Chapter 833: Financial War

In the autumn of 1937, with the signing of the armistice agreement between China and Japan, the Second World War, which lasted for more than four years, finally came to an end. The dissipation of the smoke of war www.biquge.info means that international politics, diplomacy and even economy and trade have returned to normal, and those glorious military generals and war heroes have gradually faded out of people's field of vision, and it is the turn of politicians, chaebols, entrepreneurs and inventors to re-enter the international stage.

At the beginning of November, at the Kierruth Naval Base on the west coast of Ireland, the Royal Irish Navy held a ceremony for the decommissioning and storage of a number of capital ships, and 32 warships, including the aircraft carriers "Ulster" and "Queen Charlotte" and the heavy cruisers "Dagda" and "Nuada," which had fought in the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, were put into storage, and a large number of carrier-based aircraft pilots were trained for the Irish NavyThe "Angus" and the long-time gunnery training ship "Long Live Liberty" were decommissioned and dismantled, and their roles were replaced by the famous "Clover" and "Belfast", respectively.

Correspondingly, the Irish army is carrying out disarmament operations in an orderly manner, reducing the number of active troops from 750,000 at its peak to 160,000, the proportion of the country's total population to 2%, and the military expenditure will be reduced by three-quarters to about 8% of the government's annual expenditure, which is roughly the same as the Irish government's investment in technological innovation and promotion.

On the other hand, relying on Ireland's rapid economic development and unique geographical location, Limerick continues to consolidate its position as an intercontinental shipping center, and the Irish merchant fleet with a total registered tonnage of more than 18 million tons is undoubtedly the busiest maritime shipping force of this era, it undertakes 30% of the oil routes from the Persian Gulf to Western Europe, 45% of the trade routes between Western Europe and the Americas, and the Aer Lingus alliance composed of a number of Aer airlines occupies half of the transatlantic air transport......

Before the signing of the Berlin Armistice, international trade was still in a state of disorder, and severe tariff barriers hindered the free flow of goods between Europe and the United States. As the war and conflict between the Allies and the United States and Britain ended with Britain being torn apart and the United States admitting defeat and seeking peace, more than 80 percent of Europe's population and more than 90 percent of its trade market were incorporated into the political map of the Western Allies, and the United States also opened the door to free trade to European countries. From 1936 onwards, transatlantic trade quickly reached historical highs, with Germany, Ireland, Austria-Hungary, Italy, Spain, France, England, and Scotland all becoming beneficiaries of the trade boom. In contrast, Germany and Ireland are undoubtedly the biggest winners, with the Germans seizing a large market share in steel, chemicals, machinery, and cotton spinning with first-class quality and relatively low prices, followed by the Irish military, shipping, and agriculture, animal husbandry, and fishery products with high quality and low prices. Coupled with the large and widely distributed number of Irish people living in the United States, the market share of Irish products in the United States has grown rapidly, and there have been many heavyweight capital cooperation projects such as Limerick Vehicle Manufacturing Group's stake in Ford, Irish Chemical's joint venture with DuPont of the United States, and Limerick Aviation's acquisition of the old aviation company Curtis.

When the wheel of history rolled into 1938, European countries invariably ushered in the first "midsummer" after the war, whether it was the German Empire with strong technology and abundant materials or the Austro-Hungarian Empire with traditional handicrafts and heavy industry as the pillars, from Norway and Sweden in the north of Europe to Italy and Greece in the south, from Spain adjacent to the Atlantic Ocean to Bulgaria on the coast of the Black Sea, and even Lithuania and Latvia These industries are very weak, as well as France, Belarus and Ukraine in an embarrassing political situation. Factories large and small are in full swing, hundreds, thousands of new factories are born on dusty construction sites, in ports and wharves and town railway stations, workers of all colors are in high demand, and in banks of all sizes, the windows for loans are always overcrowded......

The prosperity of all walks of life quickly made the stocks in the stock market rise, and the huge profits brought rich dividends. News reports of overnight riches, coupled with the agitation of so-called academics, have led to more and more people entering the stock market with their savings or borrowed money with dreams of getting rich, and even many industrialists are raising money to invest in stocks driven by high returns. New millionaires emerge one after another, more and more people live in luxury, the snowball effect continues to work, the stock market bubble appears and expands at an unimaginable rate, prices begin to rise, and mortgages and remortgages become commonplace......

In terms of growth, many companies in Ireland are undoubtedly ideal investment targets, but Limerick's stock exchange market is not as turbulent as other Berlin, Vienna, Rome or even Paris, which is due to the Irish government's restrictions on stock trading, the cautious credit strategy of local banks, and more precisely, the ruling strategy of the country's rulers in terms of economy and finance. He has read a lot of books published in recent decades, popular, obscure and professional; He often audited courses at the University of Limerick and humbly sought advice from scholars in various fields. In his royal advisory group, there is never a shortage of strongmen who are raunchy but have real talents.

Knowledge brings reason, and reason determines direction. After many years, Natsuki still remembers the famous "Currency Wars" in the old time and space and the financial crisis he saw, so with the huge profits from the sale of arms and materials during the war, he ordered the Irish and Welsh governments to gradually improve the living welfare of the people and improve social insurance, and on the other hand, let the Central Bank of Ireland hoard gold, and encourage the people to buy and store gold, silver, gems and their products appropriately, and at the same time carried out prudent financial regulation through restrictive means such as stock trading and bank loan tax increases. Between 1938 and 1939, Ireland and Wales had the least active domestic capital markets of any European country, and their economic development and foreign trade were also affected, which led to the suspicion and accusation of the government, but it did not take long for people to realize how calm and wise the "King of the Crowns" was in the face of the general trend of history.

At the same time, on the other side of the globe, the Empire of Japan, which had once again greatly expanded its power through war, entered a "golden age" under the leadership of the Konoe cabinet, and from 1936 onwards, national and government revenues surged at a rate of no less than 20% per year, and in 1938 and 1939 there was an "economic miracle" that increased by more than 30% that year.

Like European countries, Japan's industrial economy is booming, and its capital market is booming. Before the outbreak of World War II, Japan's heavy industry and weapons industry were monopolized by the state, and industries such as textiles and shipping were also controlled by the state. During World War II, stock exchanges were suspended, but with the successive victories of the Japanese army on the battlefield, the sun flag was raised in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, and resources and labor were no longer an obstacle to Japan's economic development, and the rapid expansion of the industrial economy was on the way. Under these circumstances, the Japanese government decided to establish new stock trading rules modeled on Western countries, allowing conditional entry of foreign capital. In June 1937, Japan's stock market fully resumed trading, and in just half a year, 199 companies successively landed on the three major stock exchanges of Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya.

Japan's urbanization peaked between 1937 and 1939 as the economic environment changed dramatically. The grain plundered by the occupation forces from all over the Asia-Pacific region caused the price of food in Japan to drop by more than half, and farming became unprofitable, and a large number of peasants either moved to the cities to earn a living or went to the occupied areas to enclose land, and as a result, Japan's urbanization rate soared from 31% in 1936 to 52% in 1939, setting a record rate of urbanization. As a result, major cities such as Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Yokohama, Kyoto, and Kobe have become scarce, and housing prices and rents have doubled, some by 150% in just three years.

As the New Year of 1940 approached, most countries were enjoying the benefits of economic development, and those who were unaware of the approaching crisis were still heading to the theatre to enjoy singing and dancing, to eat in restaurants, or to embark on a New Year's trip. At this time, the international financial predators used their usual "sheep shearing" method to launch a war without gunpowder smoke and without borders. Austria-Hungary, Italy, and Spain, the three European countries with a high degree of industrialization but low technological content, were the first to "fall", and the continuous collapse of the stock market made many enterprises and individuals who had borrowed money into the stock market face bankruptcy, and the rupture of the capital chain triggered a chain reaction......

When the southern European countries were struggling in the quagmire of the financial crisis, most people thought that Germany, which was economically and financially strong, could withstand the storm like the strongest seawall, but ignored the huge hidden dangers of the German government and private debt ratio being too high and the stock market and housing market bubble being too large. At this time, the mighty military machine could not save them from fire and water......

(End of chapter)