After bidding farewell to Mr. and Mrs. Chase for the time being, Margot took Josie and met one of the hosts of the reception, John Lebil.
"Good evening, my little sweetheart, I'm so glad you can come, you are still so beautiful!" The kind-looking old man seemed very happy to see Margot and gave Margot a gentle hug.
Beside him, there were two people. One was David, whom Josie had met. He had pestered Margot before. He was looking at Josie with an unkind expression.
The other was an old man about the same age as John Lebil.
"Thank you, Uncle John. By the way, let me introduce you. This is Josie. I mentioned it to you." After greeting John, Margot took Josie and introduced her.
"Hello, Mr. Lebil, I am Josie Kahn, nice to meet you!" Josie said, neither humble nor overbearing.
"Nice young man, have a good time!" John looked at it slightly, nodded, and then stretched out his hand.
This extended hand also showed that the other party initially recognized Qiao Xi, at least not rejecting him.
Of course, it is more about giving face to Margot, a relatively close junior.
Naturally, Qiao Xi stretched out his hand very wisely and shook hands with the other person respectfully.
"By the way, let me introduce you. This is lawyer Alonzo Emery, my old partner." After shaking hands, John introduced the old man next to him. As for David?
John knew very well what kind of temperament this son had. If Margot and David could see eye to eye, he would naturally be happy to see them together. However, Margot was very clear that she was not interested in David, so he would not ask for it.
Not interesting.
Naturally, he would not take the initiative to introduce him, let alone find trouble with Qiao Xi for his worthless son.
Are you kidding me, causing trouble for the guests at a reception hosted by myself? How stupid does one have to be to do such a thing?
No matter how poor or low-status the guest is, no matter what the final outcome is, as the host, he will not end up with a good reputation.
Although David was a playboy, he understood this. No matter how unkind his eyes were, he did not provoke him.
"Hello, young man, if you have any legal questions, you can contact me!" Compared to John's casualness, this Emery lawyer seemed much more enthusiastic.
Although lawyers have a high status in the United States, in the final analysis, they are still people who provide services to capitalists. Although Margot has been relatively reclusive in recent years, after all, she was once a wealthy daughter of Chicago's upper class and was very wealthy.
.
And he knew that some time ago, the widow might have received a large amount of compensation from the insurance announcement... because he was the one who handled this matter.
So Margot can be considered his big customer.
For the sake of money, Emery was naturally more enthusiastic about Qiao Xi.
After having a brief chat with the barrister and exchanging business cards, Josie and Margot left.
The main purpose of this kind of cocktail party is to get to know each other and exchange business cards.
If we really want to talk about things, we won't do it in this kind of situation.
Later, under the guidance of Margot, Josie got to know some Chicago business people.
As time went by, the reception officially got down to business.
Since it is a fundraising reception, passionate speeches by politicians are naturally indispensable.
The speakers were the mayor of Chicago, the Democratic senator from Illinois, and a military representative.
"Josie, do you think we can win this war?" Margot asked Josie, looking at the senator standing on the stage and making an impassioned speech.
"Of course, the United States will win the final victory in this war." Qiao Xi, who is familiar with the trend of history, said without any hesitation.
Although because of Margot, Josie already knew that the world he traveled through was most likely a parallel time and space, but the overall historical trend should not change.
Unless he is really unlucky enough and travels to the world of "The Man in the High Castle"... In fact, even if it is really the world of "The Man in the High Castle", Josie doesn't need to worry too much.
Don't forget, he is of Austrian origin.
Speaking of which, the identity of Austrians during World War II was quite strange.
In the axis camp, because the culture and language are similar to Germany, and the failed art student is of Austrian descent, Austrians are naturally close to Germany.
Here in the United States, Austrians are considered victims of aggression and will not receive as much attention as Germans.
"Then how many bonds do you think we should buy?" Margot became more confident when she saw how convinced Josie was that the United States could win.
"If possible, I think the more the better!" Josie thought for a moment and said in Margot's ear.
What Josie said was on point.
At this time, if you must choose an investment project that is 100% guaranteed to make money without losing money, then there is no doubt that it is to buy federal war bonds.
And the profit margin is an astonishing one hundred percent.
Of course, there are conditions for achieving a 100% profit.
During World War II, the purchase method of U.S. war bonds was to purchase them at 75% or 50% of their face value and pay them off ten years later.
The face value of 25 and 50 is 75%, and the face value of 100 and 200 is 50%.
In other words, you can buy a bond with a face value of one hundred U.S. dollars for only fifty U.S. dollars, and ten years later, you can exchange the bond for one hundred U.S. dollars.
Of course, if you want to redeem the bond before the ten-year term expires, you can also redeem it, but in this case, the interest will only be calculated based on the actual purchase amount at a compound interest rate of 2.9% every six months, and the income will be much less.
Moreover, U.S. war bonds during World War II did not have to worry about inflation.
Because of its victory in World War II, the United States obtained the largest gold reserves in the world and established the Bretton Woods system.
Before the collapse of the Bretton Woods system in 1971, the status and value of the U.S. dollar was equal to gold, and the inflation rate was extremely low.
Therefore, no matter how many bonds you buy now in 1943 and exchange them in 1953, you don't have to worry about your profits not being able to outpace inflation.
"Are you really that sure?" Margot asked.
"What? What do you think?" Josie looked a little strange at her expression and couldn't help but ask.
"I was wondering if we should play something big!" Margot replied.
When she said this, Josie immediately understood what she wanted to do.
Just like those charity galas in later generations, there is actually a comparison between donating money and buying war bonds.
If you become the person who buys the most bonds, do you think you will be famous among senior officials from all walks of life in the United States?
Will you be singled out and promoted as a model?
That's not just buying some bonds, but spending money to buy a special pass.
Of course, with Margot's financial resources, it is impossible to become the number one person in the United States. Although there are not many billionaires in this era, there are definitely many.
It is impossible for Margot to compare with those people.
But if it's just the first place at this fundraising reception, it's not impossible.
"Are you sure?" Josie asked.
"I am still certain. After all, there was a fundraiser at the end of last year. The highest purchase at that time was only two million. I think it is unlikely to exceed this number this time, so I think the number one should be three million.
That's enough!" Margot said.
Qiao Xi couldn't help but nodded when he heard this. That's right. The United States didn't just enter the war. It only started from November 1942, when it officially entered the war, to December 1945. In three years, it was
A total of eight tranches of bonds were issued.
So even the top rich cannot buy hundreds or tens of millions every time, otherwise the company will not need funds to maintain it?
Buying one or two million per issue is considered normal operation.
So three million should indeed be enough.
And although this number is large, the huge insurance money Margot received before was almost this amount, and it did not have much impact on her life.
But at the end of the reception, when the senator read out the person with the highest amount of war bond purchases at this reception, Josie was completely confused.