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61.11% Marvel Plane Trader / Chapter 33: Fundraising Event

Chapter 33: Fundraising Event

The so-called high-fructose corn syrup is actually a very common sweetener in the food processing industry that gradually replaced sucrose in the future.

This type of sugar did not appear until after the 1950s.

But its process is not complicated.

The most important things are two substances: amylase and glucose isomerase.

The former was extracted in the 1930s but was not commercialized. The latter was not discovered until the 1950s.

But Josh only needed the former because the latter mainly converts glucose in the syrup into fructose, increasing the syrup's sweetness.

Only the former plays a role in hydrolyzing starch to produce syrup.

He knew about these two things because of the unfortunate brother who asked him to drink before he transmigrated. He worked in the raw material processing industry for fast-moving products. Actually, he was a supplier of raw materials for milk tea shops.

He helped out in his spare time, so he had some understanding of this.

However, Josh is not involved in biological research, so he definitely cannot produce the enzyme necessary for the saccharification process and, therefore, cannot produce fructose syrup himself.

But it doesn't matter. Someone else can do this kind of work.

Chicago is the educational center of the Midwest, with as many as 19 standard four-year colleges and universities, including famous institutions such as the University of Chicago, Northwestern University, and the University of Illinois, as well as many research institutes.

It is not difficult to find some professionals in this field.

"Since you are confident, go ahead and do it. Just tell me how much money you need!" After Josh shared his plan, Margaret said.

"However, since you want to start a business, it's necessary to interact more with some influential people. Yesterday, Uncle John sent me an invitation to a fundraising event. I wasn't planning on going, but since you're starting a business now, let's go together! I'll introduce you to some people who will be helpful for your business."

By the way, Josh has been with Margaret for a while, but she has never taken him on such occasions.

It's not because Josh is not presentable.

In fact, after her father passed away, she rarely attended such parties.

At first, it was because someone always talked bad about Tony Wendys in her ear, and she didn't like it. She even fought with some of her old girlfriends because of it.

And when she later found out that all these bad things were true, she didn't want to attend such occasions anymore... because she was afraid of losing face.

In addition, after the entanglement with David Leibler, she didn't want to go even more, so she didn't mention it.

But if Josh wants to start a factory business, he'll need all kinds of connections. So it's very necessary to attend this reception.

So she brought it up.

"Oh? What kind of event is it?" Josh couldn't help but ask.

"It's a war bond fundraising reception hosted by the city government. Uncle John is the leader, and all the famous people in Chicago will attend!" Margaret said.

Josh was interested in this reception.

"Will it cause you any trouble?" In fact, he has never seen such a high-end reception in both his past and present lives.

"What trouble can there be? It's also a good opportunity to let those people know I'm doing well now." Margaret smiled gently.

"What do I need to be careful about?" Josh asked.

"Be handsome!"

***

Soon, the weekend arrived.

Josh and Margaret, who had carefully dressed up, arrived on time at the venue of the reception, the luxurious estate of the Leibler family.

When they arrived, there were already many guests in the estate, and the yard was filled with various luxury cars of the period. Compared to those cars, the maroon Lincoln Continental driven by Josh today was somewhat inconspicuous.

Of course, if the Cadillac V16 in the system repository were taken out, it would still be eye-catching.

But it wasn't time yet.

Although Josh had already entered Chicago's high society by getting close to Margaret, a wealthy woman, it was still not enough to ensure his safety.

After all, those who are barefoot are not afraid of those who wear shoes. When those Italian savages go crazy, they even dare to plan assassinations against the president.

Therefore, until he had enough self-protection ability, the car could only be treated as a personal collection.

Fortunately, the system space was time-stopped, so there was no worry about the car being poorly maintained.

After Margaret handed the invitation to the waiter at the door to be checked, the two entered the venue hall unimpeded.

"Hey, Margo, long time no see!" Upon entering the venue, Margaret was recognized by an acquaintance.

This is a beautiful and wealthy woman of similar age to Margaret.

"Long time no see, Carol!" Margaret greeted the other person warmly, and it was obvious that the two of them were familiar with each other.

Then, under Margaret's apologetic gaze, Carol pulled her aside to talk in private.

Josh couldn't participate in or interfere with such private conversations between women. He could only look around to ease his embarrassment and grab a drink from a passing waiter's tray.

Josh didn't like drinking, but that didn't mean he couldn't drink. He had tried it before, and his alcohol tolerance was average.

"What should I call you?" At that moment, a middle-aged man with an elegant temperament walked up to Josh and asked.

"Josh, Josh Kane!" Josh introduced himself.

"Patrick Ches, Carol is my wife!" The man introduced himself and then pointed to Carol, who was talking to Margaret.

Josh suddenly realized why another person had come up to talk to him.

Soon, the two of them chatted with each other. Still, since they were not familiar with each other, they could not discuss overly private matters. Thus, the topic quickly turned to the current war situation. This was a normal topic that men liked to discuss, especially since it was a war bond fundraising reception. It was quite appropriate to discuss the war as a topic.

However, it was precisely because of this conversation that Josh left a deep impression on Patrick, who had originally dismissed him as an ordinary conversationalist.

Patrick was now the owner of a department store in Chicago. Still, during World War I, he had served as a logistics officer in the military, so he was not a complete outsider when it came to military matters.

In their conversation, some of Josh's judgments about the current war situation were quite fresh to him.

"Josh, it's such a pity that with your insights, you don't join the military and make a contribution!" Patrick exclaimed.

Josh rolled his eyes inwardly at this.

Join the military? This body was just a high school (ninth-grade) dropout. What could he do in the military? Go to the front lines and carry shells?

Although during World War II, due to the rapid expansion of the military, not just anyone could become an officer, and even the better military branches had high educational requirements. For example, the Air Force and Navy required at least a high school diploma.

Therefore, if Josh were to join the military now, he would only be able to serve as an ordinary infantryman.

Moreover, Josh had no intention of joining the military at all. Was he crazy enough to go and sell his life to this emotionless country?

Isn't it much more comfortable to sleep with a rich woman?

"Mr. Ches, Josh is not yet 16 years old. He is far from being of military age!" Margaret, who had just finished talking with Carol, walked over and heard Patrick's words, immediately took Josh's arm, and protested dissatisfiedly.

Hearing Margaret's words, Patrick was taken aback.

Looking at Josh again, he did seem a bit immature. However, Josh's tall stature, calm personality, and good insights had made him overlook this.

But he was only 16 years old... Patrick shook his head. He looked at Josh again and then at the mature and glamorous Margaret.

Tsk tsk...

Fortunately, the laws were not so strict in this era, and such situations were not uncommon among the upper class.

If it were the 21st century, Margaret might have been prosecuted and sent to jail...


Chapter 34: Playing Big

Saying goodbye to the Ches, Margaret brought Josh and met one of the hosts of this party, John Leibler.

"Good evening, my little sweetheart. I'm so glad you could come. You're as beautiful as ever!" The amiable-looking old man greeted Margaret warmly and gave her a gentle hug.

Next to him were two people, one of whom Josh had met before. David, who had previously tangled with Margaret, was looking at Josh with an unfriendly expression.

The other was an old man of similar age to John Leibler.

"Thank you, Uncle John. By the way, let me introduce you. This is Josh, the one I mentioned to you," Margaret said after greeting John, then introduced Josh to him.

"Hello, Mr. Leibler. I'm Josh Kane. Nice to meet you!" Josh said calmly.

"Not a bad young man. Have fun!" John looked him over and nodded slightly, then reached out his hand.

This handshake indicated that John had preliminarily accepted Josh, at least not rejecting him.

Of course, this was more for the sake of Margaret, his close junior.

Josh naturally reached out his hand and respectfully shook hands with him.

"By the way, let me introduce you. This is Alonzo Emery, my old partner." After shaking hands, John introduced the elderly man next to him. As for David?

John was well aware of his son's temperament. If Margaret and David could get along, he would naturally be happy, but Margaret was clearly not interested in David, so he wouldn't go out of his way to find fault with Josh for the sake of his useless son.

Jokingly, who would be foolish enough to cause trouble for a guest at their own party, regardless of how poor or lowly they were or how the situation turned out? As the host, he wouldn't have a good reputation.

And although David was a playboy, he understood this truth. Despite his unkind gaze at Josh, he didn't come forward to provoke him.

"Hello, young man. If you have any legal issues, you can come to me!" Compared to John's casualness, this Emery lawyer was much more enthusiastic.

Although lawyers have a high status in the United States, they ultimately provide services to capitalists. Although she has been relatively low-key in recent years, Margaret was previously a wealthy heiress with a strong reputation in Chicago's upper class and was very rich.

And he knew that this widow had recently received a large compensation from the insurance company... because he handled the matter.

So Margaret was also one of his big clients.

Looking at the money, Emery was naturally more enthusiastic about Josh.

After chatting briefly with this prominent lawyer and exchanging business cards, Josh and Margaret left.

The main purpose of this kind of party was to recognize faces and exchange business cards.

If they really wanted to talk business, they wouldn't do it in this kind of setting.

Later, led by Margaret, Josh met some Chicago business and political figures.

As time passed, the party officially entered the main event.

Since it was a fundraising party, political figures' passionate speeches were necessary.

The main speakers were the mayor of Chicago, a Democratic senator from Illinois, and a military representative.

"Josh, do you think we can win this war?" Margaret asked Josh, looking at the senator giving an impassioned speech on the stage.

"Of course, the United States will ultimately win this war," Josh replied without hesitation, as he was familiar with the course of history.

Although Josh now knows, thanks to Margaret, that she has traveled to a parallel universe, the overall historical trajectory of this world is likely to remain the same.

Unless he was extremely unlucky and ended up in the world of "The Man in the High Castle,"... But even if he did, Josh didn't need to worry too much because he was of Austrian descent.

Speaking of which, the identity of Austrians during World War II was quite unique.

In the Axis powers, Austrians were naturally close to Germans because of their cultural and linguistic similarities and because a certain failed art student was of Austrian descent.

On the American side, the Austrians were considered to be invaded and were not given the same attention as the Germans.

"How many bonds do you think we should buy?" Margaret asked, feeling more confident now that Josh had such strong faith in America's ability to win.

"If possible, I think the more, the better!" Josh thought for a moment and whispered in Margaret's ear.

Josh was very intentional with his words.

During this period, if one investment project was guaranteed to make a profit, it would undoubtedly be the purchase of federal war bonds.

The profit margin was as high as an astonishing 100%.

Of course, to achieve a profit of 100%, there were conditions to be met.

During World War II, the American way of purchasing war bonds was to buy them at 75% or 50% of their face value and redeem them ten years later.

For bonds with a face value of $25 and $50, the purchase price was 75%, while for those with face values of $100 and $200, the purchase price was 50%.

In other words, if you bought a $100 bond, you only had to pay $50 for it, and ten years later, you could redeem it for $100.

Of course, if you wanted to redeem the bond before the ten-year term was up, you could do so, but the interest would only be calculated at a compounded rate of 2.9% every six months based on the actual purchase amount, resulting in much lower returns.

Furthermore, during World War II, there was no need to worry about inflation regarding American war bonds.

Because of the victory in World War II, the United States obtained the world's largest gold reserve and used it to establish the Bretton Woods system.

Before the Bretton Woods system collapsed in 1971, the status and value of the US dollar were equivalent to gold, with an extremely low inflation rate.

Therefore, in 1943, even if you bought a lot of bonds, you didn't have to worry about being unable to keep up with inflation when you redeemed them in 1953.

"Do you really have that much confidence?" Margaret asked.

"Why? Do you have any ideas?" Josh asked, a little surprised by her expression.

"I'm thinking, should we go big?" Margaret replied.

As she spoke, Josh immediately understood what she wanted to do.

Like those charity galas and such in the future, buying war bonds could also be compared.

If you become the person who buys the most bonds, do you think you will be recognized by the high levels of American society?

Would you be taken out and used as an example for publicity?

This would not just be buying some bonds but buying a special pass.

Of course, with Margaret's wealth, she couldn't become the biggest buyer in America. Although there were not many billionaires in this era, there were definitely more than a few.

Margaret could not compete with those people.

But if it was just for this fundraising event, then it was not impossible to become number one.

"Do you have confidence?" Josh asked.

"I do have some confidence. After all, we held a fundraising event at the end of last year, and the highest amount purchased was only two million. I don't think it's possible to exceed that number this time, so I think three million should be enough for the first place!" Margaret said.

Upon hearing this, Josh couldn't help but nod. It was true that the United States did not issue war bonds until after formally entering the war in November 1942, and from then until December 1945, a total of eight issuances were made in the span of three years.

So even those top billionaires could not buy hundreds of millions every time. How would their businesses be sustained?

Buying one or two million bonds each time was normal.

Therefore, three million should be enough.

But at the end of the fundraising event, when the senator announced the highest amount of war bonds purchased, Josh was completely stunned.

"Josh Kane, three million dollars!"


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