Chapter 658 Baldwin the Smart Man

The losses of the branches of Benz Automobile Factory are bad news, but Arthur is not the one who has the most headache at this time.

After all, Arthur only owns half of the dividends and profits of each branch, and most of the real shares are in the hands of local nobles and capitalists.

At least Arthur does not have to worry about the British and German automobile factories. Those British and German nobles are more worried than Arthur, and they will never sit idly by and watch the automobile factories go bankrupt.

As for the Benz Automobile Factory in Australasia and the United States, Arthur can accept such losses.

After all, the cars are just piled up in the warehouse, and they can be sealed for a few years and then sold to Americans at the original price.

At worst, they can lay off employees like other American companies. Anyway, most of the workers are Americans, and the headache after the layoffs is also the US government.

As for the main factory, there is no need to lay off employees.

Domestic cars can be temporarily suspended, and the automobile factory can start the construction of military trucks.

It is just right to take advantage of this period to strengthen the mechanization of the Australasia army. In Europe and the United States, where roads are more developed, military trucks can still play a significant role.

Yes, Arthur is already planning a war against the United States and Europe.

This does not mean that Arthur will take the initiative to go to war with some European countries or the United States, but due precautions must be taken.

History has shown that Germany, which has been passed on the crisis, will never swallow its anger. The Germans have long attached their hatred of the annexed territory to the French, and coupled with the fact that Britain and France are passing on the economic crisis, the Germans will definitely take action.

Even if Hitler does not ascend to a high position, there must be other extremists who will be supported by angry Germans and push Germany into the tide of war.

This trend is unstoppable unless there is a country that can withstand Germany's economic crisis and let the Germans take a breath.

Then the French will let the Germans beat them up and return Alsace and Lorraine.

But is this possible? The French will not agree, and the British will not sit idly by and watch the former German Empire reappear.

After all, the current European hegemon France is just an empty frame, and the former Germany was the real European hegemon, without a trace of water.

However, whether it is a war against Germany or a war against the United States, it is bound to require the support of the British Empire.

These two imaginary enemies are located in other continents thousands of miles away. Without the support of Britain, which has the best navy, Australasia cannot pose a threat to these two countries.

But it is also true that whether it is a war against Germany or a war against the United States, it must be participated by multiple countries.

It is not impossible for multiple countries to unite to divide the United States. After all, the current situation of the United States is not very good, and there is even a risk of civil war.

August 23, 1926, London, England, Prime Minister's Office.

The current British Prime Minister is Stanley Baldwin of the Conservative Party, a relatively familiar guy.

Sitting on his prime minister's throne, looking at the cabinet members around him, Prime Minister Baldwin asked with a gloomy face: "Everyone, what's the situation now?"

"Your Excellency, Germany and the United States have successively announced the suspension of payment of reparations, and the island countries seem to have the intention of suspending the payment of international debts. Under such a situation, the stock market may fall again. This is probably a disaster that will last for a long time." The Chancellor of the Exchequer said with a stiff face.

What's even more terrible is that this debt default is not just happening in Germany and the United States. Almost all countries have the intention to stop paying loans, after all, they can't even make ends meet at home.

In the face of debt default and national bankruptcy, officials in these countries are still very smart. After all, one damages the country's international influence, and the other directly damages the government's credibility among the people.

"Damn it, the United States and Germany are the hardest hit areas of the economic crisis, but how dare the island countries stop paying international debts?" Prime Minister Baldwin asked with a somewhat ugly face.

Although the United Kingdom had terminated its cooperation with the island countries long before, some economic ties cannot be interrupted so easily.

Even if the island countries announced that they would stop paying international debts, the United States would be the most hurt, but it would also have a certain impact on the United Kingdom, especially on the financial institutions in the United Kingdom.

Originally, the financial institutions were barely able to maintain themselves. If the foreign debts could not be recovered, the domestic financial system would sooner or later collapse.

"Your Excellency, Prime Minister, there is no time to care about the stock market decline. The most important thing now is to stabilize domestic financial institutions and ensure that no more factories and banks will go bankrupt due to this crisis." The Chancellor of the Exchequer tried to suggest.

Although the stock market is still falling, how much can it fall? What's more, the London stock market is still under certain control. Some companies have been delisted before the economic crisis broke out, and the disaster of the stock market is not as serious as imagined.

Compared with rescuing the stock market, the financial institutions are the ones that should be rescued the most. Because financial institutions not only control the life and death of those factories and enterprises, but also the life and death of a large number of unemployed people.

If financial institutions go bankrupt directly in the crisis, it is equivalent to the direct disappearance of the people's deposits in the bank.

The people have lost a lot of income, and coupled with the loss of their jobs, riots are inevitable.

This is a heavy blow to the government, and it may even directly affect the stability of the government.

"How many people are unemployed now?" Baldwin rubbed his brows with his palm and asked with a heavy face.

"The situation is not good, Prime Minister." The Minister of State said rather depressedly: "Although we have maintained more enterprises, we still cannot stop a large number of enterprises from laying off employees crazily.

According to our current estimates, there are at least two million unemployed people in London, and there will be more across the country."

"Damn, how can there be so many unemployed people?" Prime Minister Baldwin asked in surprise, unable to control his emotions.

"After the outbreak of the economic crisis, those big companies are laying off employees crazily to save their own expenses. According to our estimates, the number of laid-offs is far greater than the number of people who lost their jobs due to company bankruptcy. This is the real reason for the surge in our unemployment." The Home Secretary said with a somewhat ugly face.

"These damn capitalists." Prime Minister Baldwin understood the reason instantly, and said with some anger but helplessness.

The large number of layoffs must be large enterprises controlled by capitalists. After all, small and medium-sized enterprises basically cannot withstand the first wave of impact, and most small and medium-sized enterprises have gone bankrupt.

Although he knew that all this was done by capitalists, Prime Minister Baldwin obviously did not have a good way to deal with those capitalists.

Although Britain is a monarchy, it is a constitutional monarchy, and capitalists still have considerable power.

Although he may pose a threat to capitalists during his term as prime minister, how long can the prime minister last?

Even those capitalists can use funds to get a large number of MPs to dismiss the prime minister. How can Baldwin, who has lost his position as prime minister, resist the huge capitalist class?

This is also the current situation in most European countries. After the monarch loses power, the power of the government is actually controlled by capitalists.

Capitalists gradually have a say in the government, and the lives of the people are not as good as during the monarchy.

If it were not for the fact that the United States and the Soviet Union promoted the concepts of freedom and democracy after World War II, leading to the rampant human rights and nationalism, I am afraid that the lives of people in European countries would not be so good.

"How many people can our relief food be distributed to?" Prime Minister Baldwin asked.

Since the outbreak of the economic crisis, the British government has begun to distribute relief food to the unemployed.

After all, London is a huge city with a population of more than 7.5 million, with too many urban populations. They have no income and food harvest under the premise of losing their jobs.

If they are not given relief food, it will probably take less than a week for these people to be starved to death on the streets.

"The proportion of our relief money is about 10 pounds of food, one liter of milk, and one pound of meat per household every four days. According to the number of people who have received relief food recently, about 750,000 households are receiving our relief food, and the number is still increasing." The Home Secretary carefully recalled the data and reported it to Prime Minister Baldwin.

Prime Minister Baldwin rubbed his brows and asked, "Are our food reserves sufficient?"

"It is enough for the time being, but it should not last long." The Home Secretary replied, "It is very difficult to transport supplies to each area evenly. It is not easy to maintain the supply in London alone."

Prime Minister Baldwin nodded and said helplessly, "Australasia should have enough food and meat production, right? Now is the time for the allies to contribute. Let them provide us with a large amount of food and meat. Remember, it is the cost price before the economic crisis."

"This, I am afraid the Australasians will not agree, right?" The Home Secretary asked hesitantly.

"We have to give it a try. We can't let our allies take advantage of the economic crisis. Aren't they attracting a large number of immigrants from our unemployed population? Tell Australasia that we support them in attracting a large number of immigrants from our unemployed population, and we can even take the initiative to send immigrants to them. But we also have a request that they provide us with a large amount of food and meat at cost price. This is our friendly cooperation between allies." Prime Minister Baldwin said with a smile.

In the eyes of Prime Minister Baldwin, this is simply a plan to kill two birds with one stone. Not only can a large number of troublesome unemployed people be transported to Australasia, but also a large amount of food and meat can be obtained from Australasia to relieve the unemployed population at home.

In this way, the crisis brought about by the domestic unemployed population can be easily solved, at least his prime minister's throne is temporarily free of risk.

As for the population loss caused by a large number of immigrants to Australasia, Prime Minister Baldwin doesn't care much.

After all, the population of the British Empire is as high as more than 40 million, and the population of the colonies is hundreds of millions.

If it is only a loss of hundreds of thousands or millions of immigrants, it is not unacceptable, especially under the premise that the economic crisis has led to a surge in the number of unemployed people.

If these unemployed people continue to stay in the UK, there will inevitably be more trouble, which will endanger the rule of the British government.

Prime Minister Baldwin thought he was still very smart. Australasia was frantically attracting immigrants from all countries, and it would definitely not eat many British immigrants.

If it was just a few hundred thousand unemployed people in exchange for a large amount of food and meat, then this deal would be very cost-effective, and Prime Minister Baldwin's famous name would be set on the honor roll of British Prime Ministers. The way he dealt with the economic crisis would go down in history and become an outstanding achievement in his prime ministerial career.

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