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 of a sudden.
Of course, this is just an illusion. There is a sense of happiness only when there is a comparison. Compared with the time of the war, life now does improve a lot.
The United States is rich in resources, and because of the war, it has caused a large reduction in population, especially the largest loss of young people.
Affected by market supply and demand, in order to obtain sufficient labor, capitalists had to introduce cheap black labor while raising wages to retain the original workers.
The increase in income has eased social conflicts. Today is the weekend, and Tom has a date with his girlfriend Elena.
"Tom, have you noticed that the merchandise has been a lot cheaper recently. The skirt that I fancy last month has now dropped by half."
Tom said distressedly, "Sorry, darling. Our budget for this month has already been spent, or should we wait to be paid next week?"
Influenced by American culture, young people have no habit of saving money. As a member of the Moonlight clan, Tom cares about prices only half a month after paying his salary.
In addition to leaving money for his life, his salary will be supported for up to half a month. This is still a good job for him, a glorious securities company employee, barely a member of the middle class.
The city of New York is both heaven and hell.
This place is only suitable for the rich, and the poor are better off. Otherwise, the more you know, the more difficult your life will be.
Looking at Franklin's face, Elena nodded. No way, if you have limited income, you can't live in New York City unless you are careful.
Not seeking the best, but seeking the most expensive is New York in this era. The most expensive region in the United States, or the highest price region in the world.
As he wandered, Tom's face gradually became gloomy. Discount promotion advertisements are everywhere, ranging from clothing and footwear to machinery and equipment, almost all crying.
As a talented student who graduated from Columbia University, and also engaged in financial work, Tom is particularly sensitive to the economy.
This large-scale price reduction made him realize that something was wrong. Don't look at the number of people snapping up, but the total market demand has not changed.
The current purchase is equivalent to the advance of purchasing power in the future. Fortunately, there is a tradition of the Moonlight tribe in the United States. Without advance purchase, credit cards were not born.
It's not the kindness of the capitalists, but mainly the substandard technology. Can't play such a tall thing, otherwise advance consumption has been promoted.
Tom said with a bitter smile: "Elena, it looks like we are going to have a hard time."
He can perceive the problem, won't the higher-level capitalists find out? Any economic crisis has an omen in advance.
In almost every economic crisis, consortia at the pinnacle of capital are making huge profits. 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 amazement: "What's going on, have you lost your job?"
"No, but it's coming soon," Tom replied.
Elena comforted: "It doesn't matter. With your ability, it is easy to find another job. Big deal, starting next month, we will cut expenses."
...
At the time of discussion between the two, the market had already feedback to the most terminal production enterprises. Affected by Austria's cheap goods, many companies' products can no longer be sold.
What happened to the economic crisis in Britain is not known to ordinary people, but it is not a secret in the capitalist circle.
...
At the Citibank executive meeting, President James said, "You, according to our intelligence, the number of ships that have recently come from Austria has increased dramatically, and they are all transporting industrial and commercial products.
From toothbrushes, screws, nails to machinery. Almost all walks of life are involved, no doubt this is a dump.
Not only the Austrians are in action, the British are not idle. The number of ships coming from the United States from London has increased 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 the price war they waged.
In other words, most American companies have no resistance. So we have to take action, or it will take a long time for a lot of bad debts to appear. "
Citibank is the oldest bank on Wall Street and is not yet the giant Citi consortium 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 once again monopolized by European powers. These industries could not afford a bank in peacetime.
At present, Citibank's connection with 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 Barbno asked: "Mr. James, what are you going to do? I'm afraid it's too late to push Congress for legislation, raise tariffs, and restrict entry of foreign goods."
Taking action is inevitable, this is the aftermath of the civil war. At the same time as intervening in the American Civil War, Britain, France, and the West also opened up the US market.
It is naturally not that simple to increase tariffs to protect the market. This is also the reason why Austrian goods can be dumped quickly in the United States. Without tariff restrictions, low prices will not be disadvantaged.
The most troublesome thing is that these industrial and commercial products are not only cheap, but also surpass American products in all aspects.
In this era, American industrial and commercial products have always been synonymous with copycats and inferior goods. Compared with imported goods, they can only seize the market by cheap.
The tragedy is now. Austrian goods are beginning to sell in tears. The British are also following up with discount sales. The cold winter of the American manufacturing industry has come.
James shook his head and said, "Of course not, we are not saviors. The outbreak of the economic crisis is already inevitable, even if we increase tariffs, we will protect the market.
What we need to do now is stop loss and make a fortune in this crisis. I want the board of directors to temporarily suspend the loan.
Risky loans, I also plan to send someone to collect in advance. At the same time, most of the securities and stocks sold in the hands were sold, and the banks adjusted professional traders to prepare for shorting the stock market. "
This is not to save the city, but to go down the rocks. But it's not the point, as long as you can make money.
Qualified capitalists always put their profits at the back. Conscience, social responsibility, these tall vocabulary is enough, whoever takes it seriously is stupid.
Especially in the 19th century, the bloodiest time of the capital, every Franklin was covered with blood and sweat.
There is nothing to discuss, and it's time to shuffle again. Before you can resist European capital invasion, you must first ensure that you live.
Everyone remembers what happened in the last economic crisis. Hesitation is not enough preparation, lack of sufficient cash in hand, the United States has a frantic money panic, Citibank almost went bankrupt.
With the development of the capitalist economy, the economic crisis is becoming more and more commonplace. At first, it was once every few decades, and later it became more than ten years, and it will soon become once every few years.
There are many financial capitalists who have made the same choice, and there is no tenderness in front of their interests. In this age of weak meat and strong food, everyone has to survive, not cruelly.
The bank's contraction in cash quickly triggered a chain reaction. Many companies are in dilemma, including some companies with good returns, and they are in danger because of a broken capital chain.
The layoffs and cuts in an instant have become the hottest words in American society. The streets are full of people looking for work, but few companies hire people. The post-war economic prosperity that just started has just died.
Not just the United States, the same thing is happening in many places around the world. Austria was just one step ahead to open the door valve and shifted the economic crisis out.
Immediately following the British actions, the world was directly dragged down. The world's largest industrial country is also the country with the most serious backlog of commodities in the world.
In order to survive, the British capitalists dumped goods directly into continental Europe.
The first thing to suffer was France. A large number of British textile products were imported at the price of cabbage. The Paris government repeatedly raised tariffs and failed to stop them.
There is no way, this time Austria first started to dump goods to countries with relatively backward economies. By the time the British responded, the purchasing power of the market was almost exhausted.
These countries have no industry at all, and dumping industrial products will not impact the agricultural economy, and many people are still glad to buy cheap goods.
European countries are different, and everyone's industry has started. The dumping of British goods has seriously affected the economies of countries. There is nothing to say, and a tariff firewall has been set up.
The crisis has expanded in continental Europe. No one, including Austria, can stand alone, and a large number of companies go bankrupt every day.
Under the effect of tariffs, everyone's international market is shrinking sharply. The colonial empire was okay, at least there were floods in the colonies that could alleviate the crisis.
A country without a colony would be miserable. For example: Belgium, this small industrialist has been hit hard. Without overseas markets, Belgium's industrial capacity was cut directly in 1868.
Having just emerged from independent Poland, it has not been able to escape. Without the big market of the Russian Empire, Poland's fragile industrial system fell in the first wave of shocks.
Even the export of agricultural products has not escaped. Originally affected by the economic crisis, international food prices plummeted.
In addition, they do not have access to the sea, increasing the cost of tariffs, which directly leads to the loss of competitiveness of Polish agricultural products.
This complicates the already contradictory general-Pu relationship. Poles are increasingly hating the Kingdom of Prussia and are imposing tariffs on their agricultural products.
In fact, the Prussian kingdom is also difficult to protect, and it does not care about the Poles at all. After the economic crisis broke out, the British did not let go of their little brother.
A large number of British goods swept through, the fragile industry of the Kingdom of Prussia was severely damaged, a large number of companies went bankrupt, and the unemployment population increased sharply.
Industry has been hit hard, and agriculture must be preserved. The ruling Junker aristocracy, the interests of the class must first be safeguarded.
After the Russian-Prussian War, the Kingdom of Prussia acquired a large amount of land, and became a food-exporting country directly from a food-importing country.
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, everyone's competition was not fierce.
This contradiction changed by the autumn harvest of 1868. It is precisely during the most severe period of the economic crisis that the purchasing power of the people has fallen and international food prices have fallen by 28%.
The major European food exporters are having a hard time. In order to ensure their own interests, the Berlin government led by Juncker aristocrats has to use tariffs to limit Polish food exports.
This is not to blame the Berlin government. Who asked the Polish capitalists to dump food directly into the Kingdom of Prussia?
At first the two governments agreed that Polish farm products could not be sold in Prussia. Obviously, this kind of government restraint cannot restrain capitalists.
Seeing the high price of food in the Kingdom of Prussia, capitalists naturally couldn't bear it.
At first, they only sold a little to the people along the way during the transportation. The quantity was small and 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 caused a trouble. After the negotiations were fruitless, the tariffs were directly offered.
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