An Investor Who Sees The Future

Grace looked at me and said.

"You've done a lot of things in the meantime. How much has the history of this world changed because of you? Have you ever thought about how your name will be remembered in history?"

She looked genuinely impressed. Hearing her words, I suddenly became curious. How will people remember me in the future?

"It's not too late. You can go higher. If you want, you could have everything in the world."

I recalled the proposal she had made before.

"I believe I refused."

"People's minds are bound to change. Everything changes with time."

"Aren't there things in the world that don't change?"

At my words, she smiled.

Is she saying that only money is eternal?

Rothschild is a financial family known to everyone in the world. The honor and status they possess are second only to royalty, and their wealth is incomparable.

The idea that all humans are equal is an old lie.

Destiny is divided from birth according to nationality, wealth, status, gender, race, and so on.

The UK is a constitutional monarchy, and the king and nobles still maintain their status. Judges wear white wigs and preside over trials, and in the Palace of Westminster, the House of Lords, where only nobles can attend, is held.

The upper class has their own life. They enjoy their own culture, hold meetings, and throw parties.

Some people strive their whole lives to get in. But the higher you go, the more clearly the classes are divided.

If I had accepted her proposal, I would have gained the wealth and honor of the Rothschilds, and the power to sustain it forever.

What does the world look like from up there? If I get up there, what else is there?

But I chose to remain where I was. Because I already had everything I wanted.

"Autonomous electric cars, batteries, TWR, games, Saemangeum, inter-Korean economic cooperation, and so on. You've got your hands on many keys to the future. I genuinely think it's amazing. But the moment you think everything is going well is the most dangerous moment."

"What's dangerous?"

"Don't you know?"

"I'm not sure."

At my words, she gave a wry smile. Then she put down her teacup and said.

"A financial crisis will occur soon."

Her tone was no different from saying it would rain tomorrow.

"What do you mean?"

"A financial crisis means a financial crisis. What else could there be?"

Her words were not much different from the words of the doomsayers commonly seen on TV. But the weight of the words was completely different.

She continued in a calm voice.

"This crisis will be different from the previous ones. It will be something humanity has never experienced before. If the previous ones were the Great Depression and the Great Recession, this one could be called the Great Collapse. Everything will fall apart. OTK Company would do well to prepare."

It's not very funny for a joke. It's unbelievable for a fact. But the things that are happening now made it impossible to dismiss her words.

If this was certain information, she wouldn't easily tell anyone.

"Why are you telling me that?"

She smiled brightly.

"Even if I don't tell you, you'll find out anyway, won't you?"

At that moment, something flashed before my eyes.

- The Beginning of the Global Financial Crisis -

When I came to my senses, I saw her smiling.

"It seems you saw it after all."

Her expression was as if she knew what I had seen.

I looked at her and asked.

"How did you know that?"

Grace Rothschild smiled brightly.

"Because we are going to make it happen."

After meeting Grace Rothschild, a question arose in my mind.

In the past 250 years, many things have happened in the world.

In the 18th century, the steam engine was invented, the Industrial Revolution began, and the United States gained independence from Britain. A revolution occurred in France, and Napoleon's army swept across Europe.

The following 19th and 20th centuries were a continuous series of upheavals that changed the world order. Colonial rule by the great powers, expansion of trade, two world wars, numerous economic crises, the Bretton Woods system, the Nixon shock, the birth of the EU, Brexit, and so on.

Countless incidents and accidents occurred.

Countless companies went bankrupt, countless banks failed, and countless royalty and nobles fell.

Meyer Amschel Rothschild could see the future like me, and with that power, he made Rothschild a prestigious financial family. But even after his death, Rothschild continued to grow for over 200 years. How was this possible?

I felt like I finally knew the reason.

"Have you been creating the future?"

She did not deny my words.

"The easiest way to predict the future is to create it."

What will happen will happen someday. The important thing is when. A prediction that doesn't know the timing is meaningless.

But what if you can artificially manipulate that timing?

When you think the glass is full of water, you drop the last drop. So you periodically cause a crisis and, in the process, make a huge profit?

It's not uncommon to attack a specific target in the hope that it will fail. No, in fact, it's a common occurrence in the financial world.

There are countless hedge funds that have done similar things.

But most of them target companies, and those with a larger scale target countries. George Soros, who attacked the British foreign exchange market, is a prime example, and South Korea also collapsed in that way.

But is Rothschild going to do that to the whole world?

I felt something boiling up inside me.

You can kill people with more than just guns and swords. Just as it is said that sheep, though gentle animals, eat people in England, so does money.

Money can destroy lives and drive people to their deaths.

"Why would you do such a thing?"

"Because it's necessary for everyone. The world has enjoyed a boom for too long. When the party is in full swing, someone has to take away the punch bowl."

A famous maxim by former Fed Chairman William McChesney Martin.

"And Rothschild will play that role?"

She nodded slightly.

"It's about returning the abnormal to normal. If you borrow money, isn't it natural to pay it back?"

It's hard to even guess how much money has been released into the world through low interest rates and quantitative easing since the financial crisis.

If that money is recovered all at once, a huge shock will ensue.

"It's not all bad. Let's take Korea as an example. If Korea had not succeeded in industrial restructuring after the Asian financial crisis, would it have been able to grow as it has now?"

Until then, Korean conglomerates were doing easy business by importing key parts, materials, and machinery from Japan, processing them, and then reselling them. But when the exchange rate more than tripled, making it difficult to rely on imported products, they had no choice but to pursue domestic production.

Companies staked their survival on developing technology, and this became the catalyst for Korea to stand tall as a technological powerhouse. With strong industrial restructuring, marginal companies collapsed, and the surviving conglomerates grew even larger. Thanks to the high exchange rate, exports increased significantly, and conglomerates competed fiercely in the global market, further developing their technological capabilities.

With the opening of the financial market, accounting that met international standards was established, and as financial statements became transparent, foreign investment increased.

Although polarization between large and small companies, and between regular and non-regular workers, intensified, growth continued, and it has now joined the ranks of developed countries.

While the damage from the IMF was great, it is an undeniable fact that there were also many positive aspects.

"To prevent capital outflow, Korea raised interest rates to 27 percent and implemented strong restructuring. It privatized bloated public enterprises, reduced personnel by 20 percent, cut wages and various welfare benefits, and modernized the financial market by opening it up. If it weren't for the IMF, could the Korean government have carried out such reforms on its own?"

"..."

No one likes restructuring and austerity.

As you can see from the current situation in Greece, politicians are bound to be conscious of votes. It is impossible for any administration to implement such strong restructuring.

But at the time of the Asian financial crisis, the subject of restructuring and austerity was not the Korean government, but the IMF. Thanks to this, the president and politicians could hide behind the IMF and avoid the arrows of criticism.

Out of anger at the foreign capital that acted like an occupying force, the people took out even the gold hidden in their closets to pay off the country's debt.

She continued.

"Would the giant internet companies of today exist without the dot-com bubble? Would the technological advancements of today have been possible without the global financial crisis?"

Capitalism has gone through several major crises so far. But like the paradox of a forest fire, such crises have become the foundation for the next growth.

So, is the crisis that is to come also a natural thing?

It's natural for the economy to find its equilibrium through a crisis. It's hard to criticize someone for investing when they notice a crisis.

But...

"Aren't you the ones who have been inflating the bubble?"

If this was really necessary, they should have responded before the crisis grew.

But to do this now that the crisis has reached its peak can only be explained as having intended this situation from the beginning.

Grace Rothschild did not deny my words. She said with a confident expression.

"What is meant to happen will happen. No one can stop it. Not even you."

***

I met James and Henry at the Golden Gate headquarters on Wall Street.

Seeing the people in suits moving around frantically, I was reminded once again that this is the center of global finance.

Henry had also come over to check the situation after the US benchmark interest rate hike. There's no better place to gather financial information than Wall Street.

Unlike when he's at home seeing Gun, he was perfectly dressed in a suit and had his sharp gaze back.

James looked much older and more tired than the last time I saw him. Again, it's Warren Buffett who's unusual for being so spry at 90.

After hearing my story, James twirled the cane in his hand and said.

"Hmm, to think those Rothschild fellows were plotting such a conspiracy. It seems they still haven't gotten rid of their old habits."

Henry said.

"There are many people who want to create a crisis in the world."

James pushed up his glasses and gave a wry smile.

"The truly rich are born after a famine, after all. The only question is whether it's possible."

It is said that a farmer will die clutching his seeds even if he starves, but in reality, if a famine continues, he will have to cook and eat the seeds, and sell his rice paddies for a single scoop of rice.

Everyone suffers in a famine, but the degree of damage is different for everyone. Someone will be able to buy those rice paddies for a pittance and wait for the bountiful harvest that will come later.

In this way, the middle class collapses, and the rich become richer. This applies equally between companies and between countries.

Financial capitals wait for companies and countries on the verge of bankruptcy to collapse, and then they go in and swallow everything up.

This is not as easy as it sounds.

The market is like a living organism, and no matter how much you artificially manipulate it, unforeseen situations can always arise.

After the US benchmark interest rate hike, the market was flooded with all sorts of bad news.

South American countries are falling like dominoes, and Southern European countries are also facing a crisis. Greece, Italy, Spain, and Portugal are all just looking to the EU.

But there are not many measures the EU can use. With interest rates already at zero and having implemented quantitative easing several times, it is difficult to release more money.

The remaining methods are debt relief and financial support, but this ultimately means taking the money of countries that have worked hard and saved and giving it to countries that have spent lavishly on credit.

Will the people of Germany and France stand by?

James shook his head.

"Just because those countries collapse doesn't mean a tsunami of financial crisis will hit. It's a crisis, yes, but it's not yet a situation to discuss the collapse of the global economy."

The larger the capital, the harder it is to invest.

If Rothschild wants to profit from this crisis, there must be a market of a size worth investing in. They wouldn't cause such a huge incident for a pittance.

In the end, the target they are aiming for is...

Henry said.

"It must be China."

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