If it weren't for the fact that he had to return to Fort Leavenworth on time after New Year's Day, John would not have been willing to miss the next big play. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 infoRecently, the U.S. business community has been in turmoil and pomp and circumstance. At the same time, the core bigwigs of the major consortia will move the entire United States into the orbit of the war economy.

Think about it, Morgan, Rockefeller, DuPont, Mellon, Kuhn Lobb, as well as McCormick, Wood, and Crown of the Cleveland consortium, Mather, Hanna, Humphrey, and Eaton of the Chicago consortium, and Lowell, Lawrence, Adams, and other older generation of chaebols of the Boston consortium, plus Dillon Reed, Brown Harriman, Ford, and other "late stars" work together, how spectacular is this momentum.

In this turbulent sea, small shrimps like John and Hughes are at best just marginal characters who beat the side drum, beat their hands, and attach their tails. (Relative to John's age, the fact that he was able to be involved in such a big event at this age is remarkable in itself.) But even so, John was deeply shaken by the power of capital in these few short days.

In the past, he also knew that the United States was a capitalist country, and all political, economic, and social activities were influenced and controlled by the forces of capital. But all along, he didn't have a personal experience of this power. After all, in recent years, the life of the big capitalists has not been easy. Many of the once-formidable chaebols were overwhelmed by the Anti-Monopoly Law and Roosevelt's New Deal, and it seems that they are not much better in the face of the government, the law, and public opinion.

But when John saw with his own eyes this kind of power, which pushed the United States to a new path of development with an unstoppable momentum, he really found that once the forces of capital are united, the White House, Congress, laws, and public opinion are all paper tigers in front of them. Even a political strongman like Roosevelt, who often gives headaches to America's top plutocrats, can only obediently cooperate and act as pawns in the face of this joint force.

And this kind of power made John yearn for it, but it also made him feel a trace of fear. Because as one of the participants in the whole event, John knew very well that everything that was happening now had been decided by those top bigwigs one month ago. Now all the people who popped up, including Roosevelt himself, were acting according to the script they had set.

In this "big play", John is a flashing trick. In fact, if it weren't for his special relationship with the military and the British side, he might not even have a chance to play. No, as soon as there was a bubble in the signature movement, John obediently dropped out and went back to military school.

On the way back to school, he is still "obsessed" about the next plot development. According to the established script, Roosevelt's "fireside chat" on the night of the 29th was just the beginning. By the end of January, John's signature campaign had gained momentum, and Roosevelt would then take advantage of the situation to put forward the famous "Four Freedoms" theory.

Later generations of historians held Roosevelt's "four fundamental human freedoms" very high. History books often label it as "a turning point in US foreign policy," "marking the beginning of a new era," and "influencing US national policy for 3/4 centuries."

But in John's view, "freedom of speech, freedom of belief, freedom from poverty, freedom from fear" is a very broad thing. Roosevelt's theory of the "four freedoms" is the same as the "three powers" proposed by Lincoln back then, and to put it bluntly, they are all lofty excuses made by the government for the future.

However, at this stage, the moral high ground that Roosevelt found for himself is still quite useful (it will be used in later generations. During the Cold War, the United States almost exhausted the "four freedoms." Whoever you can't get along with threatens the "four freedoms" of humanity), at least now buying weapons from Britain has suddenly become much more noble.

Of course, no arms dealer cares if his business is high or not. The reason why Roosevelt wanted to concoct the "Four Freedoms" was, in the final analysis, to promote the "Lend-Lease Act."

Thinking of this, John couldn't help but recall the lesson William gave himself on Christmas Day. If he hadn't woken himself up, John wouldn't have figured out the connection between the Four Freedoms and the Lend-Lease.

"What do you think the British lack most right now? Human, material, financial? Today, William can no longer think of John as his little assistant. The exchange with John was more dispositional.

"Let's do it. They didn't die much, and the centuries of wealth they had accumulated were not so easily spent. John had been to Britain himself, and he knew the basics of what was going on there.

"That's right, that means that what the British need most now is not reinforcements, nor loans, but war materials, war materials worth billions of dollars, right." Without waiting for John's reply, William continued: "So, what do you think is the most difficult part of this arms deal?" ”

"The most difficult? Transport? John hesitated.

"It's money! It's dollars! It's cash! William said a little ironcladly: "The British don't have that much cash in dollars, and now the Neutrality Act requires them to pay for goods in cash. ”

John understood at once that the British were going to run out of money to pay the bills, and the Americans wanted to continue to sell them more arms. So, how can you sell something to a customer who has no money, you can only let him pay on credit.

And American arms dealers will not take this risk themselves. If the British come and lose, they will not lose all their money. Therefore, there must be another person to pay for the British, and this person is naturally the American taxpayer.

"You mean to say that Roosevelt pursued the Four Freedoms in order to find an excuse for taxpayers to pay for the British government in the first place?"

John's words stunned William. This kid was still ignorant just now, and as soon as he clicked on a sentence, he immediately discovered the core of the problem, whether this is understanding or confused. But there are some things that can be said so bluntly.

"That's right, but you can't say that." William corrected him, saying: "It should be said that the federal government first lent the weapons to them, allowing them to pay until the end of the war." ”

John couldn't help but pout, he still wasn't quite used to this set of wordplay in politics. The federal government lent weapons to the British. Where do the federal government's weapons come from, they are not sold with congressional appropriations, they are all taxpayers' money.

The federal government used taxpayers' money to buy war materials from arms dealers, then "rented" them to Britain and paid them when the war was over. In this three-way deal, the only ones who bear the risk are the American taxpayers. No wonder Roosevelt wanted to come up with the "Four Freedoms", only by raising the tone and fooling the American people could he have the money to sell arms and lease them to the British.

It's a pity that John can't catch up with the next few good shows. When he came out of the military academy at the end of February, the Lend-Lease Act had almost passed. Historically, Congress gave Roosevelt a check for $2.5 billion. I don't know if in this life, with so many bigwigs working together, Roosevelt can take advantage of the situation to make the cake of Lend-Lease materials a little bigger.