The Whip of the God of Basketball

Leon took a plane and arrived at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport at around 10 o'clock Eastern Time. It was still busy here and everyone was walking in a hurry, which was nothing like Phoenix. Leon hailed a taxi in the parking lot and headed to Manhattan. He had an appointment at eleven tonight.

Night has long enveloped the entire greater New York area. From the outside, the place is still brightly lit. Six years have passed since the 911 incident. Entering its seventh year, the place where the Twin Towers originally stood is still empty. This is the legacy of the attack in the city. On the scar. But Leon knew that a more terrifying attack had arrived. After 7 years of planning, he had already pressed forward with his army and came to the city.

The taxi was driving on Avenue 678. The driver was a thick-set white driver with a beard that looked like he hadn't groomed it for a long time. However, Taylor Swift's pop country single "Our Song" was playing on his stereo. This upbeat song didn't quite match the driver himself. It just seemed that the driver liked this little country queen who had just emerged this year. When the music started, he shook his head and chatted with Leon.

Leon was sitting in the back seat, and the darkness hid his face, so the driver did not recognize that this was the famous Iron Fist coach. He thought to himself: "Her voice is really great. When I hear her song, I think of my daughter." , she loves playing guitar, lives in the countryside on Long Island, and loves country music. Hey, what music do you like?"

This white uncle seemed to be a father who loved his daughter very much. Leon replied: "Symphony."

"Oh, really, symphony, symphony! It's a thing for city people to listen to music and dress seriously, as if you are going to a funeral, hahaha! Country music is better. In the countryside, in a small bar, you You can sing along.”

Leon didn't refute anything and agreed: "That's right. I will also buy a villa in the countryside to live with my daughter in the future."

As soon as the house was mentioned, the taxi driver's tone changed and he said in a persuasive tone: "Oh, now is not a good time to buy a house. You know, I just bought a house in Hempstead last year. It's 100% Loan, I have mortgaged it to the bank this year, haha, because the price of the house has shrunk, you want me to pay back the loan and buy something with a lower value? No way!"

Leon didn't speak, but nodded slightly. It seemed that the driver was also involved in this crisis, and he just gave up on the house like most people did. This is undoubtedly a wise choice, because as house prices fall, the value of the house shrinks, and if they continue to repay the loan, they will lose money. Because in the United States, real estate loans are non-recourse, that is, if you borrow 1 million from the bank to buy a house, and the house price drops and the house shrinks to 700,000, the lender can choose to directly let the bank take back the house and cut off the payment. The remaining 300,000 yuan in losses will be borne by the bank itself and cannot be recourse through the lender's other properties.

This regulation makes many people willing to actively take out loans to buy houses. It also pushes banks into the abyss when house prices fall, because the more house prices fall, the weaker the market becomes, and a large number of shrinking properties are hoarded in their hands, leading to large-scale bank losses. Bad debts, cash flow problems.

Of course, this was just the prelude to the unveiling of all the problems. Leon clenched his fists. As the car sped, he felt the smell of blood getting stronger as it got closer to Manhattan.

……………………

The car drove for nearly 40 minutes. The traffic conditions on the road were good at night. The taxi crossed the East River from the Queens Midtown Tunnel and arrived in Manhattan. It was almost 11 o'clock in the evening. But Manhattan looks no different than it did at seven or eight o'clock, it's still very lively. The car parked next to a German restaurant near the School of Visual Arts in New York. This is where Leon made a date with his friends. In the southeastern area of ​​midtown Manhattan, this is where entertainment and dining venues gather, with restaurants from all over the world. , as well as movie theaters and comedy clubs.

Leon paid the fare and went straight into the restaurant, or rather beer hall. There were many people inside. He passed through the noisy crowd. It was a good time for beer lovers to drink. Leon accidentally bumped into a big man who was holding a beer bottle and blowing on someone. The big man choked on the wine in his mouth. Leon waved his hands quickly and said: "I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

But this big man was obviously a little drunk, and several friends around him laughed when they saw his embarrassing appearance, which made him unable to get off the stage. The big man had no choice but to take out his anger on Leon, swearing in his mouth, and wanted to grab Leon's collar, but Leon He easily dodged it and turned around to leave. But the big man still refused to let go. He stepped forward and pressed Leon's shoulder. Leon turned around to ward off the big man's hand, and then suddenly punched out with a straight punch. The beer bottle in the big man's hand was knocked out with a "bang" sound. The bottleneck has been eliminated!

There was only one bottle left in the bottle in the big man's hand. He stood there blankly, feeling his mind clear up a lot. If that punch had hit his nose, it would probably have flown away just like the bottleneck. Get out. Leon looked at the big man, said "Sorry", turned around and walked away. This time no one dared to stop him.

Of course, the entire beer hall was still very lively. Leon's punch only made one person sober up and did not affect the carnival fun of others. He went up to the second floor, entered the reserved box, and finally met a financial broker he had contacted earlier, an investment analyst from Deutsche Bank in New York, Eugene Xu.

Eugene Xu is a Chinese-American with a short stature, a round face, and a pair of glasses. He looks like a typical little Asian man. He graduated from Fudan University and came to the United States to study finance very early. Then he worked at Deutsche Bank. At the beginning of this year, he and his boss Lippmann sensed an undercurrent in the U.S. financial market. A small hedge fund went against common sense and bought a large amount of Deutsche Bank's CDS, betting on the decline in housing prices in the real estate market.

Afterwards, Lippmann and Eugene Xu began to investigate and analyze the real estate market. During this process, Leon used his connections in New York to contact Eugene Xu, and used his strong mathematical statistics and analytical skills to help They conducted quantitative analysis and pointed out the flaws of Li Xianglin's CDO pricing model and believed that there were huge structural risks in the U.S. real estate market.

This group of people smelled the alluring fragrance of crisis. It was a smell that only scavengers could smell. It was the smell of corpses that had just begun to decay. The U.S. financial market has been dead since the beginning of 2007. It’s just that the market is too huge, and the layers of financial instruments have a lagging effect on the transmission of information. So more than half a year has passed, and the rot has just begun.

Leon sat down, smiled at Eugene Xu, took out a tissue from the side, and wiped his right hand. There were some broken glass on it, and there were some small wounds on his hand. Upon seeing this, Eugene Xu asked: "What's wrong with your hand?" He spoke authentic Chinese. He knew that Leon was proficient in Chinese. In fact, this was one of the reasons why the two met and cooperated. Eugene Xu did not I think of Leon, a Puerto Rican who speaks Chinese so fluently.

Leon wiped his hands and said: "Some problems are better solved with fists than with mouth. How about it, have you thought clearly? What does Lippmann mean? Do you want to jump out and go it alone? Is there any action by the investment bank?" Ang asked a series of questions, and Eugene Xu rolled his eyes and replied: "I'm still thinking about it, if the opportunity is good. Lippmann has already taken care of the financial market department, and he will handle the next OTC. You have to make sure you can handle the Boston consortium. Investment banks have already started to take action, and Morgan and Goldman Sachs have already started short selling."

Talking to smart people will save a lot of effort. Previously, Leon and Eugene Xu were discussing two issues. One was that he and Lippmann left Deutsche Bank to do investment consulting on their own or set up a hedge fund. The other was to take advantage of this crisis. Pull up a big hedge fund, buy a large amount of CDS, and short the real estate market. Relying on the second point, Leon and Lippmann can make a lot of money, but Leon is interested in more than just such a small amount of money. He wants these two people to leave the bank and work on their own.

Leon knew that the key to whether they would come out to do it or not depended on this deal. In addition to helping them with data analysis, his other important job was to persuade the funds under his father-in-law's Boston consortium to join in and increase leverage. Let the income double again.

Leon took a big sip of the beer in front of him and said to Eugene Xu: "I will definitely take care of it in Boston. If you decide to go it alone, tell me in time and I will help you find a cheap and useful one in New York. Office building.”

Eugene Xu smiled: "We will consider it, happy cooperation."

“A pleasure to work with.”