Chapter 1024: A Money Losing Deal

  Chapter 1004: Money Losing Deal

When Europe was devastated, the Americas naturally could not escape. With the booming of international trade, the economic ties between countries have become increasingly close.

After the outbreak of the economic crisis, not only the downstream manufacturing and retail industry suffered heavy losses, but also the middle wholesalers and upstream raw material suppliers.

Then, Argentina’s beef and soybeans were not selling well, Chile’s copper and saltpeter were stagnant, and the cotton of the Union States was rotting in the ground; naturally, the United States of America, which had gone the farthest on the road to industrialization, suffered the heaviest losses.

There is no other way, when the economic crisis broke out, the big dumping came. In this regard, the interests of Britain and Austria are the same, can also be regarded as the common will of the European countries, after the split of the Americans simply do not have the bottom of the refusal.

It was not only the market that was hit, but also, and most tragically, British capital, in order to cope with the crisis at home, withdrew its investments in the United States at a critical time.

Strikes, unemployment and populist agitation spread like wildfire. The “free silver” movement of 1892, in particular, aggravated the crisis.

The price of silver was already low, and the policy of “free silver” certainly sent the dollar on a path of devaluation and inflation.

It is not that the Americans do not know the consequences of the “free silver” policy, but it was mainly forced out. In the face of competition from European industrial and commercial products, domestic enterprises in the United States were powerless to fight back.

In order to protect domestic industry, the United States Government had to adopt a stimulus policy. As for the sequelae brought about by this, naturally, the ordinary people pay the bill, of which the worst loss is undoubtedly the farmers.

However, the United States of America are divided once, the strong agricultural state are almost all follow the Union State to mix, stay in the states are capital-dominated, naturally no one cares about these small problems.

When inflation meets economic crisis, the situation is very different. The decline in the purchasing power of the general public directly led to a further contraction of the market, and a vicious economic cycle began.

The withdrawal of British capital exacerbated the crisis, and a bizarre scene emerged. On the one hand, there was serious inflation, and on the other, there was insufficient money in the market.

The United States of America, which had a serious shortage of gold reserves, was plunged into a currency crisis at the same time as it was plunged into an economic crisis.

In order to cope with the crisis, out of the Great Depression Democratic President Cleveland took decisive measures: the issuance of government bonds to buy gold.

This opportunity to get rich was naturally not given up by the bankers. On the one hand, they provided gold for these high-interest bonds, and on the other hand, they took paper money and exchanged it for gold reserves.

Just one in and one out, gold or the original which gold, reserves did not increase much, the middle of the spread has let the bankers earn a lot of money.

Looking at the information in hand, Franz very much doubt Cleveland is not bankers to buy, this kind of brain-dead monetary policy are taken out.

Doubt to doubt, does not affect him in the least to go in and get a piece of the pie. The only regret is that this year’s United States is not fat enough, the plate is really too small, share the cake and too many people, as a dragon to get even less.

Six hundred and eighty thousand dollars of spread is the result of one month’s operation of the Americas Branch. For ordinary people is a huge sum of money, for Franz can only be regarded as better than nothing.

Subsequently, Franz no longer cared. Any brain-dead policy does not have sustainability, this kind of policy of giving away money is naturally no exception, if Cleveland keeps playing like this, perhaps not waiting for the end of the term of office, the U.S. government will first be crushed by the debt.

No matter how strange the gold bond policy, can not affect Cleveland is a “good president”. Just because he repealed the McKinley Tariff Act, which is known as the “mother of all trusts”, he must be a “good president”.

……

According to the financial world, if everyone is tied to risk, it’s not risk. The same can be said of the world’s economies, which together can be about as bad as not having a downturn, at least in relation to national power.

The goal was reached, but Franz was not happy. In any case, there was always a way to get through the economic crisis.

Countries were dragged down, leaving no opportunity for competitors to take advantage of the rise, and while the strategy was successful, it also became more difficult to recover the economy.

Looking at the world map, Franz said helplessly, “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs to make preparations to mediate the war between Japan and the West, the Spaniards will not be able to hold out any longer, and the situation of the Japanese is not much better.

If the war continues, I’m afraid it’s going to turn into a war of attrition between us and the British. With the intensity of the Philippine campaign, it won’t even be possible to determine a winner in another three to five years.

There’s no point in continuing to waste money on a game that’s destined to be fruitless. Now is the best time to collect the phone session, and I guess the British are not willing to take the money and waste it.”

A war between two poor people, once it lasted, the one who ended up in bad luck was the gold master. Although this year has not yet developed to the point of “owe money is a big master”, but when encountered with the Lord without money, we still can not help.

Spain is relatively better off, at least there are a few rich colonies, more or less can be worth some money; Japan is really penniless. If they had gotten the Philippine Islands, there would have been a day when they would have been able to pay back the money; if they had not gotten them, the British would have had to lose all of their investment.

The oil yield of soybean is 20 percent, the oil yield of rapeseed is 36 percent, the oil yield of sesame is 45 percent, but can you extract oil from chaff?

In his own way, change Franz in the position of the British government, now also have to consider whether it is worth to continue to invest in the Japanese.

Relying on capital to consume the enemy, if the opposite side is the Russians is more or less the same, unfortunately this time the opponent is the empire of God Luo, no billions of pounds into, not even bubbles.

Even though the British have more capital, but the Shinra’s staying power is stronger ah! The test of the war of attrition is not only capital, but staying power is equally important.

Foreign Minister Weissenberg frowned: ”Your Majesty, the key to mediating the Japan-West War lies in the ownership of the Philippine Islands. With the war at this point, I’m afraid neither Japan nor the West will give in easily.

If we choose to make peace and allow the two countries to share the Philippine Islands, we can end the war now, but in a few years both sides will fight again.

We don’t have so much time to dwell on it. From the standpoint of the Empire, the best way is to make the Japanese give up.

If we want the Japanese government to give in, we and Spain alone will not be enough, and even if we bring in the whole European Union, we may not be able to succeed, unless the British also support us.

Just ……”

Franz interrupted, “There is no just! The main characters of the Philippine War are Japan and Spain, don’t you think we are getting involved too much?

At this point in time, it’s time to let the Spaniards make an effort on their own. Even if they are no longer good enough, as a European country, they will not lose to the Japanese in the fight for the voice of public opinion in Europe, will they?

Let them mobilize their own influence, in Europe to their own momentum, by the way, Japan will be described as barbaric some, is almost the same.

Now is a period of economic crisis, the British Parliament is not idle, there are so many pairs of eyes staring, the London government from where to get so many funds to take to support the Japanese.

After the end of the war between Japan and the West, the government finances can take a breather with less of this gold devouring beast. This is very favorable to the next economic construction.”

War costs money, and with the Philippine Campaign now underway, both the Japanese and Western sides need “a lot of money” and “a lot of supplies.” Mere verbal support no longer has any meaning.

Once the public opinion is fired up, the British government and then money to aid Japan, the British people, belly croaking, will definitely let them eat and go.

On the issue of grasping the government’s handles, the opposition parties are the natural allies of the Spanish government, and once the issue is blown up, they will surely lash out in the parliament.

Even though the British government can imply that the consortium is giving loans to the Japanese, but they don’t provide guarantees for the security of the debt, who would lend money to the Japanese government that at a glance looks like it doesn’t have the ability to repay?

It would be difficult for the Japanese government, which had no money, not to compromise. If you do not take advantage of the current hand still have a little to negotiate terms, dragged to the back even the capital to negotiate terms are no longer.

The only regret is that the war between Japan and the West ended like this, and the Holy Roman Empire was unable to maximize its benefits. Simply from the point of view of the return on investment, the Vienna government this time is equivalent to do a losing business.

However, in order to get out of the economic crisis as soon as possible, Franz could no longer care less about losing money. A monthly consumption of more than ten million divine guilders, used to restore the economy, can create tens of thousands of jobs.

After all, the Vienna government was now really poor. Not only does the domestic economy need to be restored, but it also needs to take money to relieve a few minions.

Bankruptcy was bankruptcy, and there was always a government. The debt problem can be shelved first, but the social order of the countries can not collapse.

Today is different from the past, as the boss of Europe, the Holy Roman Empire has become the maintenance of order. The “good old days” of watching the world go by are gone.

……

Prime Minister Karl: “Your Majesty, in light of the current special circumstances, the Cabinet is prepared to increase infrastructure investment and launch the Asia-Africa-Europe Loop Railway ahead of schedule, in order to use the infrastructure industry to promote the recovery of the domestic economy.

Considering the huge investment in this project, the cabinet plans to carry out a split into multiple sub-projects and take the sections with a higher rate of return to finance the construction in order to reduce the cost of investment.

The remaining sections, which are difficult to construct and do not see a return on investment, are to be invested in by the government itself. The main funding will be through bank loans and the issuance of treasury bonds.

The present situation is very favorable to us, and during this recent period Russia, West, Belgium, Switzerland, Saarland, Lu and a dozen other European countries have borrowed a large amount of money from us.

The S.H.I.E.L.D. settlement system has been sort of basically established on the European continent, which happened to catch up with the economic crisis, and the British are now left to fend for themselves.

As long as we can take the first step out of the economic crisis, in the fight for currency hegemony, the divine shield has the absolute upper hand.

As long as Europe is stabilized, going from Europe to the world will be simple. It’s nothing more than a matter of buying, no matter what the governments think, the capitalists are very welcoming of the divine shield.”

A strategic railroad that loses money is destined to be paid for only by the government. There was no way around the fact that the pitfall routine could only be used once. The capitalists were fooled once as early as thirty years ago in the great domestic railroad construction, and now everyone has gotten smarter.

No matter how well you tell the story, no one pays attention if they can’t see the return on investment.

The “Asia-Africa-Europe Loop Railway” sounds impressive, but in reality it is just that. It is just to link up the original railroads and make up for the missing lines in the middle of the way.

Expect this “money-making”, perhaps let the Holy Roman Empire’s population four or five times, can see a little hope.

This is only a nominal “money”, both the operating income is greater than the operating costs, in order to recover the investment costs and obtain a considerable rate of return, it is estimated that the population will have to be seven or eight times.

I don’t know if this can be realized in the future, but Franz is unlikely to see it in his lifetime. It doesn’t matter if you lose money, the key is to make it worthwhile.

Theoretically, as long as the Shinra Navy could master the Mediterranean Sea, this railroad, which seemed to be of full strategic importance, would have no practical significance. After all, sea transportation is cheaper, after the railroad to spare a big circle, merchant ships are running several round trips.

From the current international situation, the hegemony of the Shen Luo Navy in the Mediterranean Sea has been fully established, even the British can not be shaken.

If the British really have the courage to send the main force of the Royal Navy into the Mediterranean Sea, Franz will dream and laugh. The bathtub is no joke, and no one stipulates that naval battles can only be fought by the navy.

As the world’s number one air force power, Franz can dominantly declare that the coastal area is a no-go area for warships of all nations.

Whether they took off from the continental circle of Asia, Africa and Europe, or from the Italian peninsula, the Shen Luo Air Force could make them eat their words.

It didn’t matter if the hit rate was low, as long as the numbers went up, it would always pay off. If not, the Japanese “kamikaze” brigade is also good.

In addition to airplanes in the sky, there are also underwater submarines. Originally, Kamikaze was not good in the development of submarine technology, but with the end of the war against France, this situation has been improved.

On the basis of inheriting the French submarine technology, the Shinra Navy also had its own submarine fleet. The only regret was that the technology didn’t break through and it could only play at offshore combat.

With so many advantages, the Vienna government’s demand for the “Asia-Africa-Europe Loop Railway” was naturally low. If it were not for the economic crisis, it is estimated that this railroad is not even possible to establish the project.

In reality, there are no ifs and buts, but since it happened, the Belt Railway was born. Wasteful, perhaps. But that’s nothing compared to the positives that the railroad line will bring, when it’s launched.

After all, restoring the economy was the immediate priority of the Vienna government. Being able to get out of the economic crisis one day earlier, the S.H.I.E.L.D. would be able to gain one more point of advantage in the struggle for monetary hegemony.

(End of chapter)