The grandiose frauds of the century

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In this story 2 detective stories, for each of which you can write your novel. And on the intertwining of these subjects can turn out in general a sensational masterpiece. I do not set such a task before myself. I just suggest that readers look at certain historical facts from a certain angle.

Both stories are played out, almost simultaneously at the beginning of the twentieth century.

Plot 1.

A certain financial trust decided to take control of the insurance market. What for? Simply, the owners of this trust believe that money should bring money only to them and no one else. So far, this reason for our plot is enough.

How to do it? The scheme, in general, is also understandable: it is necessary that insurers owe the trust an inordinate sum for themselves. Those. An insurance event should occur with the payment of an insurance amount greater than the reserves of insurers.

Despite its financial strength, in the early twentieth century, the trust could not yet arrange a "natural" cataclysm with the destruction of a large city, for example. The maximum, which could be expected - an accident with the sinking of a sea vessel. But Nature herself was on the side of financiers this time.

In 1906, an earthquake with a magnitude of more than 7 points occurred in the USA. The epicenter was in San Francisco, but other cities were affected. The total number of deaths is estimated at 3,000, housing lost 200-250 thousand people. The total damage amounted to more than $ 400 million. What is this amount for that time we'll find out in the course of the play. In the meantime, it suffices to say that for insurance companies it has proved to be unbearable.

This is not all the damage was insured. The total amount of insurance payments was only half of the damage. And even, despite this, insurance companies had to not only "0" to empty their reserves, but also to sign additional agreements on installment payments. How else? The case was resonant.

As a result, insurance companies have found themselves in a very volatile financial situation for the next few years. At that moment, the plan of the trust was born to finish off the wounded beast by tidying up its feeder.

The implementation of the plan was facilitated by the fact that one of the directors of the trust (whose name I will reveal later) was owned by a maritime transport company with a large trading and passenger fleet. Problems to arrange a shipwreck with the participation of one and even two ships was not. The problem was that no ship at that time was worth more than $ 3 million. This is a new one, and given the depreciation, the company did not have a single ship more than $ 1 million.

Therefore in 1907 the project of construction of 2 superlayers is launched. Even not so - super-super-liners, and in the following 1908-09, both ships are consistently laid in the shipyard.

At the same time, an advertising campaign is launched, which accompanies the entire course of construction. The emphasis is on safety, comfort and unsinkability of airliners. The goals of this campaign are two: raise the sum insured and draw the attention of the world's richest people to a possible journey.

Most of my readers, probably figured out that the plot is built on real materials. For example, that the names of future superpuperliners are "Olympic" and "Titanic", that the transport company was called "White Star Line", and the owner of this company - J.P. Morgan.

Raise the insurance value of the vessel through advertising can. But it would be nice to lower the real cost price. The technical possibility of such a scam was laid at the design stage. Despite the uniqueness of the design of the ships, all power, power plants, running and tiller mechanisms were chosen as standard.

This provided ample opportunities for using used, defective and substandard units and spare parts. Came and the hull of the ships. Instead of special ship steel, the case went to the cheapest iron. However, it was only after 70-plus years that such a substitution was discovered.

But the passenger liner is not only iron. A significant part of its cost is the decoration of the interiors. If I am currently reading at least one interior designer, he perfectly understands what kind of price fork can be laid, if the customer is a sucker.

The customer was not a sucker, but in the official estimate it was profitable for him to be a "loch." The estimate included ALL! This does not mean, of course, that everything was paid according to the estimate.

As a result, the actual cost of each ship hardly exceeded $ 2.5 million. The declared value of the ships, according to the estimate, was $ 7 million each. It remains to insure them.

All major risks in Europe at that time were insured in the insurance pool of Lloyd. There, risks were assessed, and then reinsured in dozens, and, if necessary, hundreds of insurance companies. The scheme is standard, but the insured amount of $ 7 million is unimaginable for one ship. After long negotiations, they agreed on $ 5 million.

In principle, such a sum insurers would be pulled. But they were caught on the other. And this option was "prompted" by the insurers themselves.

Scared, Vanderbilt rushed to the exit.

"And do not forget to strike them out of the insurance list!" He heard after him.

This case is described in a variety of sources (without direct speech, of course). But it's just how curious. Vanderbilt's motives in any of the dozens of the Titanic's deaths remained unsolved. I climbed the ship with the pictures, got off - without pictures. Almost just before sailing, I rushed to the ship, took the pictures and left the ship with them. At the same time he was declared on the list of passengers.

What happened in 4 days caused real panic among the insurers, and a month later Lloydov's pool was under the control of the financial trust. Most insurance companies involved in reinsurance have also been unable to satisfy all claims. Only a few managed to get themselves out. I know only one thing: the German company Alliance. For this company was Deutsche Bank, and he was not yet under the control of the financial trust.

If someone thought that it was a major scam, he is deeply mistaken. For this financial trust to turn such scams as for us - to go to the store for kefir.

Much more serious, more complex and more grandiose on the potential effect was a scam on the other side of the world. This is how I turn to the second story.

Plot 2.

The main character is the same financial trust. The action time is the same time. Only the task is different - taking control of the entire financial system of the United States. And this is already a task of a different order: not only economic, but also political.

Many studies are devoted to this subject, but most of them refer to the only source: the book of JUSTAS MULLINS "SECRETS OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM".

There are everything: secret trips in a sealed car, secret meetings on a protected, deserted island, "drafting" a bill, recruiting key figures, funding presidential companies, hearing in the relevant committees and commissions of the Congress, fraudulent approval from various associations, the positions of different politicians , A failure to vote, the launch of a "new" bill and, finally, its signing.

I will not say that the book reads like a detective, but you can understand. The main difficulty - there are many obsolete financial terms, and while you clarify their meaning, the main story is lost.

Retell the book, even very briefly, do not see the point. I'd rather tell what the book does not say, but what directly influenced the course of events.

As a starting point, let's take December 1911. It was at this point that the initiators of the bill on the federal reserve decided that all the preparatory work begun in 1907 was completed. They have already received approval from almost all interested parties. The president was "their man". There remained the usual formalities: to pass the vote in the Congress.

But the debate dragged on, and before the Christmas holidays were not allowed to put the bill to a vote, and in January next year the bill failed miserably.

The initiators gathered for the meeting. Ch. Morgan. The report was made responsible for the project Paul Warburg.

In the report, he described the gigantic work done, the resources involved, but he had to admit that the result was unexpected.

"Tell me, Paul, did you ever think about the reasons for the failure?" Can you name the main thing that prevented the passage of the bill? - Asked the chairman.
"It seems to me that someone is weaving intrigues against us."
"Someone" is just empty words, Paul. I need a list of these "someone".
"I have it, sir."
- well! Now tell me, Paul, if you imagine that these "someone" will stop interfering with us - will this be enough to squeeze the bill?
- Not sure. I think that if a democratic majority has failed us, we need to make small changes to the project and promote it under another sauce from the democrats.
"Good idea, Paul!" Here you are, and get busy. And I'll take up the list.

Morgan, as we remember, was engaged in this time project "Titanic". And his assistants organized a newspaper campaign in the United States to attract the richest people of the New World to Titanic. The difficulty was that the Titanic was leaving Europe. Hence, it was first necessary to entice the American establishment into Europe.

Action was decided through women. Passion for travel and the desire to "shine in society" - it was on these lovely female weaknesses that the entire advertising campaign was directed.

It can not be said that women from the American "high society" did not travel or "shine in society". It was not easy to surprise them with something. In order for them to bite for sure, it was necessary to offer something really exotic and unusual.

The sensation did not take long to wait. At the beginning of 1912, ancient sculptures were found on the excavations of the ancient Egyptian city of Amarna! That's already in the spring of this year is expected archaeological supersensation of all times! Perhaps, sculptures of Akhenaten and Nefertiti will be found! And suddenly it will be possible to get to itself in a collection an antique sculpture or though any