The Quartet negotiations are still ongoing, and a crisis is looming. The overcapacity of the capitalist world has been fed back to the market, and in order to destock, the British capitalists have increased their dumping of countries around the world.

The Americans were the first to suffer, and even if Austria diverted some of the international capital under Franz's butterfly effect, this did not solve the crisis in the United States.

From 1848 to 1858, Americans built 25,000 kilometers of railroads, 8,000 kilometers less than in history, and the railroad bubble was finally not as bad as it was in history.

It is a pity that in the case of the rapid development of the railroad industry in the United States, the surrounding industries have not been driven. Under the competition of British goods, the metallurgical industry has also shrunk, and the cotton spinning industry has also developed slowly.

Rails, pig iron, locomotives, cotton, hardware, machinery...... are full of British products, and the local industry is struggling.

Now that the British have stepped up their dumping, these industries can't stand it. The cotton spinning industry, which was first hit, kicked off the prelude to a wave of bankruptcies.

Soon it spread to the stock market, and the stock price plummeted, and more companies were implicated.

A large number of factories went bankrupt, and banks and financial companies were naturally unable to escape from them, and a large number of bad debts appeared, a run crisis broke out, and banks went bankrupt.

The economic crisis in the United States soon spread to the United Kingdom, the market shrank, British industrial and commercial exports were also hit, a large number of enterprises went bankrupt, and the British capitalists as investors also suffered heavy losses.

The capitalists reacted sharply, and in order to stop the loss and cope with the possible outbreak of the economic crisis at home, the British capitalists withdrew funds from the American market.

Against this background, in the autumn of 1857 there was a money shortage in the American financial markets, the entire banking system was paralyzed, 63 out of 62 banks in New York stopped paying, and the discount rate exceeded 60%.

The economic crisis broke out in full swing in the United States, and the unprotected American market was vulnerable, and this economic crisis directly triggered the American Civil War.

The capitalists of the North needed cheaper labor to increase their profits, and they needed tariff barriers to protect their interests; Southern planters, on the other hand, needed to lower tariffs in order to export cotton and buy cheap commercial and industrial goods.

Spurred on by the economic crisis, the industrialists of the North decided to turn the tables and began to advocate abolition, preparing to strangle the wealth of the southern plantation owners at the source.

Obviously, this was not acceptable to the southern plantation owners, and the abolition of slavery was tolerable, and the bonded labor system was not much worse than slavery, but the question of tariffs was not negotiable.

The industrial and commercial products in the north are of poor quality, low efficiency and high price, so why should we use them?

Moreover, if tariffs increase, the export of grain, cotton, and tobacco will be dealt a fatal blow, and for every dollar of tax revenue, they will have to reduce their profits by one dollar, and they are completely robbing them of money.

The conflict of interests between the two sides was too serious to be negotiated, and in the end, the southern plantation owners, who were at a disadvantage, began to quarrel for independence.

The outbreak of the economic crisis in the United States has little to do with Austria, the trade volume between the two countries is very small, both are exporters of agricultural products, and the competition between the two sides is greater than cooperation.

However, when the economic crisis spread to Britain, it was difficult for European countries to be immune, and Austria was no exception.

Vienna Palace

Prime Minister Felix said solemnly: "Your Majesty, the economic outbreak in the United States has already affected the United Kingdom, or it will not be long before it affects us.

Once the British withdraw funds and leave, many domestic enterprises will be underfunded, and then an economic crisis will erupt. ”

Franz replied casually: "This is an inevitable result, at least we have been prepared, there will be no shortage of money in the country, as long as the normal exchange of the banking industry is guaranteed, the crisis is under control." ”

Everyone nodded, in order to deal with the economic crisis, the Vienna government made a lot of preparations, first locked up a part of the capital, so that they could not flow out, and then issued a huge amount of bonds to accumulate funds.

Now, even if some British and French capital retreats, the Vienna government still holds a large amount of pounds sterling and francs, which can be directly redeemed without causing an outflow of gold and silver.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Karl proposed: "Your Majesty, the crisis is still under control, so can the implementation of the approval system for the flow of huge funds be suspended?"

After all, doing so would damage our reputation, and there is no need to do so unless absolutely necessary. ”

In this era, capital can be circulated freely between countries without any restrictions. As the first lord to eat crabs, it is possible to become a hero, and more likely to become a martyr.

Once it is disgusted by the capitalists, it will be very unfavorable to Austria in the future of international trade.

Franz thought for a while and said: "There is still to be approval, and a notice can be issued, and the flow of funds in excess of 100,000 Aegis must be declared in advance for 1~3 months."

We ensure that all legal funds flow without restrictions, and funds from uncertain sources must be explained clearly and confirmed that they are not illegally obtained before they can leave the country.

Under the pretext, the government can find more, for example: certain triad groups, transfer funds; Or some corrupt officials, diverting finances......

Take advantage of the economic crisis before the outbreak of Austria, so as not to think that we are restricting the free movement of the economy. ”

Checking the legitimacy of the funds would add a lot of work to the government, but it would be acceptable to add a little cost to fight crime.

As for restricting the flow of funds, this is not worth mentioning at all, and you can declare it in advance. At most, it adds a layer of protection to the financial market, giving the government time to prepare in advance.

Otherwise, a currency crisis like the one in the United States is a lesson from the past. Suddenly, a large amount of foreign capital is leaving, and the government has no time to react, so it can only swallow the bitter fruit.

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

……

The Vienna government did nothing but add a financial firewall, and it was still the era of capitalist free-market economics, and too much government intervention in the economy would cause many people to resent it.

Besides, Franz didn't know how to intervene. In any case, overcapacity is an indisputable fact, and this problem is simply an unsolvable problem.

In 1857, Austria's industrial capacity was more than four times that of 1847, far exceeding the world average, and the after-effect was naturally overcapacity.

This is the inevitable result of industrialization, the efficiency of mechanical production is much higher than that of manual production, and the growth of the market obviously cannot keep up with the growth of industrial capacity.

Therefore, after the first industrial revolution, every once in a while, an economic crisis broke out in the capitalist world.

Finding a new market is actually very nonsense at this time. Against the backdrop of economic crises in countries around the world, where are there markets.

This is not the afterlife, where there are people, there is a market. At present, the productive forces are limited, and the social wealth created is also limited, and the vast majority of people have no purchasing power at all.

In the case of the Russian Empire, with a population of more than 70 million, it was the largest market in Europe, and on the face of it it seemed to be a large market.

In fact, except for the more than 10 million nobles and free people, the rest are serfs, and they have no personal freedom, so what purchasing power do you talk about?

This limited market has long been carved up, and if you want to continue to increase exports, wait for the tsarist government to complete the reform of serfdom!

Relying on the colonial market is also nonsense, except for a few colonies such as India, Cuba, the Philippines, and Nanyang, most of the other overseas colonies are in a state of unexploitation.

The number of immigrants is small, and the locals have no purchasing power, and they cannot find buyers if they want to export industrial products.

In this case, once overcapacity occurs, an economic crisis is inevitable. The best option is not to cover the lid and let the crisis erupt.

Survival of the fittest, the strong survive, the weak doom. This is also the driving force to promote the progress of science and technology, do not want to stand still by competitors to squeeze enterprises must replace equipment in a timely manner, eliminate backward production capacity.

Even if it is a copycat enterprise, it must also work hard, if it is not fast enough, the imitation ability is not strong enough, and the cost is not low enough, it will die.

Time flew by, and by the end of 1857 the economic crisis had spread from England to France. By the beginning of 1858, the economic crisis had continued to spread to Belgium, Austria, and Germany......

Throughout the European continent, with the exception of the Russian Empire, which had not yet completed reforms, no one was able to stand alone. Hit by the economic crisis, all countries have suffered heavy losses.