America 1982-Chapter 223 - 78: The Business of Clearing Weeds_3
"Get to the point, I’m not one of those moms from Florida, Tommy. Just tell me straight how your damn little bank makes money off the poor." Jim interrupted Tommy and asked pointedly.
Tommy picked up a cigarette from his pack, put it in his mouth, and lit it: "Community development banks, credit unions, savings and loan associations... call them whatever you want, I’ve done the research, and there are no such banks in the United States that help the poor. Last year, Mohammad Yunus, a professor from Tennessee State University originally from Bangladesh, started this kind of thing in his homeland. It specifically lends money to the poor who are rejected by traditional banks. Then, it groups the borrowers into sets of five, and collects the loans every week, lending them a bit more money than the previous week. The cycle repeats. If someone fails to repay on time, you can cut your losses quickly within a week, while spreading the interest and losses among the other four. Their interest rates would increase, and their loan amounts decrease next time they borrow. This approach makes them monitor each other to avoid bad debts."
After listening to Tommy’s explanation, Jim was silent for the duration of half a cigarette before he murmured, looking at the liquor cabinet across from him, "NoNoNoNo~~ That’s not correct; that’s just the surface, a façade that at best earns some reputation, like you announcing that OSS is free. You definitely want more than that because if that was all, you wouldn’t have called me."
Tommy, leaning on the bar with one arm, half-turned his body, looking at Jim with a half-smile. Jim crushed the butt of his cigarette in the ashtray, exhaled the last puff of smoke, and looked at Tommy, continuing with his own speculation: "Soldiers, the poor, black people... the poor and black people don’t actually need to be distinguished; most black people are damn poor. Soldiers, I understand. Many of them have gotten into trouble due to overusing credit cards. Although not blacklisted thanks to their military status, they have no love for credit cards. The poor, I also understand; they’re your tool for gaining a good reputation. But why specifically mention black people? I haven’t figured that one out."
"California’s black community has recently started a wave of entrepreneurship, mainly focused on hot industries like cocaine and weed. I’m planning to focus business in California, not expanding to other states for several years, and the main operational sites will be located near large black communities in California. I’ll hire black employees, lend money to aspiring black entrepreneurs. You know what? Once they succeed, they become incredibly wealthy. Everyone drives flashy muscle cars, wears shiny chains and rings, and they even damn fit their teeth with diamonds. Money’s just wasted in the hands of those guys. How about we spend it for them and earn some good reputation too?" Tommy said softly, as if describing something wonderful.
Jim slowly widened his eyes, staring at Tommy with his chubby cheeks trembling, his eyes gradually lighting up as he spoke: "...Lend money to black people, then figure out how to tell them where to launder money without getting into trouble, afterwards, get them to deposit the cleaned money in a trustworthy bank - our bank. Even coax the fools to buy our prepared junk penny stocks or funds through our bank, using a pile of worthless paper, successfully turning their money into ours. If the guy happens to die at the hands of another loan-rising rival in a turf war, well, whether he dies doesn’t matter. Best if he does die, because after his death, getting his money out will be harder than climbing to heaven... America doesn’t have such financial institutions, meaning there’s much leeway in regulation. You just need to get some approbations at the California level and make the non-account holder withdrawal contract complicated, then that black guy’s money has to lie nicely in the account for our use... I’m excited just thinking about it. There are so many black entrepreneurs in America who need help! This is definitely a great enterprise!"
"We can lend that money to others in need, definitely more meaningful than letting it be wasted by street thugs who only know how to set their teeth in gold. It’s also a way of cleaning up the trash in California, this is without doubt a charitable cause, and America and California should give us an award for moral fashion," Tommy said to Jim, smiling.
"Because those black guys relied on our bank to start up step by step, they’ll trust us completely, but they won’t realize that the moment they start making big money, every penny we lend to other black people is pushing them closer to death. If these black people can’t resist temptation, they’ll be like weeds, cut down batch after batch by us, growing up again, one batch after another. We don’t need to do anything, just lend them money under the guise of helping black people. You impress me, man. Tommy, you always find a way to exploit the imperfections of the American system." Jim started laughing as well: 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶
"America has you; it’s a damn stroke of luck for the Soviet Union. Who knows, after the Soviet Union takes over the White House, they might even award you with a Soviet Union Hero Gold Star Medal."
Seeing Jim’s expression, Tommy quickly said, "I’ll take care of the poor and the soldiers; you handle the black people."
"F*ck! You really should look at yourself right now. I’d just started to get interested, and you’ve just doused me with a splash of cold piss!" Jim immediately cursed.
