Chapter 509 You Know How to Die
February 14, 2000, the tenth day of the first lunar month.
In Xia Country, those who are studying or working away from home are ready to say goodbye to their holidays and embark on a new journey in life.
In the United States, people are busy celebrating Valentine's Day. The atmosphere is romantic and charming everywhere. Young people who have a partner are busy dating, and profit-seeking businesses are also busy hyping up the festive atmosphere.
However, the weather was not good. Due to the winter storm, New York City once again experienced heavy snowfall this month, with more than thirteen inches of snowfall.
On the TV show, a beautiful blonde reporter from NBC is reporting on the scene: Recently, a strong "northeast storm" hit the northeastern United States. Snowfall began in New York City on the morning of February 14. The heaviest snowfall is expected to occur in the afternoon and evening of February 15, and the entire snowfall process will last for two days.
Manhattan.
In the villa that Lu Yiming just bought.
At seven o'clock in the morning, Lu Yiming woke up from the bed, walked to the window, opened the curtains of the floor-to-ceiling windows, and looked outside.
The snow was still falling, and there was only white outside.
Lu Yiming had never seen such heavy snow.
After all, it is not easy to see snow in Guangdong Province, and you may only see it a few times in your lifetime.
Therefore, he enjoyed watching the snow scene outside the window, as if he had gained a brand new experience.
After a while, the floor-to-ceiling windows began to fog up because it was too warm in the room.
In the guest room, Li Yiwen also woke up from his deep sleep, yawning, and couldn't help cursing loudly: "It's already February, and it's still snowing so heavily, it's really hell."
Flying from the warm Guangdong Province to New York, Li Yiwen experienced firsthand what it was like to be freezing cold. This experience was naturally not a pleasant one, and it made Li Yiwen sneeze several times in a row.
Lu Yiming walked out of the bedroom and into the living room, smiling and saying, "The coming of a cold wave is a good sign. Isn't there an old saying? Auspicious snow means a good harvest. This heavy snow will definitely bring us a huge harvest. Those insects will forever sleep in this cold winter night and will never see the sun of early spring. I think it's perfect for the occasion."
A small snowstorm is nothing compared to the coming Internet winter.
"Just think about it. Before long, there will be a large group of people sleeping on the streets in this icy and snowy weather."
The scene was too tragic, and Lu Yiming couldn't bear to think too much about it, otherwise he would easily laugh out loud.
"Okay, go wash up and have breakfast, they should be here soon."
After I finished washing and getting dressed, Ian Ball called.
When the door of the villa was opened, a gust of wind blew in, mixed with wind and snow, making Lu Yiming and Li Yiwen shiver all over.
Suddenly coming out of the warm villa into the snow and ice, Lu Yiming felt as if he had stepped into the eighteenth level of hell.
Seeing Lu Yiming, Ian Ball said excitedly: "Mr. Lu, I have borrowed stocks of companies such as Intel, Yahoo and Amazon from brokers in the secondary market. I have bought all the companies on the list. Now, I just need to wait for their stock prices to plummet!"
Originally, this could be done with just one phone call, but Lu Yiming knew the nature of the United States. The Prism Gate system was still in operation. If such an important phone call was tapped by the authorities, then let alone shorting US stocks, the FBI would come to your door and short your body with AK. Therefore, Lu Yiming asked Ian Ball to report it in person.
Although it was raining and snowing outside, Ian Ball's face was flushed and his heart was burning with passion.
In just these few days, he has spent more than three billion US dollars!
This amount was more than all the money he had ever seen in his life!
Carrying out such a shocking plan personally made him feel intoxicated, which was even more stimulating than alcohol.
At this time, Wall Street was still full of flowers and prosperity , and countless people were still immersed in the carnival, believing that the stocks they held would continue to rise forever.
But they didn't know that a cold wave more severe than the "Northeast Storm" was about to hit.
By then, the entire New York, and even the entire United States stock market, will trigger a disaster like a landslide and tsunami. Countless people will lose all their money, fall from heaven to the abyss, and will not be able to climb out for generations.
But Lu Yiming did not feel any pity in his heart, just like the people of the United States did not care much about how many people starved to death in Africa. People's joys and sorrows are not the same.
Lu Yi smiled and said, "Very good, come in, I can't stand the wind outside."
After entering the villa and closing the door, Lu Yiming felt as if he had entered spring in the blink of an eye, and he suddenly felt comfortable.
Lu Yiming said to Li Yiwen: "Why don't you go make a few cups of coffee?"
"Sure, I'll make some toast and fry an egg for breakfast. It's so cold, I really don't want to go out."
"That's fine."
Li Yiwen went to work, while Lu Yiming asked Ian Ball to sit on the sofa and turned on the projection equipment on the wall.
This has always been his habit. If he doesn't turn on the TV at home, he always feels like something is missing.
Although I won’t necessarily watch the show.
After a while, breakfast and coffee were served.
Lu Yiming took a bite of toast with lettuce and egg, took a sip of hot coffee, and immediately felt like he had returned to his soul.
"Ian, you bought and shorted so much in such a short period of time, doesn't anyone suspect you?"
Ian Ball had a confident expression on his face, as if Lu Yiming was questioning his professionalism. He immediately said, "Except for a few cautious people who rejected my orders, many brokerages are happy to make money from a fool like me. They even want me to continue to increase my bets. How can they stop me?"
If you short sell in a bull market, what else can you be but a fool?
But a bull market will not always be a bull market, and a fool is not necessarily really stupid.
Find a brokerage firm that owns the target company's stock in the secondary market, lend the selected stock, and then sell it for money. After the stock price plummets, buy back the same share of stock from the market and return it. This is the simplest way to short sell.
But sometimes, the simpler it is, the more profitable it is!
The geniuses on Wall Street pioneered this new way of gambling. It has to be said that they really know how to commit suicide.
After eating and drinking, Lu Yiming wiped the corners of his mouth and said leisurely, "Thank you for your hard work these past few days. Take a few days off. You can pay me back next week."
"OK."
After finishing his coffee, Ian Ball went back to work.
Although he is still the helmsman of the Saltwater Fund on paper, the person who gives orders secretly has long been replaced by Lu Yiming.
Ian Ball didn't really believe in Lu Yiming's judgment, but as long as Lu Yiming paid him a salary so that he could maintain the dignity of an upper-class person, he didn't care.
After Ian Ball left, Lu Yiming looked at the snowflakes still falling outside the window, his heart full of anticipation.
Let the storm come even harder.
At this time, the economic situation in the United States was also quietly changing.
Why was the technology bubble in 2000 the most severe decline in technology stocks in the past fifty years?
The S&P 500 fell by as much as 47%, and the Nasdaq 100 fell by a full 82%, which is no exaggeration to say that it was a high dive.
In Lu Yiming's opinion, this was purely a result of a group of smart people on Wall Street playing too big a game. The stock price had been inflated to the point of insulting one's intelligence.
From 1990 to 2000, the Nasdaq rose 20 times, while the S&P did slightly better, at only 4.3 times.
It can be seen from this that the Nasdaq has completely deviated from rationality. At its peak, its price-to-earnings ratio even exceeded 150 times, which is simply out of line.
So, you must pay back your debts. As a country, it is the same as being a human being. Don't be too arrogant. It's useless.
In the twenty years between the old and new centuries, the United States, which was doing smoothly, first strangled its old rival, the Russian bear, and then punched Asia and kicked Europe. It took advantage of the 1997 financial crisis and the Kosovo shelling in 1999, and artificially created crises to attract hot money from all over the world to the United States, creating unprecedented prosperity for its own economy.
Whether it is a battlefield raging with gunfire or a financial crisis that has caused countless people to go bankrupt and jump off buildings, funds from all over the world have fled emerging markets on a large scale and flowed back to the United States due to the demand for safe havens.
But everything has its limits. As the Asian financial crisis gradually subsided, market panic has clearly eased, and the phenomenon of large-scale capital outflows from has slowed marginally.
By the end of 1999 and the beginning of 2000, there was even a trend of capital flowing back to emerging markets, as evidenced by the rebound in Asian currencies.
In particular, Xiaguo, with its strong GDP growth, stands out and has become another new destination for hot money from all over the world.
But the Americans still feel good about themselves and allow those greedy financial capitalists on Wall Street to get away with it in silence every day. This is truly the best example of bringing trouble upon oneself.
Lu Yiming deliberately chose to take action at this time, which can be said to be just right, neither early nor late.
After Ian Ball left, Lu Yiming and Li Yiwen sat in the room, looking through the stock market intelligence they had collected.
The more you read the above content, the more frightening it becomes.
Li Yiwen complained: "I thought the A-share retail investors were miserable enough, but I didn't expect that the US stock retail investors were not much better. This is not speculating in stocks, it's clearly speculating on a bomb that may explode at any time."
Today’s U.S. stock market has a huge bubble that has created many “shell concept” companies.
These companies don’t have any actual business, they just dare to IPO with a .com name, and then raise huge amounts of money in the stock market, reaping the profits crazily.
In addition, there are some financial frauds, inflated revenues, and reduced costs. There are so many outrageous operations that it is almost impossible to complain.
There is nothing they can't do, except what you can't think of.
Lu Yiming also shook his head and said, "If the stock market doesn't crash again, it will be unjust."
Li Yiwen also agreed: "From the intelligence we have collected so far, we can see that the tightening of liquidity in the stock market has already caused a qualitative change from a quantitative change. In fact, the recession has begun to show signs, and it is just waiting for someone to give it a slight push, and it will immediately become an avalanche."
In fact, it's not all Wall Street's fault. Another reason is the chain reaction brought about by the slowdown in the growth of new Internet users in the United States.
Currently, the supply and demand penetration rate of the United States' Internet industry has undergone marginal changes, but the supply has increased significantly, which is destined to make the industry's competitive landscape different from before. The ultimate manifestation of this is that rising interest rates have made "burning money" unsustainable.
As an insider in the Internet industry, Lu Yiming naturally understands the characteristics of the development of this industry.
To put it bluntly, we still need to tap into emerging markets. When the market share increases substantially every year, the entire industry will naturally prosper. When everyone has food to eat, they can naturally do business in harmony. Everyone will be good, and we will work together to make the pie bigger.
But the cake will not grow infinitely, and the market share will not grow infinitely.
What should we do when there are no emerging markets to explore?
What else can I do?
Of course it is to poach people from the same industry. After all, it is better to let my fellow Taoist die than to let me die.
As long as a few competitors die, won’t new markets emerge?
This is how involution comes about.
The same principle naturally applies today.
When the "Information Superhighway Project" was first launched in 1993, Internet users in the United States accounted for only 2% of the total population.
In 1994, the number of Internet users in the United States increased by 116% year-on-year, but as user penetration increased, the growth rate gradually slowed down, and by 1999 the growth rate had dropped to a pitiful 20%.
Under the changing industry environment, companies are burning money at an increasingly alarming rate, but the results are getting worse and worse, resulting in tightening liquidity. It is no longer possible to spend a little money to produce beautiful data and then use it to cheat fools in the stock market as before.
Once the routine of relying on mergers and acquisitions for financing and venture capital no longer works, it is only a matter of time before the stock price plummets, because the story can no longer be continued.
After more than an hour, Lu Yiming threw the information in his hand aside, pinched his brows, and sighed: "Sure enough, making money seriously is quite tiring."
Li Yiwen couldn't help but look up slightly and rolled his eyes at him: "You are sitting in a warm big villa, drinking coffee and reading the newspaper, and you tell me you are tired? Look at those street sweepers outside, they are still running outside in the heavy snow, that's what is called tiredness."
Lu Yiming smiled disapprovingly and said, "Those who work with their minds rule over others, and those who work with their hands are ruled by others. That's how the world works. The more profitable a business is, the easier it is. On the contrary, working yourself to death and being diligent and hardworking can only make enough to eat and wear, and you can't make much money at all."
At this moment, the cell phone on the table vibrated. Lu Yiming picked it up and saw that it was Shi Qingxue's number. He couldn't help but smile knowingly and pressed the answer button.
"Hello."
Shi Qingxue asked in a sweet and innocent tone: "Lu Yiming, did you miss me?"
"Yes, I think about it all the time."
Although she felt that Lu Yiming's words were insincere, Shi Qingxue still felt very happy and asked with concern: "I heard that it snowed in New York today. You should wear more clothes."
On the other side of the ocean, there is a confidante who cares about him. Lu Yiming felt warm in his heart and said immediately: "I have heating here, and I won't be cold, don't worry."
Shi Qingxue hadn't seen Lu Yiming for a long time, so her tone naturally became resentful: "Why did you go abroad for no reason? What are you doing there at this time?"
Lu Yiming laughed and said, "I am a fire in the winter. Of course I came here to bring warmth to the American people."
“Eh…”
Shi Qingxue seemed to understand what he said, but she felt that there was something malicious in Lu Yiming's laughter.
After laying so much groundwork, Shi Qingxue finally said coyly, "Um, Lu Yiming, today is Valentine's Day."
Lu Yiming smiled and said, "Yes, so I have to give you a Valentine's Day gift. Ask your aunt if she received a package today."
"ah?"
Shi Qingxue seemed to have thought of something, exclaimed, and then shouted: "Mom!"
Su Yunjin, who was watching TV in the living room, asked, "What?"
Shi Qingxue asked loudly: "Did you receive a package today?"
Su Yunjin said: "Yes, it's in the shoe cabinet at the door."
Shi Qingxue rushed out of the room like a whirlwind and saw that there was indeed a package on the shoe cabinet. She excitedly hugged the package and sat down on the large leather sofa.
"New York? Urgent?"
Looking at the order, Shi Qingxue couldn't help but say into the phone, "Lu Yiming, did you buy this for me? It's expedited from New York, and the shipping cost is not cheap. You've wasted money again."
On the other end of the phone, listening to Shi Qingxue's halfhearted "complaint", Lu Yiming's face showed a knowing smile: "It's just a few dollars, open it and see if you like it."
The pink diamond necklace at the auction that day was given to Shi Qingxue by Lu Yiming as a Valentine's Day gift.
Shi Qingxue opened the package and looked at the diamond necklace inside. She couldn't help but widen her eyes, and even the pores on her face seemed to relax.
She took out the diamond necklace, and under the light, the diamond shone brightly.
Even Su Yunjin was attracted and asked, "Lu Yiming sent you this?"
Seeing Shi Qingxue's happy expression, Su Yunjin felt deeply moved.
This precious daughter has really good taste.
Although Shi Qingxue still hoped that Lu Yiming could stay with her, she was not a willful person. Thinking that Lu Yiming had to go to a cold and bitter place like the United States during the New Year, he must have something important to tell her, so she buried her little emotion deep in her heart.
On the phone, Lu Yiming smiled slightly and said, "How is it? Do you like it?"
Shi Qingxue bit her lips shyly and murmured, "Yeah, I like it. Take good care of yourself over there and don't catch a cold. Come back as soon as you finish your work."
"good."
The two of them chatted for a long time before hanging up the phone.
In the villa in Manhattan, New York, Li Yiwen couldn't help but complain: "You have the nerve to say that you are here to bring warmth to the people of the United States. I think you are just short of killing people and setting fires here."
In terms of destructive power, the impact of Lu Yiming's shorting of US stocks is much more serious than zero-dollar purchases.
After all, zero-yuan shopping will at most destroy a few streets, burn down dozens of convenience stores, and then make the insurance companies secretly wipe their tears.
When shorting the U.S. stock market, the entire industry will be affected, and millions of people may become bankrupt, unemployed, and homeless.
Lu Yiming waved his hand, but he looked nonchalant: "Oh, don't worry about these details. As the old saying goes, there is no construction without destruction. I am helping them break the unfair old order and establish a new order. The benefits will be felt in the present and in the future. How can this not be considered as sending warmth?"
