Chapter 113: News from the Pacific Railroad
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Unlike Lincoln, who was weighed down by heavy economic pressure, because of the cooperation of the lovely General McClellan, whether it was the MacDonald Infantry Weapons Company, or the MacDonald Chemical and Pharmaceutical Company, or the MacDonald Food Company, there were constant orders. Today, the MacDonald Infantry Weapons Company has also fully implemented the assembly line production system, and the number of factories has doubled compared to before the start of the war, and the production capacity has increased by five or six times because of the use of assembly lines. But even so, the factory is so busy that it has to squeeze the time for the machine to be overhauled.
As for McDonald Chemical & Pharmaceutical Company, well, there has been a huge increase in heroin orders lately, because the military is now using this to relieve the pressure on the soldiers. And MacDonald's Spam is even more popular in the whole army, and now not only the 6th Army, but also the Navy, is also a water spam, this thing is easy to carry, easy to keep, and tastes better than that damn salted dried beef. To say that the salted dried beef in the United States, it is definitely a legend, in order to be able to preserve it for a long time, the salt level added to the thing, also to facilitate preservation, that thing was exposed to the sun and roasted, became dry and hard, it is said that a boring storekeeper in the navy, nothing to do with this thing pretending to be mahogany to practice carving, and then the superior came to inspect, and now there are a lot of lifelike carved artworks in the warehouse, take a closer look, only now they are carved with dried salted meat. However, this thing does have a long shelf life, in the original history, soldiers during the Civil War would sometimes eat meat from the Revolutionary War, and by World War II, some guys also ate salted meat from the Civil War.
In order to solve the financial problem, President Lincoln decided to sell the national debt on a large scale after consulting with many of his aides. The slave owners in the south and the common people enthusiastically bought the national debt, which provided great help to the fighting in the south.
Therefore, President Lincoln also hoped to be able to sell the national debt to relieve the immediate financial pressure. Of course, for government bonds to sell well, the country's performance must also be good enough. Otherwise, no matter how high you set the interest rate, few people will dare to buy it. For example, in the time and space before Scrooge traveled, the interest rate on both Icelandic and Greek government bonds was higher than that of US Treasury bonds, and not just a little higher. But how many buyers are willing to buy their Treasury bonds indiscriminately? Dare to buy? Let me know what a "sovereign debt crisis" is.
The United States under General Lincoln, at least so far, has not done very well. At sea, although there were some victories, they couldn't stop the smuggling ships in the south at all, and on the 6th place, the vital eastern front, they were beaten like a dog by the southern army, although there were some victories on the western front, but the victory in that kind of place, who would really care?
So in this case, there is a real problem with the line of Lincoln's national debt. The North was not the South, and the slave owners of the South knew that if the war was lost, the North would deprive them of nothing. In order to keep what they have, even if the interest rate given by Davis is low, they will buy it. In the North, the capitalists don't have to worry that the Southerners will come and rob them of everything, even if they really lose, at most let Lincoln get out of the way and recognize the independence of the South. So if the interest rate he gave was low, Lincoln wouldn't have thought that there would be a whole bunch of "patriots" who would have gone bankrupt to buy these things for the sake of the motherland; And if the interest rate is high, the interest rate will roll up, and he will not be able to stand it.
Fortunately, there are still true patriots who are willing to share the worries of the motherland. At the end of 1961, when the treasury was running out, President Lincoln called Scrooge, Morgan, and other powerful bankers to discuss the issue of a $400 million national debt.
In the original history, President Lincoln's move did not begin until the late '62. However, now, because the intensity of confrontation between the two sides has increased significantly compared with the original history, the federal side has lost a lot of money. As a result, by the end of '61, Lincoln had to make such a big loan.
At that time, the center of world finance was still in London, and Wall Street was still a small part of London. Therefore, in general, the bank bonds, especially the ones with large numbers, are generally in London. However, considering the attitude of the British in this war, putting such a vital national debt in London, not to mention whether the British are worthy of cooperation or not, even if the British are willing to cooperate, Lincoln is not at ease to hand over such an important matter to the British.
But can you sell so much Treasury debt on Wall Street alone? The vast majority of people have no bottom in their hearts.
"My bank can help the government sell some of it." Scrooge spoke first. As soon as he finished saying this, Scrooge appeared, and many bankers looked at him a little wrong. Recently, Scrooge has gone too far, he alone has covered almost all the most profitable munitions, medicines, and military rations in the war, well, now in terms of weapons, except for cannons and sabers, the rest, including the shovels used by the soldiers to dig the ground, are almost all covered by Scrooge's enterprises. This is especially true when it comes to medicines...... Luckily, the bandages and stuff aren't owned by MacDonald. This guy has already earned so much, and he actually jumped out as soon as he had the opportunity? Did he want to change the name of the United States of America to McDonald-United States of America? This also makes it impossible to let others live.
"But my business is currently burdened with too much, and the University of Cleveland is costing a lot of money. And I had no previous experience selling government bonds. So I was able to sell a limited number of consignments. However, as a sign of support for the country, I can agree that the government will use a portion of the national debt to pay for part of the McDonald Infantry Weapons Company, the McDonald Chemical and Pharmaceutical Company, and the MacDonald Foods Company. Scrooge continued.
Scrooge's statement made many bankers breathe a sigh of relief. At the same time, they immediately understood what Scrooge meant. Scrooge allowed the state to pay for the goods with a portion of the national debt, which was in effect a loan with conditions, and this proviso was that the money that Scrooge lent to the U.S. government could only use it to order from Scrooge. This creates a loop: Scrooge lends the money he made from the war to the Lincoln government, and the Lincoln government uses it to continue ordering from Scrooge's company, and then the money quickly returns to Scrooge with more money, and Scrooge lends it to Lincoln again...... Eventually, the government would become more and more dependent on Scrooge's borrowing, and at least for the duration of the war, Scrooge would have firmly held on to the country's financial power -- if he suddenly stopped lending his money one day, the Lincoln administration, which had broken its financial chain, would soon fall. In this situation, it will be very difficult for others to compete with Scrooge's companies in the United States. In another time and space, the yen loans provided by the Japanese to China had a similar effect. In the first decade of the twentieth century, relying on yen loans, Japanese industrial products achieved an overwhelming advantage over European and American products in the Chinese market. Until the 21st century, the status of Japanese goods in China was largely based on the legacy of yen loans.
However, it was difficult for the Lincoln administration to refuse Scrooge's offer. Because this means that at least in the short term, they can buy more vital goods with relatively little money, which can make the capital chain run more smoothly. And the consequences are not unbearable, well, wait until the war is won, and the war dividends obtained will definitely be able to pay off the arrears. As for letting the government collapse at any time, what good would it do for Scrooge?
"Thank you for your support, Mr. MacDonald, you are such an amazing patriot." Lincoln said. Although Scrooge's calculations, Lincoln couldn't see it, but at this time, what better choice could there be?
Scrooge's statement also made those bankers see one point, that is, Scrooge is quite optimistic about the credit and yield of U.S. Treasury bonds. Scrooge? Mr. MacDonald's vision of making money has always been admirable. Moreover, this statement also means that once the treasury bond market falls sharply, the US government can completely take it back and use it to order weapons at its face value, which means that the value of these treasury bonds is quite guaranteed. As a result, their interest in selling these treasury bonds has suddenly risen a lot.
"I wonder how much Treasury debt Mr. MacDonald intends to sell?" Morgan said it first. Now, thanks to his son's talent, Junius has entrusted almost all important matters to his son.
"I think I can sell about $50 million in Treasury bonds." Scrooge replied.
"Well, well, there's 350 million left." Morgan said, "I don't want to do it all, we have a business." I'm only responsible for the distribution of $300 million in government bonds. ”
……
Coming out of the White House, Scrooge was about to board his carriage when suddenly a shout came from behind: "Mr. MacDonald, please wait." ”
Scrooge turned his head and saw Morgan walking towards him.
"Mr. Morgan, is there something wrong?" Scrooge asked.
"It's something, a private matter and some business thing." J.P. Morgan came up and said, "Go to your carriage and say." ”
The two men got into the carriage together and closed the door.
"Let's talk about personal matters first." J.P. Morgan said, "My wife is not in very good health. I need a couple of good doctors. Your hospital is pretty much the best in the United States, and I'd like to borrow a few experts from you to help her. ”
"There's no problem with that." Scrooge said, "What's the business thing? ”
"Mr. MacDonald, have you heard of the 'Pacific Railroad' plan?" J.P. Morgan said.