Chapter Seventy-Two: Before the All-Star Game

February was a tumultuous month for financial markets. The sudden plunge of Weining Pharmaceutical, which has been named a blue-chip stock for its stable growth, has bankrupted many small shareholders, and even some large investment banks have been greatly fluctuated because of this, after all, before everything happened, no one thought that the collapse of Weining Pharmaceutical's stock price would be so terrifying, so fast, and so unresponsive.

However, in the midst of mourning, a new star in the financial world is rising, no, to be precise, he is no longer a new star, after all, he is not a newcomer in the financial world, Eisen-House, the loser who lost his job on Wall Street in the layoff storm six months ago, returned with an extraordinary attitude this time, and the $100 million short selling of the century made him net $70 million in this stock disaster belonging to Vining Pharmaceutical!

Such a rare oversized operation made Eisenhowes the object of attention on Wall Street for a while. But that's nothing compared to what happened next. When Eisenhowes invested heavily in a billion dollars of March gold and March crude oil, the eyes of Wall Street were on him.

"This is a madman who has made another stupid choice after completing a rare century shorting."

"I won't give him my money, because in the next second he may make you rich in an instant, or he may bankrupt you."

The above are all excerpts from the original words of the Wall Street Journal, and no one is optimistic about Eisen-House's operation this time. Since entering 08 years, the price of gold and crude oil futures markets has been steadily floating, rising and falling, and truly mature investors will not choose to enter the market in this uncertain situation.

Even Eisen-House himself was apprehensive, but when he thought that these were not his own money, Zhang Kong promised him that half of his salary of one million would be allocated first after completing the short sale of Vining Pharmaceutical, and he was relaxed again, anyway, he didn't need to be responsible for everything.

That's right, everyone doesn't know, only Zhang Kong knows. Knowing how crazy gold and crude oil will rise in the futures market in the United States in March, doubling, yes, doubling up, it seems that in an instant, people all over the world are speculating about March gold and March crude oil.

That's a bigger increase than any time before. Throughout March, gold prices rose by 120%, while crude oil prices rose by more than 170%.

No one knows about these things now, so everyone calls Eisen-House a madman, but it doesn't matter, when everything falls out, when these well-dressed investment bankers lose their jobs, when they live on the streets, the only thing that can laugh is Zhang Kong.

While Wall Street is turbulent, in the NBA, NBA fans have a fun weekend from February 15 to February 19 NBA 07-08 New Orleans All-Star Game.

The 57th All-Star Game was also the first time in the history of the All-Star Game that it was held in New Orleans, and the decision was made in May 2006.

In 2005, Category 5 Hurricane Katrina inundated the coastal city and turned it into a city of water, causing incalculable economic damage and even the supply of crude oil to the United States, so much so that the U.S. government had to use strategic reserves to survive the crisis. In an effort to help revitalize the devastated NBA city, league commissioner David Stern decided to hold the 57th All-Star Game in New Orleans after much deliberation, and it was also an important means of promoting the NBA.

Promote charity and a positive image of the NBA.

In this All-Star Game, the Cavaliers have two participants, LeBron James occupies the position of starting small forward in the East, and Zhang Kong occupies the position of starting center in the East, and at the same time, Zhang Kong is also the first-year starting center in the 57th All-Star Game Rookie Challenge. Howard has always been Zhang Kong's strongest contender for the position of starting center in the East, but whether it is from the perspective of on-court performance or topicality, Zhang Kong has an all-round advantage, and until the final stage vote, Howard has not been able to launch any counterattack, but fortunately, the NBA coach still filled in Howard's name in the position of the starting center in the East, so that he can participate in the All-Star Game as an All-Star substitute.

However, in Howard's view, this result may not be satisfactory.

Although Daniel Gibson didn't get the chance to participate in the All-Star Game, he could participate in the All-Star Rookie Challenge, and as a sophomore, he almost wanted to give up with a bitter face, because if he competed in the sophomore year, it meant that he had to face Zhang Kong head-on on the court!

Attacking the basket guarded by Zhang Kong is a distorting job for everyone on the Cavaliers. Even LeBron James will not easily impact the empty space under the basket in training in training, and it would be too embarrassing to be covered by someone with the ball.

Gibson drummed in his chest at the thought of that could happen on the All-Star Field. Determined to ask Zhang Kong to swear to God that he would never cover himself in the rookie game, Gibson breathed a sigh of relief.

In addition, because before the All-Star break, the Cavaliers finally surpassed the Celtics to top the Eastern Conference, so Rivers' original position as the head coach of the Eastern All-Star Game is gone, and now the head coach of the Eastern All-Star Game has become Mike Brown, and I don't know if Rivers will be depressed because of this.

At the same time, Zhang Kong was also invited to participate in the slam dunk contest, and he jumped over Jamison's death dunk in the game against the Wizards, leaving a deep impression on fans who love dunks, but Zhang Kong refused. He is really not good at playing dunks, although he can jump very high and dunk very fiercely, but he is a dunk of pure violence, if he is allowed to carry two people to jump on the spot and dunk, it is indeed very adrenaline surge for the audience, and it is very enjoyable to watch.

But such dunks are not destined to please the referees, who prefer elegant, coherent and creative dunks. Do you want to wear your panties to dunk like Howard?

No need!

Still, the Cavaliers' coaching staff has some additional concerns about traveling to New Orleans for the All-Star Game. New Orleans is a beautiful city that, due to its warm ocean climate, has always been a good choice for some Americans on a winter vacation. At the same time, however, there have been concerns about public order, not only are drug robberies rampant, but there were also large-scale riots when Hurricane Katrina arrived.

It's hard to be reassuring about the security situation. The coaching staff repeatedly asked the three players in the game to be careful in New Orleans, and it is best to go out with three people on weekdays, and if they do, they must tell the head coach where they have gone, so that they can contact the police immediately if there is any situation.

However, before heading to New Orleans, Zhang Kong had a few things to work out.

Rich Paul finally helped him get a contract with General Motors.

A three-year contract brought Zhang Kong $30 million in revenue, and at the same time made Zhang Kong the image spokesperson of General Motors, a brand of General Motors.

The Hummer has had a hard time in recent times. The newly launched H2 and H3, H3T and other civilian Humvee off-road vehicles have been selling mediocre, resulting in a shortage of income, and even the sales of military light armored vehicles have problems, as the war in Afghanistan continues, the Humvee has erupted more and more problems, its armor has been criticized by the military for not being able to ensure the safety of American soldiers under the guns of the Afghan militia resistance, and recently the military has even canceled the original order worth 370 million, and may even cancel all orders.

A series of bad news has made GM a little anxious.

However, in response to this situation, GM is still unwilling to give up, which is a common problem of large companies, not to the point of complete irreparability, and they do not want to give up anything.

(This is fiction)

This time, GM was determined to make a last-ditch effort for the Hummer brand, carefully preparing to launch its latest product, and at the same time, it also signed Zhang Kong, the hottest basketball player in recent times, as its image spokesperson.

Hummer ZERO, referred to as Hummer HZ, not only breaks the consistent naming of the Hummer brand, ZERO is the meaning of zero, representing starting all over again.

Being able to sign Hummer was a surprise for Zhang Kong. As an off-road fan, the Hummer has always been Zhang Kong's favorite, and its domineering image is full of unbeatable arrogance.

And when he saw the Hummer HZ model, he was even more satisfied and had nothing to say.

Drawing on its own experience in the civilian market, GM completely abandoned the idea of downsizing and fuel-saving commercial vehicle models on the H2 and H3.

The design of the body is very close to the H1, and you will feel that it is more rigid and bulky than the H1 at a glance, with a wide body, half-height wheels, high ground and simple rough straight lines. When the engine starts, the muffled sound of a beast roaring in the forest will make your ears hurt.

And Zhang Kong, almost the first time he touched the car, he completely liked it.

GM realized that the reason why so many Hummer fans like the Hummer is that it is the characteristics of the Hummer's military vehicles, its all-weather all-terrain super off-road ability, and its rugged and even somewhat rough and cold appearance that is uncomfortable, which is the spirit of the Hummer, not the kind of urban off-road SUV that looks stylish...... Can that sissy be considered a dirt bike?

Therefore, the newly launched HZ directly uses the shape of the original H1, of course, it still follows the trend and adds a lot of modern high-tech equipment, which improves the grade and level of the vehicle, and does not reduce off-road performance. While ensuring off-road performance, it also makes Hummer more adaptable to the requirements of today's consumers for cars, which can be regarded as a rejuvenation.

The price of this car is not cheap, and it can even be said that it is quite expensive. Because the original intention of GM's design is not to cater to the middle and lower classes, but to the high-end market, to be precise, the market of high-end young people, this kind of rebellion and wildness against the trend is also to cater to the rebellious taste of young people nowadays.

Of course, its fuel consumption is still as explosive as ever, but those who can afford to buy this car must not care about that fuel consumption.

Zhang Kong simply signed his name on the contract!