Chapter 1073 Evil Free Trade

The spring breeze of reform has blown all over the British Isles, but Britain has not been able to change its face. It's not that reform is impossible, the crux of the problem is how to reform.

The domestic economy continues to decline, which has stimulated the British. The elite group knows that Britain has reached a fork in the road and must carry out social reforms.

Despite the economic troubles, Britain is still at the top. It is not popular in the European world to talk about prosperity and decline. If you look through the history books of Britain, they will be awesome this time.

If it weren't for the rise of the Holy Roman Empire, which added pressure to them, it is estimated that most British people would not even have a sense of crisis.

In fact, even now the British do not have a strong sense of crisis, and do not think that the powerful British Empire is at risk of overthrowing.

There is no way, Shinra is too quiet. Even if a super battleship is produced, it will only come out for a while and then go back.

The originally expected arms race, because the Vienna government did not follow up in time, made the British lose interest.

After all, there are still a lot of old warships in Britain. If the "dumpling contest" is started at this time, all the old warships in front will be scrapped.

The landlord's family also has no surplus food, especially during the downturn of the domestic economy, the government's fiscal revenue has not increased but decreased, and the budget has to be saved.

Anyway, with the protection of the strait, as long as the advantage of the Royal Navy is still there, everyone will not panic.

If external pressure is not enough, internal unity will naturally fail. After all, reform is also a double-edged sword. Some people benefit from it, while others suffer from it.

Vested interest groups are unwilling to give up the interests in their hands, and conflicts arise. From the beginning of the reform, the British Parliament has fallen into a noisy mode.

The British government in these days has very limited powers. There are not only parliamentary constraints, but also the king's pressure.

As Britain's king who remade the monarchy, Edward VII was no rubber stamp. It is simply impossible for the cabinet government to mess around casually.

The strength of the conservatives is strong, and the internal constraints of the government are so strong. Naturally, the reform progress of the Campbell government cannot be fast.

For a big country, it is natural that reform should be delayed rather than rushed. It doesn't matter if you go slow, but if you go too fast, there will be big problems.

But for enterprises, the situation is completely different. Fortunately, the traditional industry has built a moat itself, and it can survive even if there are shocks.

What is really unlucky is the emerging industry. Constrained by the narrowness of the British domestic market, it is inherently deficient, coupled with a slow start, and before it has time to fully develop, competitors will come over.

The most typical ones are machinery and equipment manufacturing and the automobile industry chain. The related companies have either gone bankrupt or are on the verge of bankruptcy.

...

Stepping out of the government office building, McCall's smiling face has disappeared. As the boss of Britain's leading manufacturer of high-end machine tools, it stands to reason that McCall's small life should be very nourishing.

The reality is just the opposite, as McCall's machine tool shop has been concentrating on traditional areas because of misjudgment during the Second Industrial Revolution.

Not only his family, but the British machine tool manufacturers have all plunged into the field of steam engines, and have not laid out in the emerging electric power field at all.

With the large-scale popularization of electricity, electric power has also emerged, gradually occupying a dominant position in industrial production.

One step at a time, one step at a time.

By the time McCall reacted, competitors' products had entered the British Isles. With excellent performance and low running costs, it quickly took a big piece of the pie from them.

Thanks to the conservatism of the British capital, it was not diligent in replacing equipment, and the steam engine still had merits and was not completely eliminated. McCall's factory survived.

It's just that with the strong entry of competitors, a large part of their orders has been robbed, especially almost all overseas markets have been lost.

The market share has decreased. In order to survive, the British machine tool companies that chose the wrong path have been passively caught in a brutal price war.

Even leading companies are no exception. After all, now they are just the leader of Britain, not the leader of the world. Compared with international counterparts, McCall's enterprises have fallen behind in terms of comprehensive technology.

Changing the track is easy to say, but it is not so easy to do it on a new track.

In order to survive, McCall had to turn to the government for help.

Don't talk about "free economy, oppose government interference in the market", those are slogans shouted when needed; now they are no longer needed, so naturally they have to be thrown away.

As a "high-tech" industry leader, there are always some privileges. Regardless of whether the technology has lagged behind the international counterparts, McCall's machine tool factory is still a big brother in China.

As long as the London government does not want to see the field of high-end machine tools falling under the control of competitors, it must support local enterprises.

For his own personal benefit, McCall, a teenager who advocated free trade in the past, has now become a staunch supporter of "trade barriers".

There is no way, without resorting to extraordinary measures, normal commercial competition simply cannot compete with competitors.

Even if McCall was determined to increase the research and development budget by 50,000 pounds, it would be far from being able to compare with the investment of competitors.

The technology itself is backward, and the investment in research and development is insufficient. It is obviously a big dream to rely on technological breakthroughs to overwhelm competitors.

It is not impossible to continue to increase investment, but McCall is first

capitalist. For capitalists, profit comes first. It doesn't matter if you outperform your competitors as long as you can make money.

If it is really unlimited investment, it may be able to catch up technically, but the return on investment will definitely not be impressive.

If you can't make money, it's useless to be number one in the world.

Investors have only one requirement for a company—making money; and there is only one indicator for evaluating whether a company is excellent—whether it makes enough money or not.

McCall has already passed the age of the second year of middle school, so naturally he will not put all his wealth on the stud just for the sake of a name.

Instead of conducting scientific research trade, it is better to conduct political public relations and directly block competitors from the country.

The domestic market alone may not be able to make a lot of money for the company, at least it can guarantee long-term profitability.

As long as there is enough time, McCall believes that his company will definitely catch up and then compete with international competitors for the market.

As for how long this time is, no one knows. It may be three to five years, or it may be twenty or thirty years, anyway, there is always hope.

...

No matter how the situation changes, as long as life can go on, there will always be a banquet.

Leaving Government Avenue, McCall drove a limousine made by Shinra to the suburbs, and the destination was a manor named "Peter".

Tonight, there is a banquet organized by business leaders here. As an important member of the business community, McCall was also invited.

Even though they arrived early, the manor was still full of voices, apparently there were quite a few people who suspected the same thoughts.

I don't know when it started, "banquet" is no longer just a "banquet". Most of the time, the people who attend the banquet have their own purpose.

Stepping into the venue, McCall found his inner circle. In the past, McCall was also the focus of banquets, and there were a bunch of people flattering him wherever he went.

It's a pity that the good times don't last long. With the intensification of competition in the machine tool industry, the voice of machine tool companies in the market is constantly decreasing.

Gone are the days when production orders were scheduled several years later and goods were obtained through relationships.

For the survival of the company, McCall had to let go of his face, actively participate in social communication activities, and strive to maintain the relationship with customers.

Of course, this is not enough. Capital seeks profit, and if the product quality is not good, no matter how good a relationship is, it will not matter.

One of the important factors to be able to maintain the current basic market is that everyone is in the same consortium and has a certain proportion of cross-shareholdings.

Everyone is a community of interests. When the price/performance ratio of products is comparable, everyone is more willing to use their own products.

If the performance is incomparable, it can only kill the price. The machine tool industry, which was originally a huge profit, has recently reached the price of cabbage.

In the pure machine tool business, it is now a loss to sell one machine. If it wasn't for the after-sales service that can still make money, McCall's machine tool company can consider closing down now.

Shortened the wine glass and touched the visitor, McCall asked with a smile: "Byron, I haven't seen you for a long time, how are you doing recently?"

No matter how much inner pressure there is, he has 120% enthusiasm for his client McCall. It is this kind of positive marketing attitude that allows McCall to overwhelm his domestic counterparts and secure his position as the leader in the subdivision track.

The middle-aged man shook his head and replied with a wry smile: "It's very bad. The damn Austrians are like rats, constantly grabbing our wealth.

I haven't had a good day since they introduced their new model last year. To tell you the truth, I've had three layoffs since the beginning of the year. "

It's no secret. You can tell what kind of life the British car companies are living by looking at the brands of cars that everyone is running.

The characteristic of industrialization is: the more the same product is produced, the lower the production cost of a single product.

Britain's automobile industry did not start late, it could even be said to be very early. As early as 1680, Newton, a famous British scientist, conceived of the jet car. Although the jet car was not successful, the idea of ​​the car was brought forward.

In 1804, British engineer Richard Trevithick made the world's first steam engine car, which opened the prelude to the British automobile industry.

It's a pity that the king at the beginning was played bronze in the end. Since then, the history of automobile development has shifted from Britain to France, and then to Shinra.

The steam engine car is also a car. Although it is not very convenient, it is still very valuable in certain occasions, so it is still produced in small numbers.

Logically speaking, British auto companies with industrial heritage should not be left behind. The key to the problem lies in the second industrial revolution.

Missing the wave of the second industrial revolution, internal combustion engine technology has not kept up, and the engine of the car has become the biggest shortcoming in the British auto industry.

The performance of our own engines cannot keep up, so we can only import them from overseas. Anyway, now is the era of free trade, and we can buy whatever we want.

The core technology is controlled by others, and it is impossible not to pay the price. The most direct manifestation is the increase in production costs.

It's just that the engine is expensive, and it can be tolerated, and the big deal is to make a little less money.

The problem is that the production capacity of automobiles in Britain is very low, even the production of spare parts is not high, and the cost of production will go up if there is less production.

Most of the spare parts produced locally are not only cheaper than imported

It's expensive, and even the performance can't keep up.

Supporting domestic production does not exist, and the pursuit of capital profits is naturally to buy cost-effective products. The direct consequence is that the British car manufacturer has become a car assembly factory.

In addition to bearing the name of a car manufacturer and having an extra car logo, the auto repair shop outside their work is also capable.

With the development of science and technology, information is becoming more and more transparent. After discovering this point, more and more auto repair shops have played cross-border, intensifying market competition.

The domestic competition was already very fierce, but I didn't expect the international competitors to kill me again. Relying on the advantages in performance, many of Shinra's car brands have gained a firm foothold.

The first is the fall of high-end brands. If you look at the cars in the manor, you will know that they are almost all imported cars.

Including Byron, a car manufacturer, the cars are also imported. There is no way, their own products are actually worse in performance. For the sake of life safety, everyone knows how to choose.

If the high-end market is lost, it will be lost. There are not many sales in the first place. Before the influx of imported cars, the most important means of transportation in British society was horse-drawn carriages.

It is different now, and a large number of cheap cars have followed suit. Assembly plants without core technology will naturally have a hard time, and a large number of market shares will be squeezed out.

In order for the company to survive, Byron had to choose to lay off employees and reduce production. But these can only relieve the urgent need, and it is far from enough to survive the crisis.

Customers were having a hard time, so McCall naturally couldn't bring up the order. In a sense, everyone is in the same boat now.

If you want to live a comfortable life, you can only defeat the free trade system first and rely on tariff barriers to protect the market.

"Be optimistic my friend, it will get better. The difficulties are only temporary and the main problem is the free trade system.

Without this system, we would have been able to raise tariffs to protect the market and buy time for businesses to grow.

That's what the Austrians did back then. If it weren't for the implementation of the trade barrier policy, they would never have become the world's number one industrial power. "

Lying is also a science. As a qualified capitalist, this is the most basic survival skill.

Although McCall himself didn't believe that Britain's industry could be overtaken by trade protection, but in terms of momentum, it must not be cowardly.

He raised his wine glass and touched it, and Byron drank it all in one gulp, and then said with the same hatred: "My friend, you are right.

It's all the fault of that wicked Free Trade Agreement, without which the wealth of Britain would not have been stolen.

For the sake of Britain, we must right this wrong. This damn treaty must not be allowed to continue the future of tea-poisoned Britain..."

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