Chapter 34 Playing Big
Saying goodbye to the Chase couple temporarily, Margot took Josie to meet one of the hosts of the reception, John Lebile.
"Good evening, my little sweetheart, I'm so glad you're here, you're still so pretty!" The kind-looking old man was very happy to see Margot, and gave Margot a hug.
Beside him, there were two other people, one whom Josie had met, David, who had pestered Margot before, looked at Josie with an unfriendly expression.
The other is an old man who is about the same age as John Lebile.
"Thank you, Uncle John. By the way, let me introduce you. This is Josie. I mentioned it to you." After greeting John, Margot pulled Josie to introduce.
"Hello, Mr. Lebiler, I'm Josie Kahn, nice to meet you!" Josie said neither humble nor overbearing.
"Nice young man, have fun!" John looked at him slightly, nodded, and then stretched out his hand.
The reaching out of his hand also means that the other party has initially recognized Josie, at least not rejecting it.
Of course, it is more about giving face to Margot, who is relatively close to the younger generation.
Josie naturally stretched out her hand very wittily, and gave the other party a light shake.
"By the way, this is lawyer Alonzo Emery, my old partner." After shaking hands, John introduced the old man beside him. As for David?
John knows exactly what kind of temperament this son is. If Margot and David can see each other, he will naturally be happy to see both, but Margot is very clear that he is not interested in David, and he will naturally not ask himself no fun.
Naturally, he would not take the initiative to introduce him, let alone find fault with Josie for his worthless son.
Just kidding, how stupid would a person be to trouble the guests at the reception he hosted?
No matter how poor or statusless the guest is, and no matter what the final result is, as the host, he will not get a good reputation.
Although David is a playboy, he understands this truth. No matter how unfriendly Josie's eyes were, he never came up to provoke him.
"Hello, young man, if you have any legal questions, you can come to me!" Compared with John's casualness, this Amory lawyer seemed much more enthusiastic.
Although in the United States, lawyers have a high status, in the final analysis, they are still people who provide services to capitalists. Although Margot has been relatively reclusive these years, she was once a wealthy daughter of Chicago's high society. .
And he knew that some time ago, this widow may have received a large amount of compensation from the insurance company... because he was the one who handled this matter.
So Margot can be regarded as his major client.
For the sake of money, Amory is naturally more enthusiastic about Josie.
After a brief chat with the barrister and the exchange of business cards, Josie and Margot left.
The meaning of this kind of reception is mainly to recognize faces and exchange business cards.
If you really want to talk about things, you won't be in this kind of occasion.
Later, under the guidance of Margot, Josie got to know some business and political figures in Chicago.
As time went by, the reception officially entered the topic.
Since it is a fundraising reception, it is natural that passionate speeches by politicians are indispensable.
The speaker was the mayor of Chicago, a Democratic senator from Illinois, and a military representative.
"Josie, do you think we can win this war?" Looking at the senator standing on the stage and giving a generous speech, Margot asked Josie.
"Of course, in this war, the United States will win the final victory." Josie, who is familiar with the trend of history, said without hesitation.
Although because of Margot, Josie already knew that the world she traveled through was probably a parallel time and space, but the overall historical trend should not change.
Unless he is really unlucky to the extreme and travels to the world of "The Man in the High Castle"... In fact, even if it is really the world of the Man in the High Castle, Josie doesn't need to worry too much.
Don't forget, he is of Austrian descent.
Speaking of which, the identity of Austrian descent during World War II is quite amazing.
In the United States, the Austrians are also the invaders, and will not be given the same attention as the Germans.
"Then how many bonds do you think we should buy?" Margot saw that Josie was so convinced that the United States could win, and she became more confident.
"If possible, I think the more the better!" Josie thought for a while, and leaned into Margot's ear and said.
Josie's words are targeted.
In this period, if one must choose an investment project that is 100% guaranteed to make no loss, then there is no doubt that it is to buy federal war bonds.
And the profit margin is a staggering one hundred percent.
Of course, if you want to make a profit of 100%, there are conditions.
During World War II, American war bonds were purchased at a price of 75% or 50% of the face value and repaid after ten years.
75% for denominations of 25 and 50, 50% for denominations of 100 and 200.
That is to say, you can buy a bond with a face value of 100 dollars for 50 dollars. After ten years, you can exchange this bond for 100 dollars.
Of course, if you want to redeem the bond before the ten-year term expires, it is also possible, but in this case, the interest will only be calculated based on the actual purchase amount at a compound interest rate of 2.9% every six months, and the income will be much less.
Moreover, the U.S. war bonds during World War II did not have to worry about inflation.
Because of the victory of World War II, the United States obtained the world's largest gold reserves and established the Bretton Woods system.
Before the collapse of the Bretton Woods system in 1971, the status and value of the US dollar were equivalent to gold, and the inflation rate was extremely low.
So now in 1943, no matter how many bonds you buy and exchange them in 53 years, you don’t have to worry about making profits that can’t beat inflation.
"Are you really that sure?" Margot asked.
"What? What do you think?" Josie couldn't help asking, seeing her strange expression.
"I was wondering if we should play big!" Margot replied.
As soon as she said this, Josie immediately understood what she wanted to do.
Just like those charity galas in later generations, they are compared with donations, and there is actually a comparison in purchasing war bonds.
If you become the person who buys the most bonds, do you think you will be registered with high-level people from all walks of life in the United States?
Will you be taken out and promoted as a typical example?
That's not just buying some bonds, but spending money to buy a special pass.
Of course, with Margot's financial resources, it is impossible to become the number one person in the United States. Although there are not many billionaires in this era, there are definitely many.
Margot is impossible to compare with those people.
But if it's just the first place in this fundraising reception, it's not impossible.
"Are you sure?" Josie asked.
"I'm still sure. After all, there was a fundraiser at the end of last year. At that time, the highest purchase was only two million. I think it is unlikely to exceed this figure this time. So I think the first, three million should be Enough!" said Margot.
Josie couldn't help but nodded when he heard the words. What he said was true. The United States was not counted as the country before the war. It only started from November 1942 to December 1945 after it officially entered the war. A total of eight bonds were issued.
So even those top rich people can’t buy hundreds of millions every time, otherwise the company will not need funds to maintain it?
Buying one or two million yuan per issue is a normal operation.
So three million should be enough.
Although this number is large, Margot received a huge amount of insurance money before, which is similar to this number, and it will not have much impact on her life.
But at the end of the reception, when the senator read out the person with the highest purchase amount of war bonds in this reception, Josie was completely confused.
"Josie Kahn, three million dollars!"
(end of this chapter)