American Comic Dimensional Trading Device

At the same time, I felt helpless.

However, helplessness quickly turned into decisiveness.

There was no other way; now that things had come to this, he couldn't back down. Whether he stuck his neck out or retreated, he would still get stabbed, so he might as well go for it.

"Long time no see, General Phillips!" The last time the two met was in Vienna, when they were working together to capture the remaining Hydra.

Of course, those arrested were mainly die-hards who refused to submit to Josie, the new leader of Hydra, as well as scapegoats whom Josie and Austria both looked down upon.

At that time, Phillips had just been promoted from colonel to brigadier general, but now he is a major general.

In terms of promotion speed, it's not bad.

But to say that he is more capable than William Ross is not necessarily true.

After all, William Ross's military rank was earned through commanding troops in battle.

To be honest, Phillips largely benefited from the deaths of Captain America and the contributions of Howard Stark, the super scientist.

But they have powerful backgrounds and wield considerable power.

"It has indeed been a long time, Mr. Kahn!" Phillips greeted Josie respectfully.

"General Phillips, you're too kind. Please sit down. Speaking of which, you were Steve's former superior, so we're practically friends now." Josie warmly invited Phillips to sit down, as if he were the host.

William Ross, standing nearby, didn't seem to mind, smiling and nodding to Phillips as if to say, "Do as you please."

The three of them then started chatting about all sorts of random things, with Josie taking the lead.

Just as Phillips was about to lose his temper, Josie suddenly asked, "Speaking of which, you should know that the Department of Defense is preparing to establish a War Asset Management Department, right, Phillips?"

“…I’ve heard a little about it!” Phillips nodded upon hearing this. Of course he knew about it, and as the head of an intelligence agency, he was also a smart man. He immediately glanced at William Ross, who was still unaware of what had happened, and couldn’t help but sigh at Josie’s great connections and William Ross’s good fortune.

The War Asset Management Office (WAA) was a special agency established by the United States after World War II specifically to handle the vast stockpiles of military supplies.

No country can produce military supplies at a level that is just enough for its existing military forces; there will always be a surplus.

During World War II, in order to cope with its massive military force of tens of millions and to provide supplies to its many allies, the United States produced military supplies without any planning. It basically produced them at all costs and then accepted them without question.

If you dare to produce it, I dare to take it.

This resulted in the US military not only having a large amount of unused supplies after the war ended, but also having a large number of orders that had not yet been produced.

How much of this massive amount of supplies is there?

With a total estimated value of over $340 billion, the catalog boasts more than 400 million categories, including two large stacks of 28 catalogs, each stack over 2 meters high. The catalogs contain everything from dog sleds issued to observation troops stationed in Greenland to mosquito nets used by soldiers fighting in the South Pacific, and from bullets to airplanes, warships, and tanks, distributed across 181 warehouses throughout the United States.

What does $340 billion mean? In 1945, the total GDP of the United States was only $3550 billion.

This figure exceeded the total assets of any American financial group at that time.

With so many assets, it would take a very long time to use or sell them, let alone give them away for free.

After the original WAA was officially established in early 1946, under the leadership of Major General Thomas John, it modified various military materials and equipment and sold them throughout the United States.

For example, there are washbasins made from steel helmets, large training rounds converted into lamp holders, and military tracked vehicles sold as tractors.

32 medical medicine bottles became targets at a shooting range.

The snake-shaped hose on the gas mask has been transformed into a venomous snake toy that children love.

Large quantities of medical bandages were used as padding for suit shoulder pads by clothing factories in Cincinnati.

$50 worth of aluminum strips used to jam radar became a trendy Christmas decoration in Washington, D.C.

The 6 rocket launchers have been transformed into elegant lampposts.

450 million pairs of flight pants with fur linings were converted into gloves and slippers, and the mountain of surplus military supplies slowly made their way into civilian life.

Even so, it would only consume one-seventh of this enormous amount of resources.

So while the domestic market was slowly consuming the goods, it was also desperately selling them abroad. Norway and the Netherlands were ideal buyers of the old ships, Italy was most interested in military shoe production lines, Czechoslovakia was willing to buy anything as long as it was cheap, and East Asian countries, which were anxious about filling their stomachs, were concerned about the surplus flour and milk powder from the United States.

At that time, these countries had virtually no cash, so they relied on credit, credit, and more credit.

In the end, it turned into a series of bad debts and defaulted debts.

In order to sell these supplies as quickly as possible, the US military's final profit was often less than one-tenth of the value of the supplies themselves.

Even so, not many were sold; most were simply thrown away or burned. Even in 2022, a considerable amount of these supplies remained in stock.

Of course, some people have made a fortune by reselling these supplies, but they generally only become moderately wealthy.

To the conglomerate, these supplies were just a pile of military junk with little value.

What do you call this? This is a complete waste of resources.

If this were in Josie's hands, and she were to resell it to Daenerys, its value would increase at least tenfold.

There's no doubt that Daenerys can't handle it all. She's currently planning a conquest of the entire Game of Thrones world, and her need for military supplies has reached its peak.

Even if we can't consume it all at once, we can sustain ourselves through future battles and gradually consume most of it.

Moreover, even if you can't finish it all at once, these substances won't spoil if you store them in Josie's system warehouse.

If we encounter a backward world similar to the Game of Thrones universe later—like that little kid who hasn't grown up yet—we can continue to sell them.

However, to gain control over the sale and management of these supplies, the position of WAA manager must be held by one of Josie's own people.

In his view, William Ross was the best choice.

In particular, the WAA was not a temporary organization, but a long-term, highly lucrative one, given that the United States was engaged in wars almost continuously for the next few decades.

The South Vietnam War, in particular, was more devastating to the United States in terms of scale and cost than the Pacific War.

However, getting General William Ross to take up the position was not an easy task.

It's true that Josie has a good relationship with the military, but that relationship is limited to the army garrisons in Europe during wartime.

This level of connection is simply insignificant at the Pentagon.

General McGinnis, the general with the best relationship and the highest rank, is still stationed in Europe. Even if he were to return, a mere four-star general wouldn't change anything, considering that the US military already had as many as seventy or eighty generals at that time.

Whether it's President Truman or top military figures like Marshall and Eisenhower, Josie can only say that he can talk to them, but he can't say that he can make decisions on everything with a single word.

In the United States, capital has the final say, but only if you're at the very top.

Of course, if Josie can persuade the entire council to help, then the chances of it succeeding are very high.

However, the interests of the council members are not aligned.

Josie sees the massive amount of military waste as a treasure, but the others, led by Thomas, may not share that view. It's unlikely that they would go out of their way to help Josie secure a management position in the WAA, since this is merely Josie's personal interest and has no significance for the council's overall strategy.

As for helping them catch Bucky, Josie didn't intend to use it as a favor.

Because this favor wasn't enough.

Even if the capture of Bucky had failed back then, it wouldn't have had much impact on the council. And now that the capture has been successful, the council doesn't see it as worth the cost of helping Josie fight for the position of WAA head.

However, if Josie were willing to provide the council with the beast-transformation potion, the council would most likely agree to help Josie, but that would be a bad deal for Josie.

However, what Josie didn't expect was that Phillips himself would run into her while she was planning this.

In the Marvel movies, Phillips, as one of the three founders of S.H.I.E.L.D., had a very low profile because he was not a main character, which made Howard Stark and Peggy Carter the "top dogs" of the original S.H.I.E.L.D.

But in fact, Phillips was the most crucial link in the original S.H.I.E.L.D.

Despite his relatively low military rank, his family is a military family that has existed in the United States since its founding more than a hundred years ago, and has a great deal of influence in the Department of Defense.

The fact that Phillips, with only the rank of colonel, was able to oversee the massive and highly secretive "Rebirth Project," which aimed to create super soldiers, during World War II speaks volumes.

It was because of his role as an intermediary and leader that he was later able to bring Howard Stark and Peggy Carter together to establish S.H.I.E.L.D.

Otherwise, one would just be a scientist and a wealthy man, and the other would be a British agent, and a woman at that.

What gives them the support of the military, Congress, the White House, and other forces to establish a special organization whose power almost surpasses that of all existing U.S. intelligence agencies?

Does Howard have a history of sleeping with other men's wives and offending people?

Phillips is the real key.

So, a mere WAA manager? It's nothing.

“I think that, given the importance of this institution, it should be filled by a young and capable officer with rich military experience, sufficient merit, and good relations with the conglomerate. Only in this way can the huge amount of post-war assets be absorbed as much as possible and sufficient funds be obtained. What do you think, General Phillips?” Josie proposed the conditions with a smile.

“Of course, I think no one is more suitable than General Ross for this position!” Phillips readily agreed to the deal.

Although this matter is a bit troublesome for Phillips, and from a purely transactional perspective, Phillips will suffer a great loss, or even a huge loss.

A mere branch of the Strategic Science Legion and a dozen or so senior agents are theoretically not worth the price charged by the head of the WAA.

But that's not how you calculate it.

The position of WAA head is very valuable, but only if you have the ability to take on or sell those things; otherwise, it may not be a lucrative job.

The Pentagon isn't stupid; they also hope to exchange as much of this supplies as possible for military spending.

In contrast, the Strategic Scientific Corps was a special institution established by Phillips himself, representing the culmination of his life's work.

Although the New York branch is not large, it is a very important part of the operation.

Moreover, if this matter continues to escalate, even if Phillips has strong connections, the entire agency will face the crisis of being disbanded. Other intelligence agencies, such as the FBI, have long disliked him, and given a chance, they would not hesitate to crush the Strategic Scientific Corps, an agency that shares their power.

Therefore, he was more willing to pay a price to help William Ross take the position of WAA administrator.

Moreover, William Ross himself was a very good person to support.

Like the Phillips family, the Ross family was also a long-established military family, just not as powerful as the Phillips family, and William Ross himself was not as politically as the Phillips.