Chapter 118: Carter's Generosity

Mr. Johnson."

"You speak!"

Madison Johnson stepped forward slightly, listening attentively to Carter's proposal. Although it was said to be listening to advice, judging from his slightly lowered brows and submissive attitude, he wasn't showing much deference to the leader's instructions. This scene, coupled with the previous scene where the crowd voluntarily made way.

"Their wages, you must pay them in full. In business, contracts must be honored. Even if it's just a part-time oral agreement, you can't go back on your word."

"Mr. Blake, you."

"Don't rush, let me finish. In addition, this matter is not entirely about you, but also about everyone else. Let's listen together. I need a group of people to help me go out of town, especially to several nearby cities, to find out some information. Hmm, let's call them business investigators. I need some business investigators to help me go to several nearby cities to see how their lives are, whether they are as satisfactory as yours."

To save everyone's face, Carter tried to phrase his words as delicately as possible. But at this moment, everyone understood Carter's meaning, and their eyes couldn't help but sparkle with a glimmer of hope.

Without money, life isn't satisfying. Regardless of what Carter said, as long as he was willing to put up the money, even if life wasn't satisfying now, wouldn't there be hope for satisfaction in the future?

"Of course, this is a long-term job. You don't need any special skills. When you go to the local area, see if the people there are extravagant when shopping in supermarkets, if they hesitate when paying, and also about the banks, find out if there are people nearby who go to the bank but can't withdraw money."

"You don't need to do this full-time, just do it on your days off or after work. For cities within 100 kilometers, the daily wage is $15, for those within 100 to 200 kilometers, it's $20. Let's start with 30 people in the first batch. Johnson, considering your family's situation, I'll give you two spots, is that enough for you to get by?"

Cities within 100 kilometers can be reached in two hours round trip. Plus the time to gather information, most trips can be done in a day. But for distances over 100 kilometers, it takes longer, almost a whole day for a round trip. So for this part, Carter basically offered the salary of a full-time worker.

Of course, Carter wasn't responsible for the fuel costs of the vehicles. So after deducting the fuel expenses, this compensation could only be said to be slightly better than a typical part-time job, still not reaching the level of a full-time job, and not particularly attractive.

But despite such plain conditions, everyone was very satisfied. After Johnson excitedly nodded his thanks repeatedly, the crowd watching around began to buzz like boiling water, each asking about the registration conditions on the spot.

"Tomorrow! Tomorrow, everyone can come to Blake Bank for inquiries and registration. Also, please inform your friends who are living in difficult situations around you. As a member of Douglas, there's not much I can do, but I'll try to provide some work for everyone and let's get through this difficult time together!"

Listening to the chatter around him, Carter stood on the roadside and shouted loudly. In terms of building a reputation, Carter succeeded quite well.

Or perhaps, it wasn't Carter's success in building a reputation, but the power of money. The citizens of Douglas had never encountered a capitalist who distributed real money before, right?! Encountering one for the first time felt like meeting a benefactor, and the sounds of gratitude and praise were endless.

After waiting until the crowd gradually dispersed and two police officers also bid farewell and left, Carter walked over to Johnson and the two girls.

"Mr. Blake, I just gave them the money. Tomorrow."

"Don't worry, I will explain clearly to the bank staff, you have two spots for your family."

"Thank you, thank you so much! Mr. Blake, you saved my family's life!"

"Don't mention it, you can also help me a lot."

Helping Johnson, helping the citizens of Douglas improve their lives, and even helping some groups with even more meager incomes survive. While this was one of Carter's goals, it was never the core purpose.

Feeling that the environment was deteriorating was not something Carter only felt today. Since November of last year, Carter had felt the malignant changes in the overall environment. Coupled with the current turmoil in the stock market, the feeling of an impending storm became heavier and heavier.

As Julian said, turmoil represents opportunities, but it also comes with dangers! Wanting to expand the bank's scale during this period and stabilize the rear is one thing, understanding the movements of other peers is another.

Neither of these points could be overlooked. The current turbulent situation, while a golden opportunity for the bank to expand and swallow other banks, was also an opportunity for them to swallow each other, wasn't it?

At this moment, Carter was somewhat glad that his "novice village" was in Georgia. None of the future renowned large banks in America had originated from this barren land in the financial field. But even without the threat from those large banks, the rest couldn't be ignored!

Putting himself in others' shoes, Carter wasn't too worried about the small-town banks near Douglas. The limit of urban scale was there, they couldn't possibly have too large a scale. Even the Meridian city with a population of 150,000, which was the largest nearby, wasn't much of a threat to him.

Perhaps he couldn't swallow Meridian's bank, but with $20 million in capital, Carter was confident that they couldn't swallow him, or at least it would be difficult for them to swallow him. However, looking further north to Atlanta, it wasn't so easy to say.

Carter admitted that he was somewhat worried excessively because theoretically, banks that were too far away made it seem pointless for Atlanta's banks to swallow his bank. But it's always better to be safe than sorry. Especially now, when his funds were still abundant, Carter didn't mind helping out the "hometown folks".

In case of any unexpected mistakes, he could still rely on their help to hold the fort for Douglas.

As for the relationship between winning over hearts and minds and maintaining the Douglas banking market, that needed to be explained in terms of the current methods of bank mergers and consolidations.

Firstly, commercial banks can be ignored because nowadays they simply do not have the qualifications to acquire savings banks. Speaking only of savings banks, they can be broadly categorized into three types. One type is savings banks that have joined the Federal Reserve System, with the Atlanta Federal Savings Bank being a representative example.

This type of bank basically doesn't need to worry too much because joining the Federal Reserve System, while providing relatively ample protection and certain benefits when enjoying services provided by the Federal Reserve, also entails high-intensity supervision. Choosing to join the Federal Reserve system is almost equivalent to operating a bank under the watchful eye of the Federal Reserve, where various reports and reviews make it almost impossible for you to secretly manipulate funds.

As the saying goes, "No night grass for the horse, no windfall for the person." Apart from large banks like the Atlanta Federal Savings Bank with official attributes, smaller banks that join the Federal Reserve System, operating decently for many years, still don't grow much in scale. After all, every fund flow is intensively monitored by the Federal Reserve. How could you manipulate it? Relying on issuing mortgages to make big profits?

The US real estate market hasn't even taken off yet, with house prices remaining stable for so many years. It's quite challenging for these banks to make profits, ensuring that their owners can live decently in the local area. Expecting them to grow significantly or even have the ability to expand outward is almost impossible.

In fact, whether now or in the future, there are not many banks that truly join the Federal Reserve System. So, the few banks that join in are basically those without much ambition, more like retirement-type banks that are unlikely to develop on a large scale. Therefore, this type of bank can generally be ignored.

Having discussed the first type, let's move on to the second type.

The second type of banks are those that have joined the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), such as the Blake Bank.