Manhattan Reborn 1978

new York.

The afternoon sky in Manhattan was covered with a layer of mist.

42nd Street, above Wildfire Bar.

top layer.

David, who had taken a beautiful nap, was holding a skipping rope in his hand and was "sweating like rain" doing "restorative" exercises on a very soft carpet~

ten minutes later.

Butler Acklade walked in from the stairwell and smiled at David who stopped for a temporary rest.

"Mr. Rockefeller is here~"

"Who? Leslie?"

"Yes!"

"Oh~!"

David put down the juice glass in his hand and looked behind Ackleide.

Leslie Rockefeller walked up to David with brisk steps, glanced at the skipping rope in his hand, and asked.

"Do you want to contact DoubleDutchLeague? ()"

"You know it too?"

"Hehe~"

Leslie threw the briefcase aside, sat down, took the juice from the butler Acklade, and smiled.

"In the past few years, Richard Sendri advocated the recreational sport of skipping in the media. I was curious and played it several times~"

"However, it is difficult for novices to quickly find the pattern and master the rhythm and skills from the rotation of two ropes in opposite directions~"

David fiddled with the skipping rope a few times with his fingers and said with a smile: "The rules you mentioned are all in the hands of the person shaking the rope."

"The so-called rhythm and technique are just temporary conclusions that people come to after observing the movements of the rope swinger~"

"temporary?"

Leslie took a sip of the juice and asked: "You mean...are the rules also changing?"

"Why not?"

"Forehead.."

David held the juice cup in both hands, raised his eyebrows, and said with a smile: "Nothing in this world stays the same forever."

"Any law operates under corresponding rules~"

"If the rules change, then of course we will change accordingly after observing and summarizing the rules!"

"..Um!"

Leslie tilted her head and winked at David and asked, "What other crazy ideas did you come up with when you were at home these days?"

"No~"

"I've been reading a lot these days."

"Reading? What book?"

"The Great Gatsby and Robinson Crusoe."

"..??"

Leslie asked curiously: "Why did you start reading novels again?"

"Why can't I read novels?"

"Hahaha~"

"Your experience is no less than the plots in those novels!"

David touched his nose "indifferently" and asked: "Do you know about the Robinson phenomenon?"

"Uh... I've heard a little bit about it~"

"A little bit?"

Leslie put down the juice cup in his hand, crossed his legs and said, "I'm not a scholar who specializes in this field, so I know a little bit... that's pretty good, right?!"

"..Haha~"

David smiled sarcastically: "Robinson is a big figure in economics that countless people will study."

"Just like there is a Hamlet in the hearts of a thousand people~"

“For every thousand economists, there are a thousand Robinson Crusoe’s!”

"Robinson Robinson has been around for more than 300 years~"

"Countless economists have used Robinson as an example to construct their own economic views."

"So, the interesting Robinson phenomenon in economics slowly formed~"

David leaned back, slumped on the sofa, and continued: "From Robinson, Marx and Engels understood the mystery of how capital carries out layer-by-layer exploitation."

"Milton Friedman saw from Robinson Crusoe what kind of distribution is moral..."

"Frederic Bastiat, in his book "Economy of Drinks", used the power of Robinson Crusoe to criticize humorously, pungently and explicitly. Even now, some people still mention it from time to time. Window theory~"

“Do you know about the broken windows effect?”

Leslie rolled his big eyes a few times and shook his head: "You continue~"

"Hehe~"

"Bastiat, in the first section of his most famous essay, "The Visible and the Invisible," talks about the broken windows theory."

"A naughty child breaks a window, and the owner of the house may feel distressed and angry..."

"But it's a good thing for society as a whole."

"Because the windows are broken, both glass factories and window repairmen have businesses to do, thereby increasing the economic aggregate of the entire society."

David gave Leslie a "is this fun?" look on his face and continued.

"However, Bastiat was speaking from the perspective of a critic. He used his rigor in economic theory, as well as his wit and eloquence in his writing to satirize those who only pursued immediate and immediate benefits without caring about the subsequent consequences. Huge harm to the so-called economists!"

"And the good economists he thinks would rather accept the small unexpected losses or misfortunes in front of them and pursue larger gains in the future~"

When Leslie heard this, he couldn't help but smile and interjected, "A good economist?"

"Yes~"

David shrugged helplessly: "Then Bastiat pointed out the absurdity of the broken windows theory supported by those bad economists!"

“Does labor = wealth?”

"Haha~ Not necessarily!"

"In today's process of intertwined development of politics and capital, essentially, many efforts and labor of ordinary people and poor people are ineffective... but they have to do it~"

"But regardless of whether they participate in labor or work, the money in their pockets will slowly flow into the wallets of the rich."

"More than 100 years ago, Bastiat had already seen the essence of today's capitalist economic and social development. He also saw through the clumsy tricks of economists who were good at convincing people to believe in absurd theories."

. . .

Leslie held her cheek with one hand, looked at David quietly for a while, who had entered the "sage" state, and joked.

"Did you see these from "Robinson Crusoe"?"

"No!"

"That's not all~"

"...There's more!?"

"Ok!"

David showed a joking smile on his face and asked Leslie: "I was just thinking about it after I finished reading the novel..."

"If I were Robinson Crusoe living on an uninhabited island...what would I want most?"

"The first thing I thought of was... I want a beautiful woman with good health + gentle personality + perfect outdoor living skills + extremely obedient to me~"

"Hehe~"

"It's indeed your style..." Leslie complained while holding back a laugh.

David raised his eyebrows proudly and said, "But then I thought about it again and thought that if there were only two of us on the island... what would we do if we had children in the future?"

"What if she has a difficult delivery...?"

"What if the child gets sick...?"

"What if we don't want kids anymore and we can't help it...?"

Leslie rolled her eyes speechlessly and complained again: "So you are regretting that you didn't fantasize about her being a beautiful doctor, right?"

"Hahaha~ That's right!"

David gave Leslie a thumbs up, shook his head, and sighed: "Later, I read the novel again from the perspective of economists in history~"

"I found that when Robinson Crusoe was alone on a desert island, most of the so-called economic theories were useless."

"Economy is exchange within certain rules."

"Economics is about sorting out, summarizing, and summarizing the laws that arise in the exchange process in line with the logic of most people in society~"

"It is a manifestation of empiricism within the rules, and it is also a promoter of the continuous evolution and development of the rules themselves~"

"And at certain times, it can also reverse the exchange process to maximize the interests of some people and rationalize their behavior~"

"Only a society composed of a large number of people will produce extremely complex economic problems."

"The biggest research difficulty in economics is to explain the endless social problems arising from people's desires."

"So, the two problems that mainstream economics is most concerned about today: investment and income, market and consumption have nothing to do with Robinson living alone on the island~"

"He doesn't need to compete with others, let alone have conflicts with others over issues such as interests..."

"He doesn't have to worry about ownership rights - he is the only one on that desert island..."

"Even if he declares himself the king on the island, no one will fight against him."

"And~"

"In Robinson Crusoe's world, transactions and exchanges no longer exist~"

"Unless he goes crazy and trades seabirds or ants..."

"Without transactions or exchanges, the transaction losses tied to them...or transaction costs, would no longer exist~"

"And this topic is a key issue that neoclassical economists have completely ignored~"

David tapped his fingers on the leather surface of the sofa, looked at Leslie, whose eyes were shining with a strange light, and asked.

"You have been to Wildfire Bar so many times, have you ever noticed the music that is often played in the bar?"

"...No~" Leslie shook his head with a serious look on his face.

"Hehe~"

"I didn't pay attention to these before..."

"Whoever wants to listen to music, just go to the jukebox, put in coins, request a song, and listen~"

"But one day, I suddenly discovered..."

"When the jukebox plays rock music with a strong rhythm, the guests in the bar will choose more drinks with higher alcohol content, stronger taste and more excitement ~ or directly order a drink made from a variety of spirits. Strong cocktail~"

"When the jukebox plays more soothing soul music or folk songs, drinkers will choose more drinks with a milder taste and lower alcohol content, and then add more ice cubes to it."

"After I made these very strange discoveries, I changed all the records in the jukebox to folk songs and soul music~"

"The consumption of ice cubes in the bar has increased by about 40%~"

"Three days later, I changed the records in the jukebox to rock music that young people like very much~"

"Sales of strong cocktails in the bar have increased by about 25%~"

"Then I asked myself...why does music influence people's choices?"

"Leslie, do you have an answer?"

"..Go on!"

"Hehe~"

David rubbed his eyes with his hands and smiled with emotion: "This is a very interesting phenomenon!"

"Because in theory, every drinker has already decided in his mind what he wants to drink + how much he wants to spend + how long he wants to stay when he walks into the bar~"

"But the actual situation is that some of them have temporarily changed their choices~"

"Music, an external factor that can affect people's emotions, plays a role for which I have yet to find a reason."

"Of course~"

"There are many, many examples of people being influenced by their emotions and making changes to a decision on the fly."

"Just like people working at the New York Stock Exchange or commodity exchanges~"

"They are often affected by the emotions of other people on the trading floor and make certain irrational or unreasonable decisions~"

Leslie raised his hand with a frown and asked, "Are you still planning to...continue to buy stocks of major domestic oil companies?"

"Of course!"

"But you already know that someone wants to short the stock price, right?"

David smiled and asked: "Crisis means danger and opportunity coexist~"

"I choose to continue buying stocks of these companies just to gain some entry qualifications in the future reallocation~"

"...Okay~"

"I thought you wanted to play hedging between the long side and the short side~"

"Hehe~"

"Man, you were born in Rome!"

"I'm not!"

"...fxxxyou!"

"Hahaha~"

----

It's approaching evening~

The Queen.

Meyer Lansky, a gang leader who came from Florida, walked out of the old Malkin's house. He stood next to the car on the street and thought for a while. He opened the car door and said to his subordinate Traki, who was about to get into the driver's seat. said.

"Let's go to a hotel near 42nd Street in Manhattan and stay there first."

"Okay!" Teraiji smiled and shook his head a few times, nodding in a good mood.

----

Manhattan.

66th Street, FBI New York Division.

Harold Stone walked into the office with a livid face, threw his coat aside angrily, picked up the phone and dialed~

"Hello~"

"it's me!"

"Oh... Harold!?"

"Who else have you told...the news you gave me?"

"what news?"

“The truck that showed up in New Jersey during the Lufthansa heist!”

"Well...I haven't told anyone except you!"

"What? Did you miss it?"

"Huh~ no! He's dead."

"Dead...hehe~"

"Man, you are really unlucky~"

"I guess... the robbers must have discovered that idiot and didn't dispose of the truck used in the crime in time, so they chose to cut open his stupid head, right?"

"..." Harold Stone gritted his teeth and stopped talking.

The head of CIA's New York branch on the other side of the phone, Ezra Cremo, smiled and said, "Okay, man!"

"Since the clue has been cut off, you might as well... go home and take a rest."

"Your new wife, Helis, is still waiting for you, right?"

"...If your people find any more clues..."

"ok~I will notify you as soon as possible~"

"Oh!"

Harold Stone hung up the phone with great force and fell directly into his chair to calm down the depression and anger in his heart~

In fact, he knew it very well, and so did Ezra Cremo and Linde Vercello, head of the FBI's New York anti-gang unit. .Ludy must know the clues about the robber~

He may even know who planned and participated in this robbery.

But from the bottom of his heart, Harold Stone didn't want to get any clues from Ludy. .

Because for him, there are only exceptions, the first time and countless times in the future. .

----

Manhattan.

42nd Street, in front of Wildfire Bar.

Auston, the person in charge of the auxiliary police office, directed several auxiliary police officers to move some office furniture outside.

After a while, all the things that needed to be transported were finished.

Alston stood on the side of the street, watching the truck slowly disappear at the far corner, and let out a long breath.

He leaned on the lamppost next to him, lit a cigarette, looked at the Wildfire Bar across the street, and was in a daze for a while~

. . .

Dinner time.

Upstairs at Wildfire Bar.

Butler Acklade opened the door, smiled at Auston somewhat unexpectedly, and gave up his seat~

in the restaurant.

David was holding the cutlery in his hand, listening to Susan and Cui Yingying report on the "harvest" of the holiday shopping spree~

Chasida, the maid standing at the door of the kitchen, saw Auston at the door, hesitated for a few seconds, and said to the three Davids.

"Sir, look..."

"what?"

David turned his head to look at the gate curiously and said with a smile, "Hey ~ Auston!"

"You haven't had dinner yet?"

"Come here and try Chasida's cooking skills together!"

"Haha~ Thanks!"

"I'm here... I just want to chat with you for a few words~" Auston took a few steps forward, raised his hand, said hello to everyone, and then looked at David and said.

"Uh... ok!"

"You come in first, let's... go to the study?"

"Hmm~"

. . .

in the study.

David closed the door, asked Auston to sit down curiously, and asked, "What's wrong? Did something happen again?"

"..Um!"

Auston seemed to be in no mood to look around. After being silent for a few seconds, he said: "In the Chasida case, a total of 14 girls were successfully rescued."

"But as of noon today, four of them have committed suicide."

"...Four? All dead?"

"No~ three are dead and one is seriously injured and is being treated in the hospital."

"If the last girl, who was seriously injured but not dead, hadn't attracted our attention... we wouldn't have known about the deaths of the first three girls~"

David crossed his arms on his chest, frowned and sat on the desk, asking, "Don't you have anyone in the police to protect them?"

"Have!"

"But they are all foreigners who will be deported..."

"Until we can contact their families, we can only temporarily hand them over to the bureau's general office, waiting for someone from the Public Inquiry Office to contact them."

"Those three girls have all received help from so-called civil society groups and non-profit organizations~"

"Of the three of them, one died in a dark alley in Brooklyn, one died in a small movie theater in downtown, and one died on the street..."

"The last seriously injured girl jumped from the fifth floor. Fortunately, she did not die on the spot and was taken to the hospital by passers-by."

Auston's dark face was covered with frost.

He raised his head, with a strange fire in his eyes, but said in a very calm voice: "But the three of them were burned hastily without any autopsy documents in the death records of the police station."

David understood Alston's "anger" almost instantly, frowned and asked, "Someone is hunting..."

"wrong!"

"Hi~ You must be trying to cover up something by murdering these girls...the truth?"

"..Um!"

"But haven't they all been questioned by you many times?"

"What didn't they say?"

"..No!"

"They didn't reveal any valuable clues."

"What about Chasida? What did she say?"

Auston squinted his eyes and shook his head: "She is the quietest of all the girls."

"..."

David raised his hand and tapped his forehead a few times, and said with a wry smile: "So... did you send me a goddess of revenge?"

With a dark face, Auston nodded silently and said, "Sorry!"

"Haha...forget it~"

"Is there any difficulty regarding Chasida's identity?"

"..have!"

"what can I do?"

Auston pursed his lips and hesitated for a while before speaking under David's "impatient" gaze.

"The fastest way to obtain residency through formal channels is to get married."

“The second is investment immigration, or submitting a refugee application to the Immigration Department~”

"Forehead.."

David felt a little dumbfounded and pointed at Alston and cursed: "You bastard!"

"Of the three options you mentioned... only investment immigration is the one you want me to choose the most, right?"

"Hmm~"

"..."

David felt that he was defeated by Auston's "candor"~

He rubbed his nose with his fingers, turned around and walked behind the desk, took out the checkbook from the drawer, and asked Auston.

"Let's talk~"

"How much does it cost to obtain permanent residence for Cui Yingying and Chaxida?"

"This... you have to ask a lawyer~"

"fxxx!"

"you.."

"Hey~ OK! You win, asshole!"

"I will ask lawyer George to find you tomorrow... okay?"

Auston also breathed a sigh of relief, stood up, nodded and said: "Tomorrow morning, I will wait for him in the office."

"..."

David was completely speechless~