A $50 million margin call? I'll short Wall Street.

Isabella recognized the set – The Daily Show, Jon Stewart's show.

A middle-aged man sat in the guest area. He had a long, thin face, a high hairline, and wore a pair of not-too-expensive glasses.

He was speaking in a tone ten times more lively than most economists, his gestures so wide they almost touched the host's coffee cup.

Stuart interjected with something, and the man, unfazed, followed Stuart's lead with an even more hilariously witty punchline. The audience erupted in laughter.

Lu Ze paused the video.

Are you watching a stand-up comedy show?

Isabella said. It was more like a mild, benevolent confusion than a questioning one.

Financial stocks outside had just surged by over ten percent, while her boss was watching a comedy show.

"Looking at someone."

Lu Ze said. He removed his hand from the touchpad, turned his chair to face her, and said, "Sit."

Isabella sat down in the chair opposite her.

"Do you recognize him?" Lu Ze pointed to the frozen face on the screen.

Isabella looked at it for a few seconds.

The guest introduction bar in the studio was half-covered by the progress bar, and only the letters "...oolsbee, University of Chi..." could be seen.

"Goulsby?" she tried to spell it.

"Austan Goolsby? The NAFTA one?"

Do you remember that?

"It's hard to forget. At the beginning of the year, all the financial media were reporting that Obama's economic advisors privately told Canadians that his anti-NAFTA stance during the campaign was just something Obama said casually for the sake of the election. Hillary Clinton used this to attack Obama for weeks."

"right."

Lu Ze leaned back a little. "But this person isn't just an economic advisor who caused trouble."

He picked up a paper notebook from beside his own; the cover was black and unmarked. He opened it to a page containing handwritten notes, which Isabella glanced at; they appeared to be summaries of Goolsby's academic and public statements.

"Goulsby, 39 years old. Professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Bachelor's degree from Yale, PhD in Economics from MIT. He is considered one of the most influential economists of the new generation in academia."

"But none of that matters. What matters is his relationship with Obama. He wasn't a peripheral advisor who joined after the 2007 campaign began. He was part of the inner circle that started working with Obama in 2004 when Obama was running for Senate. Almost four years."

Lu Ze picked up the cup of coffee Isabella had brought in and took a sip. It was still hot.

"What does four years mean? It means that he is not the kind of academic 'pretty face' who writes a few policy memorandums and occasionally appears on TV to lend his support."

The framework, wording, and even metaphors Obama uses when discussing economic issues in public—compare them to Goolsby's style of speaking at the University of Chicago—and you'll find a striking similarity. This man wasn't just offering Obama economic policy advice; he was shaping the way Obama talks about the economy.

As Isabella listened to these words, she was doing something else—deducing why Lu Ze had spent several hours studying a politician this afternoon, at this time when the SEC ban and the rocket launcher were being issued simultaneously.

"You want to see him?" she said suddenly.

Lu Ze looked at her, paused for a moment, glanced at her, and was slightly surprised.

"This weekend. Greenwich. Greenberg's estate."

It took Isabella about two seconds to process the amount of information in that sentence.

While Goolsby is indeed a heavyweight, this was not something that surprised Isabella.

After all, Lu Ze had met with various heavyweight figures over the past few months, from Blankfein to John Paulson. But those meetings all took place within the financial circle, involving games and exchanges between market participants.

This time is different. This is politics.

"He came looking for you?"

"I found Greenberg through an intermediary, and Greenberg forwarded it to me. Two layers of secrecy."

Isabella immediately understood the implications of the two layers of isolation. A standard political contact protocol. If leaks occurred, each layer could deny knowledge.

What does he want?

"I'm still assessing the situation."

Lu Ze took another sip of coffee, then placed the cup on the table, his finger pausing on the cup's rim.

"But I can tell you what he doesn't want. He doesn't particularly want my money; Obama's small-donation model means they don't lack money."

He didn't want me to publicly endorse him either—for a short seller, dubbed 'the Grim Reaper' by the media, to publicly support a presidential candidate isn't helping, it's poisoning.

"Then all that's left is information," Isabella said.

"Most likely."

Lu Ze stood up, walked to the window, leaned against the window frame, and put one hand in his pocket.

"I watched about four or five hours of his videos. Lectures, debates, TV interviews, and clips from 'The Daily Show'."

What conclusion was drawn?

"He's very intelligent. Not the Wall Street shrewdness, but genuine academic intelligence. His thinking is incredibly fast, his expression extremely clear, and his reaction speed in debates is probably the fastest I've ever seen among economists."

As Lu Ze spoke, his tone revealed something Isabella rarely heard: a certain affirmation bordering on appreciation. The honest judgment of a master when evaluating another master.

"And he's interesting. Really interesting."

Lu Ze glanced back at the frozen image on the screen.

"His ability to banter with Stewart on 'The Daily Show' while clearly explaining the logic behind the subprime crisis is extremely rare, both in academia and politics. Most economists appear on television like they're reading abstracts, but he's doing a stand-up routine."

Isabella noticed something: Lu Ze's demeanor when talking about Goolsby was different from when he talked about any other trading partner.

When discussing Blankfein, there is wariness and respect. When discussing Fuld, there is cold dissection. When discussing Richard, there is utter contempt.

But when talking about Goolsby, his body language was more relaxed, his speech was a little faster, and he even used the rarely used compliment "interesting."

This isn't because he likes Goolsby. Lu Ze wouldn't go to see someone just because he "likes" them.

This is because he felt that Goolsby was someone worth taking seriously. In Lu Ze's world, "worth taking seriously" might be a higher compliment than "like".

"but."

Lu Ze walked back from the window and sat down in the chair again. His tone changed, shifting from a relatively relaxed assessment mode to a sharper analytical mode.

"He has a blind spot."