America’s Road To Wealth

  Chapter 321 Daily life in New York

  【On October 5, the price of gold futures for December delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose by US$25 an ounce to close at US$310. It once rose to US$330 during the session, the highest in nearly nine years]

  Queens, New York,

  Smith Building, in the office on the fourth floor.

  Abel leaned on the boss chair, watching the gold futures market on the screen monitor.

  International gold spot prices once rose to $850 per ounce on January 23, 1980.

  Unfortunately, the good times did not last long. Since February 1, 1980, the price of gold has been falling all the way.

  With the new economic growth momentum brought about by the information industry revolution, gold entered a long period of decline until the eve of the millennium.

  In September 1999, in order to prevent the price of gold from continuing to fall sharply, the European Central Bank and 14 European countries signed a central bank gold sales agreement.

   The general idea is to stipulate that the central banks of various countries will sell gold in batches and in limited quantities in the next five years.

   A major factor in the decline in gold has thus disappeared.

   In 2000, the bursting of the Internet bubble in the United States.

  The market has a risk aversion mentality, and gold, a hard currency that resists inflation, has gradually become popular again.

   Gold, which has fallen for two decades, finally started to strengthen.

  Not long ago, a major event happened, and the risk aversion sentiment intensified. Gold once rose to 330 US dollars per ounce at its peak.

   Faced with such a big market, financial giants from all over the world will certainly not let it go.

  Smith Capital did the same, in fact as early as early August of this year.

  Abel has asked Smith Capital to gradually build positions in London gold spot.

  Just to avoid being too high-profile, the number of positions built is not many.

   A total of about $5 billion or so has been invested.

  Wait until the big event happens, when the U.S. financial market is closed.

  Smith Capital (UK) immediately built up positions to go long London gold, and the United States immediately took the same action after the opening of the financial market.

   Almost a month has passed, and Smith Capital has already invested in international gold spot, with a total investment of about 50 billion US dollars.

  In this, half of the 50 billion US dollars in the 7th private placement of Smith Capital was used.

  The remaining 25 billion US dollars, as always, used the guarantee amount provided by Pacific Commercial Bank, Wells Fargo Bank, and Citibank.

  London gold has begun to show signs of falling after it has been rising for nearly a month.

   After all, gold has been weak for two decades, and it has only broken through $200 in the past two years.

   You must know that five or six years ago, when the international spot gold was at its lowest, it was as low as $150 per ounce.

  People's psychology has not yet been reversed, and they have not realized its anti-inflation value.

  The so-called flourishing antiques, troubled times gold.

  The 21st century, which undergoes major changes unseen in a century, has just entered.

   Everyone's minds haven't changed yet.

  So now the international spot gold has shown signs of falling back.

   Many retail investors and small investors want to withdraw one after another.

  But they don't know that well-informed large institutions and Wall Street are still gradually building positions at this moment.

  Because in a few days, there will be a new black swan spreading its wings, which can provide another boost to the international spot gold.

   After looking at the data of spot gold, after making sure that it has not left my grasp.

  Abel pressed the phone next to the monitor, and soon one of the CEOs and presidents of Smith Capital.

  David Mellon and Merio walked in.

   Both of them are dressed alike, with white shirts, ties and leather shoes, meticulous hairstyles, and a typical appearance of Wall Street elites.

   "Boss—"

   "BOSS—"

   "Everyone is here, sit down. The company will be relocated to the Smith Tower tomorrow. Are the employees not emotional?"

  Abel asked with a smile.

   Will be the headquarters of Smith Capital and other companies.

   All moved to the Smith Building in the heart of Manhattan, which is the original Woolworth Building.

  This matter was announced to the group as early as May this year after Abel successfully acquired the Woolworth Building.

  Whether it is Smith Capital or several other companies, they all know this.

  In the beginning, except for Smith Capital, most of the employees in Abel’s companies were very excited.

   After all, you can work in Manhattan, which is for most white-collar social animals in the United States.

   It can be said to be a status symbol, just like social animals who work in the CBD within the second ring road of the imperial capital, they will feel superior to others.

   But that was without the events of 9/11.

  After the big incident, Abel's decision to move in has not changed.

  Many of his employees, mainly middle- and lower-level employees, were a little hesitant and afraid.

   They are all worried that Woolworth House will become the second twin

  This is actually human nature, and it hasn't been a month since that incident.

  Hearing this question from the boss, David and Merio looked at each other.

  Merio shrugged and motioned for the CEO to answer the question.

  David said, "I have some opinions. There are too many people who died. Some of them are friends they knew."

  Abel thought that would be great.

   Just take this opportunity to fire some people, so that after the newspapers and TV.

  Others will know more clearly about Abel Smith's support for Manhattan and his love for New York!

  Abel said bluntly:

   "As I said before. If there are people who don't want to work in the "dangerous" Manhattan. That's fine, then please submit their resignation letter."

   It sounds nice, but it actually means firing the squid directly.

  Here we will talk about American labor laws.

   There is no such thing as "labor.labor.law" in the United States, which is generally called labor law here.

   It is not a law, but a legal system.

  Because specific to the federal government, each state, county, city, or even town may have their own labor laws that are roughly the same but with different details.

  Like in China, if it is done in accordance with the norms, the company will take the initiative to fire an employee, and generally have to pay 16 months' salary.

   Layoffs are extremely costly.

  There is no regulation on layoff compensation in the US labor law system.

  Only the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act vaguely stipulates that large-scale layoffs must be negotiated with employees 60 days in advance.

  The "negotiation" here is brilliantly used by capitalists and companies.

   Like Abel, he has already planned, this time some people will be fired.

  According to this law, strictly speaking, 60 days of wages are required.

   Abel has a 50% increase and a 90-day salary, is that interesting enough?

  This explanation is not only legal, but also gives people the impression that he is very generous and a good boss.

  However, this 90-day salary compensation will only give the basic salary, and will not include dividends, bonuses and other things.

  The income other than the basic salary is actually the bulk of the income of most Wall Street workers.

  So Smith Capital fires a few more people, and the labor cost is really not that exaggerated.

  The company has not been fired since its establishment, so it is too capitalless.

  Other companies are the same, they will only pay a three-month basic salary, and there will be no bonuses or anything.

   Taking advantage of this relocation of the headquarters, if someone is really unwilling, Abel will certainly not be polite.

   Doing this can have the effect of standing up and deter internal employees.

  It can be used to create an image that you are optimistic about Manhattan and love New York.

   This will help him in his later plans.

  Abel also hopes that more employees will stand up, and they don't want to go to work in Manhattan.

   That way you can fire a few more people.

  Now the American economy is somewhat depressed, and many people have no jobs to do.

  The same is true for white-collar elites. Demand exceeds supply in the field of job hunting, and they are not afraid of not being able to recruit people.

   Seeing the boss's firm attitude, David Mellon naturally couldn't defy him.

  Smith Capital’s relocation of its headquarters tomorrow will be confirmed today.

  As the leader, Smith Capital will be the first company to enter the Smith Tower.

  As for Abel’s other companies, they will move in one after another in the future.

  Smith Building (Woolworth Building), after five months of rent clearance and renovation.

   At this time, it also has a new look. Whether it is internal or external, it can already accommodate the headquarters of so many companies that Abel currently has.

  A total of 57 floors of the building, the bottom 42 floors, each floor has about 1600-1700 square meters of office space.

  The 10-story building of 43-52 has a much smaller area.

  But each floor has an area of ​​about 300-350 square meters.

   These floors and the 5 floors above were actually built by the builders purely for the pursuit of height.

  In order to become the tallest building in the world, the original 42-story Woolworth Building became the current 57-story building.

  Counting the effect of the lightning rod on the spire, the height of this building exceeds 318 meters.

  The internal building area of ​​the upper part of the building is naturally much smaller and narrower than the normal office building below.

  The top five floors of the tower, the first four floors are only about 200 square meters.

  The top floor is just over 100 square meters.

  Not counting the top five floors, the office area of ​​the remaining 52 floors has exceeded 70,000 square meters.

  According to the office area of ​​about 10 square meters per person.

  Smith Tower can accommodate more than 7,000 people.

   It is more than enough to accommodate the current headquarters employees of all companies under Abel.

   As for the top five floors, they have been being remodeled during this time.

   It will be transformed into a luxury condominium called "The Pinnacle".

  This residence will be crowned on the crown of Woolworth Building.

  The five-story building covers an area of ​​nearly 9,680 square feet, almost more than 900 square meters.

  There will be a 408-square-foot observation deck, 727 feet higher than City Hall Park. In the development of the interior design, Zaha Hadid, the not-so-famous female devil, took the lead.

  It will be one of Abel's future residences in Manhattan.

   Simply put, it is the original Woolworth Building and now the Smith Building.

  The top five floors will become Abel's personal quarters.

  The 52nd floor below is the office location of the New York headquarters of the Smith family.

  The renovation work started in May, and it has been five months now.

  Basically all have been completed, but Abel has not actually visited the summit mansion on the roof.

  Actually, based on his personality, there is a high probability that he will not live in many summit mansions in the future.

  The main reason is that it is too high, and it is too dangerous in case of an accident.

  Compared with this kind of skyscraper, he still prefers villas, or those townhouses in Manhattan.

   Live in these places, at least you can run in time when something goes wrong

  The reason why this "peak" was made out is purely because the area of ​​the top few floors is too small for office work.

  Plus the views are so good that you can look down on Manhattan, so he just made them mansions.

   In the future, I will live in a better mood. Usually he still likes to live in a low-rise villa, which can give him a sense of security.

   After all, he is not Iron Man, and in reality there is no Mark armor that can carry people flying around.

  If Iron Man who lives on the roof encounters any problems, he can put on his armor and fly away.

  Abel who lives on the top of the building, if something happens, it will really make every day not work.

  Stayed in the Smith Building all morning, he made another appointment with Ted Lerner at noon.

   The two met in midtown Manhattan, near 111 West 57th Street.

  The convoy parked directly beside the road, and the rock security staff quickly dispersed to take precautionary measures.

  Abel and Ted Lerner just got out of the car.

   After getting down, Ted Lerner couldn't help but said: "You, the bodyguard, did a great job. I feel that even the commander-in-chief is nothing more than this."

   "For safety. Personal safety is always the most important thing. Only when a person is alive, can he have infinite possibilities." Abel said casually with a smile.

   Ted Lerner shrugged, looked up, and said, "Look ahead, this is 111 West 57th Street."

  Abel nodded, "Let's go and have a look."

   Then the rock security opened the way, and Abel and Ikana's father walked forward.

   This place is located in the center of the south side of Central Park in New York, and it is only separated from Central Park by two low-rise buildings in front and a road.

  The distance in a straight line is less than fifty meters, and 111 West 57th Street is currently just a low-rise building with a width of 30 meters and a width of 40 meters.

  The two appeared here because they were chatting at Charlie Brown's Pizza yesterday.

   Ted Lerner took the initiative to mention that there is a vacant lot here in midtown Manhattan that is about to be auctioned.

  Abel had previously mentioned to him the idea of ​​building a residential building in Manhattan.

   Ted Lerner just mentioned one thing.

  Although Abel's attention in this area was attracted by Hudson Bay.

   But he felt that in this moment of crisis in Manhattan.

  The richest man in the world said he wanted to build a building here, or a residential building.

   Presumably, I should be able to add an aura of loving New York to myself.

  This is similar to moving the headquarters to Manhattan.

   If it really needs to be done at that time, he will also be mainly responsible for paying for it.

  The specific work will be carried out by New Start Real Estate and Ted Lerner in cooperation.

   Anyway, he was idle, so he came over to take a look.

   After looking around at 111 West 57th Street, Abe felt that it was too narrow.

   Generally speaking, it is only 30x40 at most, and the area is less than 1200 square meters.

  To build a building here, if it is short, it is boring, and if it is tall, it will definitely be a thin and long toothpick building in the shape of a bamboo tube.

  Abel brought this up, but Ted Lerner thought it could be a selling point too.

   "We can build it tall and long!" said Ted Lerner:

   "The high-rise view will have the best view in Manhattan! It can even overlook the entire New York. We can make money entirely by selling high-rise units!"

  Abel knew what Ted Lerner meant.

  Abel remembered that in the parallel time and space, most of the buildings that appeared in Manhattan after September 11 were thin and tall toothpick buildings.

   Most of them were residential buildings, and he remembered that they were selling well.

  Because there was a news at that time that a rich man in China spent 280 million RMB to buy an entire floor, probably less than 900 square meters.

  300,000 square meters, there are still many people who say it is not expensive.

  Thinking of this, Abel also said: "Let's build it. Let Lerner Group come up with a plan and hand it over to my new starting point real estate. As long as it passes the review, I'm willing to pay for it."

   "Bingo!" Ted Lerner exclaimed happily: "No problem!"

  Abel smiled. To him, this cooperation was just an idle investment.

  It is of course a good thing to be able to make money, but to lose money. With the location of this area and Ted Lerner's attainments in the real estate industry, he should not lose money.

  For Abel, this is also the performance of adding another layer to the chain of interests he gave to Ikana and Ted Lerner.

   But for Ted Lerner, this is the largest project that this New York real estate developer has personally participated in the construction of.

  Parallel time and space, Ted Lerner's life at this time is particularly difficult.

  Ikana's father was being chased by the bank at this time, and just happened to encounter the sharp drop in New York real estate caused by September 11th, and the market was very bad.

  Ted Lerner, whose assets are mostly in New York real estate, has lived a hard life for many years and almost went bankrupt again.

  In this time and space, because of Abel.

   During this period, Ted Lerner lived so well.

  With the relationship between Abel and Ikana, Ted Lerner doesn't have to be afraid that no bank is willing to lend him a loan.

   With sufficient capital turnover channels, Ted Lerner, who mainly relied on the real estate company, naturally thrived.

  In addition, his other important industry, that is, the TV program merchant industry, can also get help from Smith Media.

  Some of the TV shows that Ted Lerner participated in produced have good ratings on AMC.

   Like this year's Miss Universe, it created 10 million viewership ratings on AMC TV, setting a record for this program.

  In addition, he also has multiple investments in the private equity of Smith Capital.

  From last year to the present, it is more appropriate to describe Ted Lerner as a spring breeze.

  Perhaps because of this, Ted Lerner did not start to contact Zhengzhi this year like in the parallel time and space.

   To know the Ted Lerner of another time and space.

   will become a third-party candidate next year, clamoring to participate in the 2004 general election.

   As a result, in 2003, this pie with tens of thousands of people was classified.

  He became the leader of one of the small factions, and after two more years, the small faction disbanded immediately.

   Ted Lerner, who never gave up, joined another third faction in 2006, and then another farce.

  Before 2010, Ted Lerner first joined the donkey, then jumped to the elephant, then jumped back to the donkey, and then jumped to the elephant

   Jumping left and right is not enough to describe, it is jumping everywhere.

   Until 2010, after his business stabilized.

  He stayed in the elephant at ease.

   Then when the time came, he jumped out again, and was pushed up by the general trend inexplicably.

  【The heaven and the earth all work together, but the hero is not free when transported away. 】

  The first half of this sentence is the best description of his early political career.

   As for whether the latter part of the sentence will appear, Abel does not know.

  Because Abel had already crossed at that time.

   Update problem, I can only guarantee 40,000 words a day, and the update time cannot be guaranteed for the time being. The main reason is that I changed to a new input method, and it is a bit stuck, so the speed cannot be increased. Anyway, it is usually just to update four chapters from afternoon to evening. terribly sorry.

  (end of this chapter)