American Tax Officer

Soon, more than an hour had stealthily passed.

The once confident Sean Thompson and the local family heads from various states gradually became heavy-hearted.

Initially, they had believed that even if The Big Three Groups intended to stir up trouble in the stock market, they would surely proceed in a gradual and considerate manner.

Because if they sold off in large volumes, failing to achieve their desired effect and instead getting their positions bullish supported by others, that would mean losing both the wife and the army.

But unexpectedly, these guys did not play by the rules at all.

They held back until they acted, and when they did, it was like a mad dog's aggressive sell-off, not caring about how low the market price was, almost as if the stocks in their hands would become worthless if they were to delay.

This infuriated the operators from various families who cursed incessantly.

Of course, they cursed but still ensured the task David had given them was completed.

Regrouping their forces, the families had no choice but to follow the tide by crazily injecting money into the stock market, hoping to stabilize the situation as soon as possible.

However, the stock market situation was beyond anyone's control. The frenzied sell-off by The Big Three Groups gradually triggered a new round of panic throughout the market.

Stockholders also feared being trapped in a downturn and followed suit in a mad dog's sell-off of their shares.

This only exacerbated the situation, making it even more severe than it was at the beginning of the session.

But fortunately, after a chaotic fight, the clock finally struck 4 PM, which marked the close of the American stock market for the day, and only then did Sean Thompson and his associates breathe a sigh of relief.

...

Senado Island.

"Fake, they managed to withstand all that!?"

"We sold off so many shares in bulk, and it still didn't trigger the extreme circuit breakers; we got a bit unlucky this time..."

"Yeah, we didn't even cause a market crash, nor did we trigger the circuit breakers; this is slightly below our expectations..."

"I knew that bastard David must have had a contingency plan, and sure enough, he has. Otherwise, he would not have been able to withstand today's onslaught..."

The circuit breaker mechanism, also known as the automatic halt system, is a measure to suspend trading taken by exchanges to control risk when the stock index fluctuates to reach a certain threshold.

To date, America's stock market had triggered the circuit breakers a total of five times.

The first occurrence was during the financial crisis of '97. The remaining four times all happened in 2020.

And every time America's stock market experienced a circuit breaker, it caused global tremors.

So the Freemasonry members present were quite regretful.

Because David was currently conducting tax audits on Wall Street, if the stock market had experienced its 6th circuit breaker at this juncture, they could have used it to pin the blame on David, giving him a hard time.

Unfortunately, things did not develop as they had anticipated.

Hearing these remarks, Soros and Buffett, two renowned financiers, were cursing fools internally.

Their stock sell-off was swift, but David's ability to get so many congressmen on his side meant he also had the backing of the tycoons behind those congressmen. While these tycoons were not as large as The Big Three Groups, their conjoined power was not to be underestimated.

And now the battle in the stock arena had only been going on for a mere day; thinking they could take down their opponent in one fell swoop was simply impossible!

Although they thought as much, neither Soros nor Buffett dared to voice such offensive thoughts.

Soros suggested cautiously, "The Kennedy Family, as well as those native families from various states, still have some strength. It's only been one short day, and bringing them down won't be easy. Let's continue to intensify our efforts moving forward!"

"Right, Soros is correct, and we can't rush the stock market's situation. The Big Three Groups hold so many shares in American companies, meaning the initiative is always in our hands. We can afford to play this game slowly with them," Buffett echoed.

Hearing the explanations from the two stock market giants, the previously agitated crowd also quieted down.

At this moment, Henrietta turned to them and said, "Do you think there's anything else we need to do at this stage?"

Soros contemplated briefly before answering, "We need to use the media and social networking platforms, which we still control, to spread and inject unfavorable market news to the stockholders, making them more panicked when the market opens tomorrow."

Back when he fought against Southeast Asian nations, he used this tactic, bombarding propaganda before the market opened, causing the people to lose confidence in their own currency and shorting these countries' currencies.

So he felt this strategy could also be effective in the current American stock market.

"Time is pressing. The Kennedy and local family heads from various states probably didn't have time to transfer much of their funds. I think we can use the securities regulatory commission's financial regulation to obstruct their fund movements, so as to delay their capital injection into the stock market!" Buffett also chimed in with his suggestion.

"Very well!"

Henrietta looked at those present and said, "You heard them, go make it happen!"

...

New York, Manhattan Branch.

"Based on the closing situation today, the NASDAQ Composite Index closed at 17127.66 compared to the previous trading day's 15423.03, a drop of 9.63%, and still 10 percentage points away from the circuit breaker threshold, and this is only the first day. If The Big Three Groups launch an even more severe offensive going forward, then we..."

Inside the office, a woman with a ponytail wearing business attire was continuously explaining. Her name was Megan, a civilian staff member in the Manhattan Branch who was proficient in the stock market.