Holy Roman Empire

New York, the largest city in the United States, became more prosperous after the war.Beginning in 1865, the US economy began to recover, and everyone's life seemed to be all right.

Of course, this is just an illusion.There is contrast to be happy, and now life has really improved a lot compared to the war.

The United States is rich in resources. Because of the war, it has caused a large decrease in population, especially the young and the strongest.

Affected by the relationship between market supply and demand, in order to obtain sufficient labor, the capitalists had to introduce cheap black labor while increasing wages to retain the original workers.

The increase in income has eased social conflicts.Today is the weekend, Tom asked his girlfriend Elena to hang out.

"Tom, have you noticed that the recent items are much cheaper. The skirt I took last month has now dropped in price by half."

Tom said distressedly: "Sorry, dear. Our budget for this month has been used up. Would you like to wait for the payroll next week?"

Influenced by American culture, young people do not have the habit of saving money.As a member of the Moonlight tribe, Tom only cares about prices half a month after the salary is paid.

In addition to leaving money for his life, his salary will support up to half a month.This is still his job, a glorious employee of a securities company, barely a member of the middle class.

The city of New York is both heaven and hell.

It is only suitable for the rich to live, it is better not to go out for the poor.Otherwise, the more you see, the more sad your life will be.

Looking at Franklin's face, Elena nodded.No way, income is limited, if you don't plan carefully, you can't live in the city of New York.

Not for the best, but for the most expensive, it is New York in this era.The region with the highest price in the United States, or the region with the highest price in the world.

During his wandering, Tom's face gradually darkened.Advertisements for discounts and promotions are everywhere, from clothing and footwear to machinery and equipment.

As a talented student graduated from Columbia University and working in finance, Tom is particularly sensitive to the economy.

This large-scale price reduction made him aware that something was wrong.Don't look at the fact that there are many people buying now, but the total market demand has not changed.

The current panic buying is equivalent to anticipating the purchasing power of the future.Fortunately, there is the tradition of the Moonlight family in the United States, and there is no advance consumption, that is, the credit card has not been born.

It is not the benevolence of capitalists, mainly because the technology is not up to standard.If you can't play with such a tall thing, it would have long advocated consumption in advance.

Tom smiled bitterly: "Elena, it seems that we are going to prepare for a hard life."

He could perceive the problem, wouldn't the higher capitalists find it?Any economic crisis is foreshadowed in advance.

Almost every economic crisis, the consortium standing at the peak of capital is very profitable.If they lose, they are either too stupid and overcast by their opponents; or they are too greedy and want to earn the last Franklin.

Elena asked in surprise: "What's the matter, are you unemployed?"

"No, but soon." Tom replied

Elena comforted: "It doesn't matter. With your ability, it's easy to find another job. The big deal is that we will cut expenses next month."

...

Just when the two discussed, the market has feedback to the most terminal production enterprises.Due to the impact of cheap Austrian goods, many companies' products can no longer be sold.

What happened to the economic crisis in the UK is not known to ordinary people, but it is not a secret in the circle of capitalists.

...

At the Citibank executive meeting, President James said: "You, according to our information collection, the number of ships coming from Austria has increased sharply recently, all of which transport industrial and commercial products.

As small as toothbrushes, screws, nails, as large as mechanical equipment.Almost all industries are involved, there is no doubt that this is a dumping.

Not only are the Austrians in action, the British are not idle.This departure from London increased the number of ships coming to the United States by one third.

The British are also dumping goods on us, which is not a good thing for us.Our customers have no resistance at all in the face of their price war.

In other words, most American companies have no resistance.Therefore, we must take action, otherwise it will not take long for a large amount of bad debts to appear."

Citibank is the oldest bank on Wall Street, and it is not the giant Citigroup of later generations.The main business of banks is not arms, but lending and financial securities.

In this era, the US military industry was very small, and the international arms export market was monopolized by European powers. In the peaceful years, these industries could not afford a bank.

At present, the connection between Citibank and military enterprises, that is, commercial loans, has not yet invested directly.Now that we are in crisis, banks naturally have to protect themselves first.

Shareholder Babuno asked: "Mr. James, what are you going to do? I want to promote Congress legislation, increase tariffs, and restrict the entry of foreign goods. I am afraid it is too late."

Taking action is inevitable, and this is the aftereffect of the civil war.While intervening in the American Civil War, the four countries of Anglo-French-Ossie also opened the American market.

Wanting to increase tariffs to protect the market is naturally not that simple.This is also the reason why Austrian goods can be dumped quickly in the United States. Without tariff restrictions, low prices become unfavorable.

The most troublesome thing is that these industrial and commercial products are not only cheap, but even surpass the American products in all aspects of performance.

In this era, American industrial and commercial products have always been synonymous with cottage and inferior goods. Compared with imported goods, they can only seize the market by cheap.

The tragedy is now on, Austrian goods are beginning to shed tears, and the British are also following discounts, and the winter of the US manufacturing industry has come.

James shook his head and said: "Of course not, we are not the savior. The outbreak of the economic crisis is inevitable, even if the tariffs are raised, the market is protected.

What we have to do now is to stop losses and make a fortune in this crisis.I want the authorization of the board of directors to temporarily suspend external loans.

I also plan to send people to collect loans with high risks.At the same time, most of the securities and stocks in their hands are sold, and the bank adjusts professional traders to prepare to short the stock market."

This is not a bailout, but a downfall.But it is not the point, as long as you can make money.

Qualified capitalists, profits are always placed on the first guard.Conscience, social responsibility, these high-level vocabulary are enough to talk about, if anyone takes it seriously, it will be stupid.

Especially in the 19th century, the bloodiest era of capital, every piece of Franklin was covered with blood and sweat.

There is nothing to discuss, and it's time to reshuffle.Before resisting the invasion of European capital, we must first ensure ourselves to survive.

Everyone remembered what happened during the last economic crisis.Hesitating for lack of preparation and lack of cash in hand, a panicked money panic in the United States and Citibank almost went bankrupt.

With the development of the capitalist economy, the economic crisis is becoming more and more commonplace.At the beginning, it was once every few decades, and later it became once every ten years, and soon it will become once every few years.

There are many financial capitalists who make the same choice, and there is no tenderness in front of their interests.In this era of weak meat and strong food, everyone has to survive without being cruel.

Banks' contraction of money soon triggered a chain reaction.Many companies are in trouble, including some companies with good benefits, but also in life and death because of the broken capital chain.

Layoffs and production cuts instantly became the most popular words in American society.The streets are full of people looking for work, but there are not many companies that recruit people.The post-war economic prosperity that just started had just died.

Not only the United States, the same thing is happening in many parts of the world.Austria was just the first to open the door and shift the economic crisis out.

Immediately following the British action, the whole world was directly dragged into the water.The world's largest industrial country is also the country with the worst commodity backlog in the world.

In order to survive, the British capitalists directly dumped commodities to the European continent.

The first to suffer is France. A large number of British textile products are imported at the price of cabbage, and the Paris government has repeatedly raised tariffs and failed to stop it.

There is no way, this time Austria will start by dumping commodities to countries with relatively backward economies.By the time the British reacted, the market's purchasing power was almost consumed.

There is no industry in these countries, and the dumping of industrial products will not affect the agricultural economy. Many people are still glad to buy bargains.

Countries in Europe are different, everyone's industry has started.The dumping of British goods has seriously affected the economies of various countries.There is nothing to say, and there have been customs firewalls.

The crisis has widened on the European continent, including Austria, who has no way to survive alone, and a large number of businesses go bankrupt every day.

Under the effect of tariffs, everyone's international market is shrinking sharply.Fortunately, the colonial empire, at least colonial floods, can alleviate the crisis.

A country without a colony will be miserable. For example: Belgium, this industrial powerhouse has been hit hard.Without the overseas market, Belgium's industrial production capacity was directly reduced in 1868.

Just after getting rid of independent Poland, it has not been able to escape.Without the big market of the Russian Empire, Poland's fragile industrial system collapsed in the first wave of shocks.

Even the export of agricultural products failed to escape.Originally affected by the economic crisis, international food prices plummeted.

Coupled with the fact that they do not have a sea exit, they increase the cost of tariffs, which directly leads to the loss of competitiveness of Polish agricultural products.

This complicates the already contradictory Pubo relationship.Poles increasingly hated the Kingdom of Prussia and imposed tariffs on their agricultural products.

In fact, the Kingdom of Prussia is also difficult to protect itself, and it simply does not care about the Poles.After the economic crisis broke out, the British did not let their little brother go.

A large number of British commodities swept through, the fragile industry of the Kingdom of Prussia was hit hard, a large number of enterprises went bankrupt, and the number of unemployed increased sharply.

Industry has been hit hard, and agriculture will naturally be preserved.It is the nobility of Juncker who is in power, and the interests of the class must be safeguarded first.

After the Russian-Russian War, the Kingdom of Prussia acquired a large amount of land, which was directly converted from grain importers to grain exporters.

In terms of grain exports, the two countries have become competitors.Fortunately, everyone has just ended the war, and food production has not returned to its peak. Before that, the competition was not fierce.

This contradiction changed in the autumn harvest of 1868.It happened to be the most severe period of the economic crisis, the purchasing power of the people fell, and international food prices fell by 28%.

All major grain exporting countries in Europe are having a hard time. In order to ensure their own interests, the Berlin government, led by the Junker nobles, had to use tariffs to restrict Polish grain exports.

This is not entirely to blame for the Berlin government. Who asked the Polish capitalists to dump grain directly into the Kingdom of Prussia?

At first, the governments of the two countries agreed that Polish farm products could not be sold in Prussia.This kind of inter-government restraint obviously cannot restrain the capitalists.

Seeing the high price of food in the Kingdom of Prussia, the capitalists naturally couldn't help it in the face of the benefits.

At first, they were secretly selling a little bit to the people along the way during the transportation. The small number did not attract everyone's attention.Later, the business grew bigger and bigger, until the cover could not cover the outbreak.

There was no tenderness in front of the interests, and the Junker nobles whose interests were damaged broke out, and the Berlin government naturally knew which side to stand on.After the negotiations were fruitless, they directly offered a big tariff.