New York, the largest city in the United States, became even more prosperous after the war. Beginning in 1865, the U.S. economy began to grow again, and everyone's life seemed to get better all of a sudden.

Of course, this is just an illusion. There is a sense of happiness when there is contrast, and compared with the war period, life is indeed much better now.

The United States is rich in resources, and because of the war, the population has been greatly reduced, especially the young and strong.

Affected by the supply and demand of the market, in order to obtain sufficient labor, the capitalists had to bring in cheap black labor on the one hand, and raise wages on the other hand to retain the original workers.

The increase in income has eased social contradictions. It's the weekend, and Tom has asked his girlfriend Elena out to hang out.

"Tom, have you noticed that the goods have been a lot cheaper lately? I had my eye on a skirt last month, and now the price has actually dropped by half. ”

Tom said distressedly, "I'm sorry, dear. We've already spent our budget for the month, why don't we wait for the next week's payroll? ”

Influenced by American culture, young people are not in the habit of saving money. As a member of the Moonlight Clan, Tom only cares about prices for half a month after his salary.

In addition to leaving money for living, his salary will last for half a month at most. This is still a good job, an honorable employee of a securities company, and can barely be considered a member of the middle class.

New York is a city that is both heaven and hell.

It's only for the rich, and it's better for the poor not to go out. Otherwise, the more you see, the more difficult your life becomes.

For Franklin's sake, Elena nodded. There is no way, if you don't have a limited income, you can't survive in the city of New York.

Not for the best, but for the most expensive, that is the New York of this era. The most expensive area in the United States, or the most expensive area in the world.

As he wandered around, Tom's face grew gloomy. Advertisements for discount promotions are everywhere, from small clothing, shoes and socks, to large machinery and equipment, almost all of them are tearful sales.

As a top graduate of Columbia University and working in finance, Tom is more sensitive to the economy.

This large-scale price reduction made him realize that something was wrong. Don't look at the fact that there are many people rushing to buy now, but the total market demand has not changed.

Buying now is equivalent to advancing the purchasing power of the future. Fortunately, there is a tradition of moonshine in the United States, and there is no advance consumption, that is, credit cards were not born.

It's not the benevolence of the capitalists, it's mainly that the technology is not up to standard. You can't play such a tall thing, otherwise you would have advocated advanced consumption a long time ago.

Tom smiled bitterly and said, "Elena, it seems that we are going to prepare for a hard life. ”

He can perceive the problem, but the capitalists at the top can't find it? Any economic crisis is foreshadowed.

In almost every economic crisis, the consortium standing at the peak of capital has made a lot of money. If they lose, they are either too stupid and are overshadowed by their opponents; Or they're too greedy to earn the last Franklin.

Elena was surprised and asked, "What's the matter, are you unemployed?" ”

"No, but soon." Tom replied

Elena comforted: "It doesn't matter, with your ability, it will be easy to find another job." The big deal is that starting next month, we're cutting spending. ”

……

Just when the two were discussing, the market had already fed back to the final production enterprises. Due to the impact of cheap goods in Austria, many companies could not sell their products.

The economic crisis in Britain is unknown to the general public, but it is no secret in capitalist circles.

……

At Citibank's executive meeting, President James said: "Ladies and gentlemen, according to the intelligence we have gathered, there has been a sharp increase in the number of ships coming from Austria recently, all of which are carrying industrial and commercial products.

From toothbrushes, screws, and nails to mechanical equipment. Involving almost all walks of life, there is no doubt that this is a dumping.

It was not only the Austrians who were in action, but the British were not idle. The number of ships coming to the United States from London increased by one-third.

The British are also dumping goods on us, which is not a good thing for us. Our customers are powerless to resist the price war they have unleashed.

In other words, the vast majority of American companies have no power to resist. So we have to take action, otherwise it won't be long before a lot of bad debts will appear. ”

Citibank is the oldest bank on Wall Street, and it is not yet the giant Citibank of later generations. The main business of banks is not arms, but lending and financial securities.

In this era, the scale of the US arms industry was very small, and the international arms export market was monopolized by European powers, and these industries could not afford to support a single bank in peacetime.

Now Citibank's connection with the military-industrial complex, that is, commercial loans, has not yet been directly invested. Now that there is a crisis, it is natural for banks to protect themselves first.

Shareholder Babuno asked, "Mr. James, what are you going to do?" I am afraid it is too late to push Congress to legislate to raise tariffs and restrict the entry of foreign goods. ”

Action was inevitable, a legacy of the civil war. While intervening in the American Civil War, Britain, France, Austria and Spain also opened up the American market.

If you want to increase tariffs to protect the market, it is naturally not so simple. This is also the reason why Austrian goods can be dumped quickly in the United States, and without tariff restrictions, low prices become unbeatable.

The most troubling thing is that these industrial and commercial products are not only inexpensive, 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, and they can only rely on cheap to seize the market compared to imported goods.

Now the tragedy is that Austrian goods are being sold in tears, the British are following suit, and the winter of domestic manufacturing in the United States has arrived.

James shook his head and said, "Of course not, we're not saviors. An economic crisis is inevitable, even if tariffs are raised to protect markets.

Now what we have to do is stop the loss and make a profit in this crisis. I want the Board of Directors to authorize the temporary suspension of external loans.

For risky loans, I am also ready to send someone to collect them in advance. At the same time, most of the securities and stocks in their hands were sold, and the bank dispatched professional traders to prepare to short the stock market. ”

This is not to save the market, but to fall into the ground. But it's not the point, as long as you can make money.

Qualified capitalists, profits are always placed in the first guard. Conscience, social responsibility, these lofty words can be said, and whoever takes it seriously will be stupid.

Especially in the 19th century, the bloodiest era of capital, every Franklin was stained with blood and sweat behind his back.

There is nothing to negotiate, and the time for shuffling has come again. Before resisting the invasion of European capital, you must first ensure your own survival.

What happened during the last economic crisis is still fresh in everyone's mind. Hesitation and lack of preparation, lack of sufficient cash in hand, there was a frenzied money panic in the United States, and Citibank almost went bankrupt.

With the development of the capitalist economy, economic crises are becoming more and more commonplace. At the beginning, it was once every few decades, and then it became once every ten years, and it will soon become once every few years.

There are many financial capitalists who make the same choice, and there is no warmth in front of interests. In this era of the jungle, everyone wants to survive, and they can't be ruthless.

The banks shrank their monetary base, which soon set off a chain reaction. Many enterprises have fallen into difficulties, including some enterprises with good efficiency, but also because of the rupture of the capital chain, caught in the life and death of life.

Layoffs and production cuts have become the hottest words in American society. The streets are full of people looking for jobs, but there are few companies that are hiring. The post-war economic boom that had just begun just came to an early end.

The same thing is happening not only in the United States, but in many parts of the world. Austria just preemptively opened the door and deflected the economic crisis.

Immediately after the actions of the British, the whole world was directly dragged into the water. The world's largest industrial country is also the country with the world's largest commodity backlog.

The British capitalists, in order to survive, dumped goods directly on the European continent.

The first to suffer was France, where a large number of British textile products were imported at the price of cabbage, and the Paris government's repeated tariff hikes could not stop it.

There was no way, this time Austria took the lead and dumped goods on economically backward countries. By the time the British reacted, the purchasing power of the market had been almost depleted.

There is no industry in these countries, and the dumping of industrial products does not affect the agricultural economy, and many people are still glad that they have bought cheap goods.

It's different in European countries, everyone's industry has started. The dumping of goods by the British has seriously affected the economies of various countries. There is nothing to say, and they have played with the tariff firewall.

The crisis has widened on the European continent, and no one is immune to it, including Austria, from which 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 was a colonial flood that was able to alleviate the crisis.

Countries without colonies are miserable, for example: Belgium, a small industrial powerhouse, has been hit hard. Without overseas markets, Belgium's industrial capacity was cut in half in 1868.

Poland, which had just emerged from independence, was not spared. Without the large market of the Russian Empire, Poland's fragile industrial system collapsed in the first wave of shocks.

Even the export of agricultural products has not escaped the catastrophe. As a result of the economic crisis, international food prices plummeted.

Coupled with the fact that they themselves did not have access to the sea, the cost of tariffs increased, which directly led to the loss of competitiveness of Polish agricultural products.

This further complicates the already contradictory Put-Polish relationship. The Poles hated the Kingdom of Prussia more and more, and imposed tariffs on their agricultural products.

In fact, the Kingdom of Prussia was also difficult to protect itself, and it could not take care of the Poles at all. After the economic crisis broke out, the British did not let go of their little brother.

A flood of British goods swept in, the fragile industries of the Kingdom of Prussia were devastated, a large number of enterprises went bankrupt, and unemployment increased dramatically.

Industry has been hit hard, and agriculture has to be saved. It is the Junker aristocracy that governs, and the interests of the class must be defended first.

After the Russo-Prussian War, the Kingdom of Prussia acquired a large amount of land, and directly changed from a grain importer to a grain exporter.

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, and the competition was not fierce before.

This contradiction changed by the autumn harvest of 1868. It coincided with the height of the economic crisis, when people's purchasing power fell and international food prices fell by 28 per cent.

The major grain exporters in Europe were living a hard life, and in order to protect their own interests, the Berlin government, dominated by the Junker aristocracy, had to restrict Polish grain exports with tariffs.

This is not entirely to blame for the Berlin government, who allowed the Polish capitalists to dump grain directly into the Kingdom of Prussia?

Initially, the two governments agreed that Polish farm products could not be sold in Prussia. This kind of restraint between governments obviously cannot restrain the capitalists.

Seeing the high price of grain in the Kingdom of Prussia, in the face of interests, the capitalists naturally could not help it.

At first, they only secretly sold a little to the people along the way during transportation, and the small number did not attract everyone's attention. Later, the business got bigger and bigger, until the lid couldn't cover it and broke out.

There was no warmth in front of interests, and the Junker aristocracy, whose interests had been damaged, made a fuss, and the Berlin government naturally knew which side to stand. After the negotiation was fruitless, he directly offered a tariff trick.