Chapter 655 Big Project, Start!

Arthur didn't care about the sensation caused by the unemployment in Australasia abroad, because he was pursuing to avoid the impact of the economic crisis as much as possible.

Seeing that all countries were affected by the economic crisis, this year's export share would definitely be greatly affected.

On this basis, it is also necessary to make certain changes in national policies. First of all, we must protect the interests of workers and practitioners, stabilize the current unemployment in Australasia, and then strive to gain more benefits from this economic crisis.

How to reduce the number of unemployed people in the country? It is necessary to start a major national project.

It is for this reason that on August 3, 1926, the cabinet meeting on how to deal with the economic crisis was held on time, and all cabinet members participated.

"Your Majesty, since July, our export share has been falling. The economies of European and American countries can no longer recover in a short time. We must prepare in advance to prevent companies from having to lay off employees when their export share drops sharply." At the cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Roger reported to Arthur with a serious face.

The reason why the number of unemployed people in Australasia is relatively low is that the stock market crash has not affected it, and the banking industry is relatively stable, and the impact of the stock market on enterprises is very low.

However, the economies of European and American countries have entered a downturn and are unlikely to recover in a short period of time. Under such circumstances, the reduction of Australasia's export share has become inevitable.

Grain and meat have always been the main export of Australasia. The reduction in export share means that the income of farmers and herders will also decrease.

There are also various industrial products. If an effective market cannot be found, it is inevitable for enterprises to reduce production capacity and lay off employees.

This is when the number of unemployed people in Australasia has skyrocketed, and it is also the time when the Australasia government is most tested.

"What plans does the government have?" Arthur nodded calmly, looked at Prime Minister Roger, and asked.

This is also a time to test the government. It is impossible for Arthur, the monarch, to do everything. The government is the role that advises Arthur.

"Your Majesty, because of your announcement, our current banking industry is relatively stable. This means that corporate layoffs will not happen instantly, but will slowly appear during the period of reduced exports.

I think we need to make two decisions.

First, we should fully export industrial products to the Great Sultanate of Kalimantan and the Philippines to help them build more advanced countries.

At the same time, we should also contact all countries suffering from economic crises. I believe that there will be countries that lack food and meat. We must ensure that our food and meat exports will not be greatly affected and the income of farmers and herders will be guaranteed.

On this basis, we will start national-level major projects to absorb those who are forced to lose their jobs due to layoffs in small and medium-sized enterprises, and reduce our unemployment to a controllable range." Prime Minister Roger stood up and put forward a plan that had been prepared long ago.

"Tell me, what major construction projects are the government preparing?" Arthur nodded again and asked.

"Your Majesty, regarding the North-South Water Transfer Project you mentioned, I think the ground project can already start." Prime Minister Roger replied respectfully: "

In addition, our total railway and highway mileage lags far behind the European powers, and now is the best time to build railways and highways.

The scale of industry in recent years should not expand too much. I think we should focus on increasing grain production.

If we can attract a large number of immigrants from the United States and Europe, our capital special district development plan can also be accelerated, so that we can have a super-large granary in advance."

Australasian has a lot of large-scale construction to carry out, and any one of them requires tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of workers.

Before, because the domestic population was not enough, there was not so much labor to carry out such a large-scale project.

But now, the increase in the number of unemployed people has become an inevitable situation. These unemployed people can be used to build large projects, which not only meets the country's infrastructure needs, but also allows these unemployed people to have more income so that they will not starve in the economic crisis.

The North-South Water Transfer is a plan proposed by Arthur to solve the water resource difficulties in Australia. It aims to mobilize a large amount of drinking water from New Guinea, which is rich in water resources, to transport it to Australia.

Because there is an ocean in the middle, a cross-sea bridge or undersea tunnel technology is needed, which is not available with current technology.

But this does not mean that the land project cannot be built. It is not too late to build the tunnel connecting New Guinea and Australia in the middle until the technology is reached in the future. Anyway, there is sufficient labor force now, and the government has sufficient funds, so it is not impossible to start several major projects at the same time.

"What is the current situation in the United States and Europe? Can we attract a large number of immigrants from Europe and the United States?" Arthur asked.

In addition to the huge impact on the United States and Europe, the economic crisis has also accelerated the population overflow from Europe and the United States.

Historically, Europeans and Americans went to the Soviet Union, but now these people have a better choice, that is, Australasia, which is very similar to Europe and the United States.

"The current situation in the United States is already very bad, Your Majesty." Foreign Minister Dai Ze stood up and said with a smile: "According to the information sent back by the diplomatic ambassador, the unemployment rate in the United States has risen to 13%, and it is even increasing.

People looking for work can be seen everywhere on the streets of the United States, but there are very few jobs, and most of them are companies that are still laying off employees.

According to our estimates, in just this half month, at least a thousand banks in the United States have collapsed, tens of thousands of companies have gone bankrupt, and economic losses have reached US$40 billion.

Once our unemployment data was reported, it attracted a lot of attention from Americans. The West Coast of the United States is now packed with Americans who want to go abroad to seek work.

Once word gets out that we are attracting immigrants, I'm afraid hundreds of thousands of Americans will come immediately. "

Such a crisis is not friendly to a multi-ethnic country of immigrants, not to mention that the United States is still at the center of an economic crisis.

A country is most stable when it is composed of a single ethnic group. As the number of ethnic groups increases, and there are even racial problems like in the United States, the stability of the country is questionable.

This is actually normal. After all, the history of the United States is too short, and its founding can only be traced back to more than 100 years ago.

At that time, the United States had only 13 states. Now it runs east to west across the entire North America, and also has overseas territories such as Alaska and Hawaii.

It seems that the territory is very vast and the population is large, but there are also many domestic problems in the United States, so many that they can even affect the unity of this country.

Originally, those immigrants came to the United States in search of a better environment. Now that the United States is suffering from an economic crisis, it is not surprising that those people immigrated again.

“The Foreign Affairs Department and the Immigration Department should communicate well. What we need more are white British people to prevent black people from coming to Australasia.

As for the rest of the population, we do not prevent them from coming to Australasia, but we must control the number and not affect our population proportion. "Arthur ordered.

As the former jewel of the United Kingdom, the United States still has a relatively large British population. Although Americans are also deepening their impression of the great nation of the United States, Britain is still so glorious today that no one will deny that they are British.

Among those in the United States, except for black people, Australasia is actually acceptable.

After all, Australasia is also a country of immigrants and does not exclude immigrants from all countries.

But in any case, British immigrants, as the main ethnic group, are also the country’s policy and cannot be changed in a short period of time.

When will the national concept of Australasians be properly managed, and when will we be able to attract non-British immigrants in large numbers?

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Minister Dai Ze nodded respectfully.

"In addition to the United States, we will not reject people from Europe. Today is different from the past. We will attract as many immigrants as we can. If we miss such a good opportunity, we will never encounter it again. I hope that the population can grow as soon as possible. Reaching the 40 million threshold is the key to whether we can become a super power." Arthur encouraged the Ministry of People's Livelihood and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and then looked at the Ministry of Finance and said: "

Let’s talk about our infrastructure construction plan. How much funds can the national finance provide? "

Upon hearing Arthur's inquiry, Finance Minister Hunter quickly replied: "Your Majesty, the financial department can use 200 million Australian dollars in funds. Deducting 82 million Australian dollars as the fiscal budget for the second half of the year, our available funds are about 3.8 billion Australian dollars."

Arthur nodded and continued to give instructions: "The funds are sufficient, and the infrastructure construction can start. If the funds are not enough, we can also issue treasury bonds to raise part of the funds.

I hope that there will be no problems with infrastructure and relief, which are related to our survival in the economic crisis.

The Ministry of Finance must provide strong support to various departments, and the capital chain must not be cut off no matter what, otherwise all efforts will be in vain. "

"As you command, Your Majesty!"

"In addition, the British should also have the idea of ​​​​devaluing the pound, right? If the British start to devalue the pound, we will follow immediately and we cannot be at a disadvantage in this currency devaluation." Arthur said with a smile.

Although currency depreciation brings losses to the interests of the people, it has many benefits for the country's economic development.

Especially in the current economic crisis, printing a large amount of money to build infrastructure can wildly boost the economy, allowing Australasia to avoid losses during the economic crisis and even achieve economic growth.

It is nothing more than that the funds in the hands of the people will become less valuable, and the value of the Australian dollar will be significantly reduced.

However, it has become a not-too-distant reality for various countries to abandon the gold standard. Australasia's insistence on the gold standard will only become an alternative and suffer deeply in the import and export trade.

As for the impact of devaluing the currency on the country, which harms the interests of the people, most of it is borne by the government.

As long as Arthur does not show up, the impact of the devalued currency will not affect Arthur and will not harm the reputation of the royal family.

The apparent leader of the government, Prime Minister Roger and the entire cabinet government, are the targets of people's dissatisfaction, and this matter can be easily resolved.

All it takes is a change of prime minister after the economic crisis is over to soothe public sentiment. As for the current Prime Minister Roger, he can be regarded as someone who has followed Arthur since the Principality of Australia. Arthur will never treat him badly. The title of an earl is the best choice to reward and appease him.

Prime Minister Roger obviously understood this. When Arthur mentioned currency devaluation, he understood the benefits and harms caused by currency devaluation, and also understood his role in currency devaluation.

However, Prime Minister Roger would not refuse Arthur's use. After all, Arthur has been very generous to his meritorious officials. He will not give less titles, bonuses, and land.

Although this may lead to the end of his career as prime minister after only one term, isn't it also the pursuit of these officials to get a higher title?

"I understand, Your Majesty. Do we still need to link it to the pound during the currency depreciation?" Prime Minister Roger nodded, not feeling uncomfortable with such a result, and asked very responsibly.

"Let's see what the British do first, but don't be too deliberate about linking it to the pound. Make changes according to the actual situation in our country, and try not to harm the interests of the people." Arthur ordered.

Once the currency depreciation begins, it is not so easy to control. After all, the currencies of other countries are also depreciating, and with the constant changes in import and export trade, it is still very difficult to accurately control the depreciation of the currency.

However, it is still possible to control it within a range, which is why Arthur said to see what the British do first.

After all, the Australian dollar and the British pound were highly linked before, and it was unlikely to break away from the British pound all at once, at least there was no need to do so before the British Empire weakened.

Prime Minister Roger nodded, indicating that he understood.

On August 5, 1926, an infrastructure plan put forward by the Australasian government completely ignited world public opinion.

Because in this infrastructure plan, the Australasian government intends to use at least 500 million Australian dollars to carry out infrastructure construction in railways, roads, food, ports, cities, water conservancy, etc. for a period of eight years.

It is expected to build at least 20,000 kilometers of railways and 40,000 kilometers of roads, add hundreds of grain-producing areas, and increase grain production by more than 3 million tons.

It is also necessary to expand the ports of Sydney, Melbourne and various cities, reconstruct the unreasonable planning of some cities, and expand the scope of Fort St. Arthur, etc.

There are also some water conservancy projects, reservoirs and hydropower stations, including water pipelines for the North-South Water Transfer, etc.

These various projects are expected to create 2 million jobs in total, which also allows the Australasian government to proudly announce that people do not need to worry about the risk of unemployment, because the current vacant jobs are dozens of times the number of unemployed people.

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