America's Road to Wealth

Question: Who is the most powerful person in the United States?

There will be many answers.

Some would say it’s Wall Street, others say it’s Ayo who controls the media.

Some people say it's those financial groups, or those blue-blood families.

But some people would say that it is the military-industrial complex.

In fact, these answers are both correct and incorrect.

Because to be precise, these forces mentioned above.

They can transform into each other, and they are all deeply involved. You are part of me, and part of me is you.

If you copy the nine tribes, you can probably catch them all in one go.

But there is no doubt that this country's most combative.

Or the military-industrial complex and the military it domesticates.

Due to the war between the north and the south that year.

In fact, the southern part of the Federation has always been suppressed in terms of military affairs.

Several states that were the backbone of the Southern Federation have not seen any powerful bosses for so many years.

After entering modern times, this situation has gotten much better.

After that, several political figures emerged in Texas.

The most powerful one is undoubtedly the family of the current candidate for leadership of the Elephant Party.

Abel even knew the other person.

Because Abel's grandfather, Alex, was one of the supporters of the opponent when they revived the Texas Rangers baseball team in the 1990s.

That's when the Smith family's small stake in the Rangers baseball team came from.

Abel's grandfather, who is now almost eighty years old, has always lived in Houston.

When Abel was a child, he received a Rangers baseball cap from his grandfather at his house.

Abel is also speculating, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office.

The reason why he did not initiate a search warrant for his company was because he felt that he could not find any evidence.

And beyond Caroline's relationship with Mellon.

It may also have something to do with this.

After all, his family is also a well-established old Dixie family.

70 years ago, the family of the current candidate for leadership of the Elephant Party.

That's probably all.

It’s just that the candidate’s family has an outstanding person.

Then all of a sudden he got up and climbed to the top of the country.

All in all, Abel is not a grassroots person without support.

In this way, I spread my thoughts and thought wildly.

Abel smiled and said to Edward and Plimpton:

I'll let you know in advance. You just need to be prepared.

When it's settled by then, you can just bring people to move there.

Of course. If someone doesn't want to go there, that's okay. You can leave directly.

Seeing the two men nodding, Abel stood up directly and said, Then this matter has been decided.

As he spoke, he walked outside the office.

Edward and Plimpton followed.

Edward, you still have one day off. Today is still your day off. I'm sorry to waste your whole morning.

You don't have to follow me now, just continue working as usual tomorrow.

Edward nodded and said: Okay, BOSS, I understand.

There are four Abel personal bodyguards.

Generally speaking, these four people will have two to three days off a month.

Take turns.

Once Abel leaves New York, he wants to go out.

All four people must keep up, and sit back on rest days.

Behind these four people, there are several other bodyguards as preparation and logistics staff.

It can be said that he is really cautious and prudent in terms of personal safety.

Being cautious to this extent can really put others in personal danger.

There are probably only natural disasters and accidents, as well as measures from the government or those behemoths.

After leaving Rock Security, Abel did not return to Manhattan immediately.

He went to a property he had just purchased.

It is a property on the side of the Manhattan coastline in Queens, about 1 kilometer away from the Kauffman Building.

It turned out to be a medium-sized shopping mall with underground and outdoor parking lots that were relatively large in the New York area.

Last month, Abel bought it.

I plan to renovate it and then move Smith Capital directly here.

Compared with its central location in Manhattan, where there are many high-rise buildings, Queens is actually on the edge of the East Hudson River, which is the entire coastline across from Manhattan.

There are also many high-rise buildings, and the CBD of Queens is here.

Just separated by a big river, housing prices here are on average more than 30% cheaper than those in Manhattan.

It's not far from the company's new address from Rock Security, and it's now around ten o'clock in the morning.

The rush hour traffic jam was over, and it only took about ten minutes to get there by car.

When Abel arrived, he found the mall area, which was originally well decorated.

It has become a small construction site.

The entire building is covered with scaffolding, and the large outdoor parking lot is also used to store decoration materials.

Seeing the mess, he gave up the idea of ​​going in to see what was going on.

I just took a look outside and asked the driver Dix to drive around in a circle.

He left directly without disturbing Melio's work inside.

Then he returned to Manhattan.

Woolworth Building,

Smith Capital.

In the chairman's living room, Abel met Charlie Scharf, whom he had not seen for many days.

Charlie Scharf is a Russian-American in his forties and the CFO, or chief financial officer, of Merrill Lynch.

Merrill Lynch is a world-renowned securities retailer and investment bank.

Smith Capital is one of the middlemen in the stock market, foreign exchange market, and futures market, and this behemoth is on the list.

The last time Abel met Charlie Scharf was at the Hilton family banquet.

Today is the second meeting between the two.

This time Charlie Scharf came here for a very direct purpose.

In the small living room,

Charlie Scharf got straight to the point:

Mr. Smith, I'm here this time.

I heard that Smith Capital has launched its first private placement.

It just so happens that Merrill Lynch currently has a considerable amount of trust assets, and we are worried about how to arrange it.

The capital market has been very bad recently, and we hope to entrust this fund to an excellent investor to manage this asset.

Merrill Lynch has been following Mr. Smith for more than five months, and we believe you are the manager Merrill Lynch is looking for.

As the CFO of Merrill Lynch, Charlie Scharf said this.

Investors from Merrill Lynch would be very surprised if they saw it.

Merrill Lynch itself is one of the world's largest securities retailers and investment banks.

Investment and asset management are Merrill Lynch’s strengths.

As a result, Merrill Lynch now wants customers' money.

If you let another company manage your investment, it will give Merrill Lynch a bit of a reputation.

If a public opinion is formed and it is reported to the media.

All may trigger the decline of Merrill Lynch stock.

But capital, it actually doesn’t care about this.

It only considers value-added, value-added, and value-added.

As long as someone can make it grow more, and grow more quickly.

Merrill Lynch didn't mind the loss of reputation, and neither did most Wall Street giants.

These behemoths, in many cases, actually do nothing more than collect the money of retail investors.

Then give this money to managers who can make money.

In the end, they take some commissions, and many times the profits earned are mainly from these commissions.

Like Buffett, among his investors.

There are giants like Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs.

Every time Berkshire Hathaway launches a private equity share, it is often these giants who grab the most happily.

As long as it is guaranteed, or can be observed to be profitable.

Then these giants are willing to take risks and give their money to others to invest.

All in all, making money is what matters.

Facing Charlie Scharf’s slightly flattering attitude,

Abel asked succinctly: How many are there?

Charlie Scharf hesitated and then said: $800 million.

Too much.

Abel shook his head and said, “I’m not saying you have too much money.

Rather, it means that US$800 million occupies too much of my private placement share this time.

“For this private placement, Smith Capital’s goal was only one billion US dollars.”

The situation changed later, and I plan to expand this number to US$3 billion.

But I'm sorry, not until you get here, Mr. Schaaf.

Mr. John Reed and Mr. Bully Breen, as well as the Bank of New York, Mellon Financial Corporation and other companies, have subscribed for US$1.9 billion in shares.

Looking at the somewhat surprised Charlie Scharf, Abel shrugged and said:

So if Merrill Lynch wants to subscribe, the share can only be below US$500 million.

Because there are many gentlemen who want to subscribe for shares.