Washington.

In a mansion near Rock Creek Park on the northern outskirts of the city, Richard Mellon Scaife immediately greeted the guest when he heard his assistant informing him of the arrival, and the guest's name was Martin Mendalls, a white middle-aged man about fifty years old, slightly chubby, and wearing rimless glasses.

In addition to this, the most important point is that Martin Mendels is one of the seven executive members of the Federal Reserve.

After a warm greeting, the two came to the reception room and sat down, and Scaife personally poured Martin the coffee that had been prepared, and his smile remained the same: "Martin, how are Melissa and the children doing?"

Martin Mendels took the coffee and nodded slightly: "Very good, what about you here?"

"Not bad," Scaife replied, taking a sip on his coffee, and continued, "Martin, well, frankly, we've known each other for years, haven't we?"

Martin Mendels smiled and glanced at Scaife: "Of course, Richard ......"

"Charlie, call me Charlie. ”

"Well, Charlie," Martin Mendels said, but he put down his coffee cup and stopped beating around the bush, "I'll be honest, Charlie, I'm sorry I can't help you this time." ”

Richard Mellon Scaife saw Martin Mendels straight to the point, and his expression remained calm: "Don't be so absolute, Martin, you also saw the closing of the NASDAQ yesterday, 6317 points, the total market value reached 7.6 trillion, this is already completely crazy, for the sake of the federal economy, Martin, the Federal Reserve must take action to curb the continuation of the bubble, isn't it?"

"Charlie, I'm just one of the seven members of the Federal Reserve Executive Committee, and there is the deputy chairman **** above, and then there is the White House and Congress above, do you think we can make decisions at will?" Martin Mendels said, staring at Scaife: "So, even if you can't do anything about it in the White House, you should try to lobby Congress instead of finding me." ”

"I know you don't have the right to decide," Scaife paused, then "then, Martin, I want you to help me in other ways once, just once, and, if you agree, I can give you some compensation." ”

Martin Mendelston paused before saying, "You want to talk about it first?"

"Give an interview to make a statement about the Fed's imminent interest rate hikes. ”

As soon as Richard Mellon Scaife's words fell, Martin Mendels immediately shook his head: "I'm sorry, Charlie, I can't help you with this, you know, I will be retired in five years, and I still have a wife and three children." ”

"$1 million, when you leave, I can arrange for you to join the Andrew Mellon Foundation as a trustee. ”

"It's not just about money," Martin Mendels said, "Charlie, I guess you've bet on tech stocks shorts lately, and after knowing each other for so many years, there's only one piece of advice I can give you, close your position as soon as possible." ”

With that, Martin Mendels had already walked straight out the door.

Richard Mellon Scaife had no choice but to get up to see Martin Mendels hurrying away as if he was being chased by the devil, and suddenly kicked on the door panel, and then there was a ping-pong sound in the reception room, and the assistant and servant had just appeared, and immediately avoided Scaife's roar.

Clearance?

If he can clear his position, Richard Mellon Scaife certainly will.

It's just that now it's completely difficult to ride a tiger.

Since the end of the presidential election in early November last year, Richard Mellon-Scaife has raised nearly $300 million in funds through mortgage loans and other means, all of which have been pressed on the short positions of technology stocks.

In the initial prediction, many people thought that technology stocks would turn around before New Year's Day this year, and at the latest would not last until mid-January, because during this time, many new technology companies will release quarterly or annual earnings reports one after another, plus the many forces he has contacted for several months have worked together in all aspects, and I don't believe that technology stocks that have been crumbling for a long time will not collapse.

As a result, today is January 25th, and not only do technology stocks show no signs of crashing, but are still soaring.

In particular, after Igret's 1996 full-year earnings press conference on Wednesday, the new tech giant rose sharply in the next two trading days.

In the end, as of the close of the week yesterday Friday, the Nasdaq index hit a new high, reaching 6,317 points, compared with 5,426 points on November 6, a cumulative increase of 16%. The most high-profile company, compared with the market value of 579.6 billion US dollars on November 6, the market value at the close of yesterday has been as high as 751.9 billion US dollars, in less than three months, the cumulative increase is as high as 29%.

Richard Mellon Scaife's $300 million has been mainly used for several months to build short Nasdaq futures contracts and short selling technology stocks such as Eaglet.

As a result, losses continued to increase.

By the end of yesterday's market, Richard Mellon-Scaife's various shorts had exceeded 50%, and the original $300 million was now less than $150 million.

On last year's Forbes 400 list of the richest people in the United States, as one of the six members of the Mellon family, Richard Mellon Scaife has a net worth of $700 million, most of which are stock assets inherited from his parents, and the $300 million he borrowed is collateralized by these assets.

Now, once the $300 million in funds is gone, it not only means that Scaife's net worth will be seriously reduced, but also means that he will lose control of the stocks in his hands, and the Mellon family holds the board seats of Alcoa, Chevron and other companies, but not only because of their family background, but mainly because of the intertwined shareholdings.

The same is true of the Mellon family's influence on areas such as federal politics and the economy through these corporate giants.

Therefore, once he fails this time, it will be his own one, and the foundation will be damaged.

If he could regret it, Richard Mellon Scaife swore that he would never be rash at the beginning, but unfortunately, there is no chance of regret in this world.

After smashing all the furniture in the reception room of the mansion, Richard Mellon Scaife, who was sitting alone in the 'ruins', calmed down a little, and dialed Julian Robertson, the head of the Tiger Fund.

A few years ago, millions of dollars were spent digging Clinton's black material, and the White House must have no play, on the side of Congress, although the Westeros system was quite restrained last year, Simon Westeros's 'mess' in the 94 midterm elections still made the active congressmen feel uneasy, coupled with the fact that many companies under the Westeros system have a deeper and deeper impact on the US economy, no one is like offending rashly.

The last move, wanting to start directly from the Fed's side, still failed to work.

Now, on Washington's side, he has nothing to do.

can only expect Robertson's side to exert force, after all, compared to his $300 million, the Tiger Fund has tens of billions of dollars of huge funds are pressed short at this time, Scaife doesn't know what the current floating loss of the Tiger Fund is, and it is equally disastrous to think about it.

Either way, it's time to give it a go.

Simon came to the East Coast as usual for the weekend.

When Richard Mellon Scaife met with Martin Mendels, one of the seven members of the Federal Reserve's executive committee, on Saturday afternoon, Simon got the news that night and sent it directly to the White House to prevent the member from doing something stupid.

It is believed that Clinton, who has been digging up the black material by Scaife for several years and has not yet completely gotten rid of it, will definitely 'appease' the committee member.

Presumably speculating that the bears are about to make a move, Simon's schedule rhythm has not been affected in the slightest.

On Saturday night, as agreed, Natasha Richardson, who had been photographed at the Sundance Film Festival last time, was invited to dinner with her, and the rest of the matter was somewhat logical.

The next day was Sunday, January 26.

At the end of January, New York was still cold, and in the morning, you could see the snow-covered Central Park from the restaurant, Natasha Richardson got up a little late, and when she sat in the restaurant, the man had already eaten half of his breakfast, and when the waitress delivered a lunch and left, the woman couldn't help but give someone a blank look, and said in a distinctly British accent: "Simon, I find you so evil." ”

Although she was accusing someone, Natasha Richardson herself blushed first.

Just last night, the two of them were in the bedroom, after all, they were not long alike, and they were still quite nervous, and when a guy suggested watching a movie to relax, she agreed.

As a result, someone played a "Zoom in".

This is a 1966 work by the Italian film master Michelangelo Antonioni, 30 years ago. Of course, that's not the point, the problem is that the heroine of "Zoom In", Vanessa Redgrave, is her mother.

Faced with the woman's anger, Simon said with a smile: "Nata, don't you think it's a great movie?"

"Of course," Natasha Richardson nodded subconsciously, and then added, "But, you are still too evil." ”

"But," Simon said with an innocent expression, "I think you were excited last night, too?"

Natasha, who had just picked up a small loaf of bread, heard this, pulled off a piece and threw it at the man opposite.

Simon caught it casually, stuffed it into his mouth, and said: "Okay, only evil people can see evil, for me, all I see is beauty, haven't you noticed, the fashion of the 60s is not outdated at all, I have just instructed A to recommend this movie to Melisandre's side, so that they can refer to it and find some inspiration." Well, solid straight skirts are really beautiful, and, you should try it too, your style fits well. ”

When Natasha Richardson heard this, she glanced at someone: "You mean, I fit a straight skirt?"

"yes, because you're very straight. ”

Then another loaf of bread smashed.

Simon couldn't catch it this time, and half-jokingly: "I should really send you to Africa to see the hungry people who can't eat." ”

Natasha just glared at someone.

After breakfast, Simon didn't immediately get rid of the woman who had just been ONS with him, and there happened to be a meeting in the morning, so he brought the other party with him, and on the other side was Martin Scorsese.

About Gangs of New York.

The original "Gangs of New York" was produced by Miramax and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Daniel Day-Lewis, costing $100 million, but the global box office was less than 200 million, coupled with the tepid success of another blockbuster "Cold Mountain" at the same time, the Weinstein brothers' later parting ways with Disney is largely due to this reason.

The two brothers have always wanted to make a bombshell with a big investment and a big budget, but unfortunately, anyone with a little brain should understand that literary films can't be done like this.

It's a pity that inflated people are often irrational.

It's also a lesson for Simon.

For any literary film, Simon has set an investment ceiling of up to $50 million, no matter how high, unless there is another special reason.

As for this "Gangs of New York", it actually comes from a book of the same name published in 1928 that Martin Scorsese has read, and the idea came to mind in the 70s, and it has been promoted for many years, originally because of the success of the "Godfather" series, and then because of the box office fiasco of "Once Upon a Time in America" in the 80s.

Until now.

Martin Sr. has been thinking about this matter for a long time, Simon happened to have a suitable amount of money in his hand, and the film was not an absolute failure in his memory, at least it was more than enough to make a profit through subsequent distribution, so he decided to shoot.

Of course, there are other, more important reasons.

One of the male protagonists, Xiao Lizi.

Now Xiao Lizi has just finished filming "Titanic", has been tossed by Cameron for more than half a year, and is revising, since the big ship is coming, once the project achieves the glory it once was, "Gangs of New York" has become Xiao Lizi's first film after the big ship, and the effect can definitely be imagined.

So, as long as nothing else, Gangs of New York is definitely a lucrative project.

On the other hand, Simon does not plan to give Martin Scorsese $100 million this time, only 65 million, after all, this is a feature film that does not require special effects, and the current Xiao Lizi signed a contract in advance before the big ship, and the salary is also very cheap, and the same is true for Daniel Day Lewis, 65 million is more than enough.

In terms of schedule, "Gangs of New York" will definitely not be able to be produced this year.

After Simon agreed to the launch of "Shakespeare in Love", Ella Deutschman has successfully invited Daniel Day Lewis, so the actor will definitely not have time this year, and he will have to wait until next year at the earliest.

In the end, since Natasha Richardson was brought with me, it was considered convenient, and the heroine was also booked in advance.

As for the original Cameron Diaz, Simon didn't feel anything, since "Strange Guy in Disguise", Simon didn't think about using the other party, this actress who should have been popular in the nineties is now in a state of obscurity, in short, it can't reach Simon's vision.