[Chapter 635: It's Definitely Hard to Say No Now]
Since last year, the number of tourists visiting Lanai Island for vacations has sharply declined. As for now, aside from a few executives with business ties to the U.S., tourists have almost vanished.
To say the tourists are miserable isn't entirely true. In the past, they could hit the nightlife after work, but now they can only have a couple of drinks at small diners. Of course, the loss for the middle class is stark and painfully obvious.
Looking at the apocalyptic scene before him, Fujita has mixed feelings. If he hadn't listened to his boss's advice, he would probably be in a similar predicament.
The company's management wasn't so lucky; the boss often conveyed his remarks in a joking manner. If you understood him, you'd escape disaster; if you didn't, well, that was your tough luck.
"Excuse me, one bowl of beef rice."
"Sure, please wait a moment."
"Here's the money."
"Thank you, here is your change."
Fujita looked at the 550 yen in his hand, left speechless. This bowl of beef rice had cost 650 yen just a week ago, but now, it is two hundred yen cheaper. Haha, could it be that ordinary people's lives are being affected as well?
Hopefully, our comics will sell a little better. If sales see a drastic drop, layoffs will be inevitable. In this current climate, being laid off would practically be a death sentence.
"Layoffs? No, no, Fujita, you've misunderstood. What I mean is, if there are good comic artists, you could take the opportunity to poach them while other companies are laying people off."
Upon hearing his boss on the phone, Fujita felt relieved. The richest man has a completely different mindset from others.
"Okay, Mr. White. I was worried that if sales declined, something bad might happen."
"No, no. Sales won't decline. Even if they do, it'll just be temporary. Life is so miserable right now; if we don't have some fun, this winter will be hard to endure."
"Okay, sir. I will do my best; you can rest assured."
"By the way, the upcoming comic weekly will have gentler themes. You need to pay attention to talents in that direction. We need that kind of healing art style."
"Got it, healing art style, understood. Something very cute."
...
William White might not be able to save the economy of Japan, nor does he have the standing to try. It actually benefits his financial strategy. What he needs to heal are those helpless folks. As long as they're in good spirits, he will have plenty of dollars. Whether they become addicted to that joy is none of his concern.
William White remembers clearly that Japanese comics and 'action' films took off after the bubble economy burst. During this time, Japan was quite chaotic.
When the economy is down, those guys should care more about his orders, right? Let the Japanese focus on production and not worry about other things. This is actually America's thinking; do they really believe those guys are so kind? They'd be willing to shift any industry.
But this time, the wool-shearing seems a bit harsh. Japan, this big sheep, is already losing its wool significantly; if it isn't treated soon, it might just ascend.
The next morning, William White gathered the investment department for a meeting. Generally speaking, without significant events, he rarely called such high-level meetings.
"Everyone, our banking system has discovered a large inflow of funds back to the U.S. Among them are funds from consortiums and Japan, while we can't yet trace those from offshore companies. That's mainly it." After Filson spoke, William White began to share his thoughts.
"Look at the world today; you'll definitely notice it's not the same as it was ten years ago. The capital market you're familiar with has vanished. Today's world has no barriers to capital flow. Filson's mentioned funds will continue to flow into the U.S. Valuable real estate, undervalued stocks, especially utility stocks, will all be their investment targets. From now until the end of the year, I want you to buy wildly. I've raised 15 billion dollars; in three months, I want every highlighted item bought back. My only requirement is: be quick!"
As soon as William White finished speaking, the office erupted into excitement. Holy cow, the boss has gone insane! 15 billion? If this news leaks, the Dow will at least open with a five percent gap tomorrow.
Of course, this news can still be kept under wraps for now. Being generous is one thing, but if you betray me, the consequences won't be pretty.
...
However, such a big buying spree will be nearly impossible to hide for long. Three days later, the volatile stock market attracted the attention of various forces.
Although the U.S. securities market is vast, it's very professional, meaning there are very few retail investors. More than seventy percent of trading is the competition between investment banks.
They used to be enjoying themselves, but suddenly a wild bull barges in, indiscriminately buying up stock.
"Have we found anything out?"
"We've tracked the White Fund's relevant accounts; the trading volume is abnormal."
The head of Morgan Stanley was very curious. According to his knowledge, William White didn't have that many chips. However, the volume of funds in the market didn't add up.
"How much funding has entered the market, and what are the targets?"
"Sir, we don't know how many traders there are; we've monitored at least a hundred stocks that are net buys."
"What's going on? This shouldn't be happening -- shouldn't the economic decline be so obvious?"
"Sir, they've upgraded their security level; those guys won't leave the line of sight of the security team until they finish their work."
Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Rockefeller -- those renowned investment banks all wanted to know what exactly was happening.
Buying the dip?
The actions are quite similar, but this timing is just absurd. What's the basis for it?
*****
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