The Tyrant Billionaire

Hardy had Wells Fargo in his hands. Absorbing savings and profiting from loans were just the basic income of a bank. For rapid development, financial investments and private equity funds were indispensable.

Giannini was more concerned about Hardy's mention of the insurance industry, particularly since Johnson had been keen on promoting "universal health care," a national health insurance plan.

But this would touch upon the interests of major insurance companies.

In 1945, Johnson had proposed a national health insurance plan to Congress, which was met with a barrage of attacks and has yet to pass. This election, the national health insurance plan was also one of Johnson's campaign slogans.

To be honest, Johnson was quite courageous. Even someone as strong as Roosevelt had carefully avoided this issue.

"Hardy, are you really prepared to support Johnson's national health insurance plan? I don't think it's a good idea," Giannini asked.

"Oh, why do you say that?" Hardy replied.

"There are over 2,000 insurance companies in the United States, and almost all of them are connected to banks. These banks, in turn, are mostly controlled by financial conglomerates. In other words, the insurance industry is one of the major sources of economic income for these conglomerates, including our own California group.

Johnson's national health insurance plan is bound to affect the income from insurance businesses."

Hardy chuckled, "Maybe there's a win win solution?"

"What kind of solution?" Giannini inquired.

"I don't know either. You know I'm not very skilled in finance and insurance matters. These plans were submitted by Wells Fargo, and I'm still considering them," Hardy responded.

Giannini felt a spark of inspiration.

Since Hardy and Johnson currently have such a good relationship, why not manipulate the situation to his advantage? Perhaps he could persuade Hardy to convince Johnson to abandon the national health insurance plan, which would also support Bank of America significantly.

However, there was no rush to mention this now. He didn't want Hardy to feel like he was being ordered or controlled.

After hanging up the phone, Hardy chuckled.

Promoting a national health insurance plan. Truthfully, many presidents in later generations had wanted to implement this plan.

Hardy knew that Johnson, at this time, would not be able to push through health care reform.

However, that didn't prevent him from using this plan to his advantage.

Of course, these were matters for the future for now, it was just about laying the groundwork.

As Hardy was pondering over these matters, the phone on his desk rang again. He picked it up, and this time it was Andy calling.

Andy informed Hardy that there was news from the shipping company: someone was planning to purchase a large number of cargo ships, and the price wasn't low.

"Do we know who it is?" Hardy asked.

"The Jews."

Hardy immediately understood. The Middle East was currently engulfed in war. Israel was unprepared and needed a large number of personnel, supplies, and weapons to deal with a war of considerable scale for them.

Those weapons and supplies needed to be transported over, and renting ships wasn't cheap. Hardy's transport ships were an excellent choice. With just a few trips, the transport fees would recover the cost of the cargo ships. Who knew how long this war would last? So the Jews thought buying ships would be more cost effective.

Originally, they wanted to purchase them from the U.S. military, but the military had already sold all the ships to Hardy. Although Hardy hadn't paid for them yet, they had a contract, and the ships were already Hardy's. As for the payment, he could delay it for a few years.

In fact, Hardy had already made quite a profit by selling cargo ships. From this $160 million investment, excluding costs, he estimated that he could eventually make $300 million.

"What price are they offering?" Hardy asked.

"$550,000 per Liberty ship and $850,000 per Victory ship. They said they knew the base price and have already increased it by more than double," Andy replied.

Hardy chuckled at that statement.

The base price was indeed cheap when I bought it, but what does that have to do with you? No one was interested in this business back then, and now they're scrambling for it, so naturally, the price goes up.

After all, those Jews have money. If I don't take advantage now, when will I?

"Raise the price: $800,000 per Liberty ship, $1.2 million per Victory ship. Take it or leave it. If they don't want it, we'll sell slowly."

An $180,000 Liberty ship marked up to $800,000, and a $360,000 Victory ship marked up to $1.2 million. Hardy was a capitalist, and capital is ruthless when it smells blood. The Jews needed those ships and will have to accept the increase regardless of their displeasure.

That afternoon, Hardy returned home and turned on the television to watch the news on ABC. The network was reporting on the Middle East war.

The Global Times had also stationed reporters in the Middle East. These reporters, braving bullets and shells, ventured deep into the war zone to report on the situation in real time, delivering the latest news.

This was even better than what The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, or The Washington Post were doing, which had improved the reputation of The Global Times considerably. Many Americans were paying close attention to this Middle Eastern war, especially those of Jewish descent, leading to a surge in subscriptions to The Global Times.

At any moment, as long as one seizes the opportunity, there is a chance to rise. According to analysis from a data company, The Global Times is now the fourth largest newspaper in the U.S., right after the Big Three.

The TV news reported that Israel's situation was very precarious, and it could be wiped out by the Arab coalition at any moment. The Israeli state issued a call for young Jews worldwide to come to Israel to fight and resist the Arab invasion together.

They also called on Jews to donate money and supplies to help Israel through this difficult time.

"Ring, ring, ring."

The phone in the living room rang. Hardy picked it up.

It was a call from Andy.

"Boss, they agreed to your price. They bought a total of 50 ships, 30 Liberty ships, and 20 Victory ships for a total of $48 million. The payment has already been transferred to the account," Andy said.

Hardy thought to himself, Those Jews really have money.