the trade deficit reached a staggering $208.8 billion.

It can be said that these two sets of data far exceed the original timeline.

why?
Because of this time and space, Sam's economy was affected by Zhao Mancang.

To be precise, it was influenced by companies under Zhao Mancang, such as Mayflower Media, Robot Computer Company, Wanjia Supermarket Group, and Fairchild Semiconductor Company.

There are also Hollywood giants such as Paramount, 20th Century Fox, and MGM.

A considerable number of companies are under Zhao Mancang's name.

Zhao Mancang took all the profits from these companies.

For example, Paramount, despite having a lot of box office revenue and making a lot of money.

However, when checking the financial statements at the end of each year, not only are the figures not profitable, but they are actually showing a loss.
Isn't that unbelievable?

It's truly unbelievable, but that's the truth.

Because film investments are indeed very large, not to mention that every single film Paramount invests in requires a lot of money; none of them are small investments.

There are also other factors, such as the impact of other aspects.

Therefore, all of these companies under Zhao Mancang's name in Sam's Club are included.

The profits were made, but very little tax was paid.

After all, how can you pay taxes if there's no profit?
"You can take a look at the information I've collected."

Zhao Mancang handed the documents to Lu Wenzong, asking him to pass them on.

"You can see from this data that the economic situation in the United States is not healthy."

"To compensate for the shortage of domestic funds, they must attract foreign capital. In order to attract foreign capital, they must maintain a high interest rate level, which has a direct impact on the stock market."

"All of the above data is publicly available. You may be able to see that in the past few months alone, Kimura has invested one or two hundred billion US dollars in the New York Stock Exchange."

There is no doubt that the United States is the world's largest economy.

But because of this, many people are very optimistic about Sam's assets.

As for Kimura, well, in recent years...

Especially after 1985, the yen appreciated, and a large amount of Kimura's local capital moved out.

They travel all over the world to shop, and Sam's Club is where they buy the most.

After all, in Kimura's country, their media are already shouting that they want to buy the entire Sam's Club.

After reviewing the data, Lu Wenzong and Yang Kangsheng fell silent.

The heads of several financial institutions, including Beijiang Bank, were particularly at a loss for words.

After all, Zhao Mancang's words made perfect sense.

Sam needs to attract a lot of foreign capital, so he has always maintained high interest rates.

There is verifiable data, and there is no doubt about that.

"second!"

Zhao Mancang raised his second finger and continued:

"Since the early 1980s, the economies of the United States and other Western countries have been in a period of slow growth, with a severe lack of productive investment."

"A large amount of surplus capital has been invested in the securities market, leading to rampant financial investment, unprecedented debt expansion, and the current false prosperity."

"You may not know this, but the market value of several New York-listed companies that I invested in two years ago has already increased by 25%."

"Furthermore, there are a large number of publicly listed companies in Los Angeles, whose market capitalization far exceeds market valuations. This is the current booming market economy. What you see is prosperity, but I see a false prosperity that is unsustainable. Just a tiny spark is enough to ignite this stock market crash."

Lu Wenzong and his men immediately turned pale.

Because they were frightened by Zhao Mancang's words.

Is the US economy not a genuine boom, but rather a sham?
It turns out that the large amount of capital flowing into the securities market is what makes the market capitalization of listed companies across the United States appear to be very high.

But this high stock price is surprisingly difficult to maintain, so how did it end up exploding?

And why is this the case?

For example, why is there insufficient demand for production-related investments?
I heard a question raised by a financial company executive from Yanshitang Securities.

Zhao Mancang couldn't help but clap his hands and laugh:
“Very good, you are very thoughtful. Now think about why there is a lack of investment in production.”

The person in charge frowned and thought for a while before giving an answer.

That is economic globalization!

"Yes, that's right, you're absolutely right!" Zhao Mancang exclaimed.

"The tide of economic globalization is irreversible because this is the inherent weakness of capital; it needs to maximize profits. So why are so many manufacturing companies moving out of Sam's?"

"Because countries like Southeast Asia, and our own, have a large pool of cheap labor."

"Relocating some factories that don't require much technology to our area can not only reduce their production costs and ensure their profits, but also reduce environmental pollution."

"So, there's a lack of production demand within Sam's country. Do you all understand now that I've explained it this way?"

Since there is insufficient demand for production, but Sam has attracted a large amount of international capital due to high interest rates.

So where else could such a large amount of capital go if not into the stock market? (End of Chapter)