Before 1920, the most extraordinary building in New York was the Waldorf Astoria Astor. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

The hotel was built by William Waldorf Astoria and his cousin, John Jacob Astor IV. First William built the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, then John built the Astor Hotel, and later the two hotels were connected by a 300-meter promenade and merged into one, renamed the "Waldorf-Astor" Hotel, which became the first landmark in New York.

Just last year, the Waldorf Astoria was sold to Federal Bio for $17 million, and then the Waldorf Astoria became the headquarters of Federal Bio, and the Astor Hotel became the headquarters of Federal Motors.

Federal Biotech and Federal Automobile are both large companies that have just gained fame in the past two years, and the fist products of Federal Biotech are penicillin, as well as nylon, which has just been launched and has not yet formed production capacity; Federal Motors' flagship products are the "Matador", "Jueying" and "Chasing the Wind" series of sedans.

Both companies have been around for less than two years, but they are already some of the largest companies in the United States. Among them, the Federation Biotech made a profit of more than $400 million last year with penicillin, becoming a new gold-absorbing monster; In less than a year after its establishment, Federal Motor successfully snatched half of the country from Ford Motor with its rich colors and beautiful shape, and became the new favorite of the American automobile industry.

It may sound like an exaggeration to use a hotel as a corporate headquarters, but it's understandable, after all, it's not too strange for a large company to have an affiliated hotel.

Federal Bio and Federal Motors, just by hearing the name, you know that these are subsidiaries of the same consortium.

That's right, the Federal Bio Good Federal Automobile does belong to the same consortium - the Federal Group.

At the same time, the Federal Group also has a subsidiary called "Federal Oil".

This is another behemoth, Federal Oil controls two oil fields in Libya, and now, together with France's "Union Oil", it has become the two largest crocodiles in the oil market, they control more than half of the world's oil, and it can be said that they control the world's oil lifeline.

In fact, many people know that whether it is "Federal Oil" or "United Oil", or even the entire "Federal Group", it belongs to the industry of the King of Lanfang, who not only controls an empire with a huge territory, but also controls a huge commercial empire, no matter what field it is, that king is the best.

That's right, the Federal Group is a monster created by Qin Zhiyuan, Qin Zhiyuan owns 75% of the group's shares, and the other 25% belongs to Louis Renault.

At the beginning of 1920, next to the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, a new building was erected.

Known as the "Empire State Building", the 66-storey, 235-meter-high 66-storey building will be the tallest building in New York and will replace the Waldorf Astoria Hotel as a new landmark in New York.

In fact, many people have not noticed that the construction company that undertook the construction of the Empire State Building is also named after the "Federation", and the company called "Federal Construction" is also a subsidiary of the Federal Group, and has a large number of construction workers with an excellent team of designers.

Although it has only been a little more than a year since its founding, the Federal Bloc has become the pride of many Americans, even if he is at the helm of Simon Allen, a Frenchman who has just become an American citizen, but so what, the United States is originally a country of immigrants, and if you push forward a hundred years, all Americans are not Americans.

Simon Allen's office is located on the top floor of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, which was originally a huge luxury suite, which was converted into his own office after the Federal Group purchased the Waldorf-Astor Hotel.

Speaking of which, Simon Allen's office has a very long history with the Chinese, and at the end of the 19th century, when Li Hongzhang, the governor of the Qing Empire, visited the United States, he stayed in the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, which was the suite.

Many people who know about this have speculated with some malice that Simon Allen may be the titular head of the "Federal Bloc" who wants to be a governor under His Majesty the King.

People who think this way must be all kinds of envy, jealousy and hatred, it is not easy to become a governor under His Majesty the King, I heard that as long as he is a governor, the youngest will be awarded the title of "Marquis".

Title!

This is a sign of aristocracy, and it is definitely a scarce title in the democratic United States.

It's not easy to get a "knighthood" reward, Simon Allen doesn't sleep more than five hours a day, and most of the time is at work, although he is in a high position, but the president is too busy to even have time to fall in love, so he is still single.

Well, Simon Allen was the fifth largest diamond king in the United States in 1920.

With the continued downturn in the European economy and the massive outflow of American capital, the U.S. economy has also begun to be dragged down, and during this time, the economic crisis that Qin Zhiyuan had discussed with Simon Allen is becoming more and more obvious, and Simon Allen keenly feels that maybe the economic crisis is really coming.

During the world war, the United States not only got rid of its status as a debtor country in one fell swoop, but also became a creditor country in the world, which made Americans ecstatic and almost a little carried away.

The world war was a catastrophe for Europe, but for the United States, it was an out-and-out.

It's a pity that the good times didn't last long, and after the "carnival" of the world war, now the hidden dangers are finally slowly exposed.

At that time, the people of Britain and France had already participated in the war, and no one was engaged in agricultural production at all, so agricultural products could only be imported from the United States, and in the later stage of the world war, Britain and France needed nearly seventy percent of the agricultural products to be imported from the United States, which also stimulated the rapid development of agriculture in the United States, and the enthusiasm of farmers for production was greatly improved, and in just four years, the scale of agricultural products in the United States quadrupled and the export volume increased by 700 percent.

After the World War, agriculture began to recover slowly as the British and French armies recovered in large numbers, and the farmers in the United States did not adjust accordingly and continued to produce at the pace of the war.

The consequences of this can be imagined: since the beginning of this year, the price of agricultural products has dropped by 300% compared to during the war, but there is still no market.

Like agriculture, it is industry.

War stimulates industry more than agriculture.

During the world war, thousands of tons of munitions were shipped from the United States to Europe every day, American munitions factories worked overtime day and night, and factory owners were increasing factories every day, recruiting workers, and racking their brains to increase production to meet European demand.

Throughout the war, Europe's demand for U.S. arms increased by 950 percent compared to before the war, a maddening proportion.

Industrial production has never been an individual behavior, it is an overall behavior involving the whole society, if you want to process more products, you need more raw materials, more human resources, more capital investment.

Of course, during the war, these investments were well worth it.

But after the war, the madness during the war could have no less serious consequences.

Industry and agriculture are different, agriculture does not need too many human resources, only need to increase the degree of mechanization, can greatly increase productivity, while to improve industrial productivity needs people, only enough skilled workers, in order to fully increase productivity.

Then when the demand is no longer so strong and the products produced are not marketable, the factory owner has to reduce the scale of production and reduce the cost of production, and the most important means is to lay off employees.

Layoffs mean the emergence of a large number of unemployed workers, who will become a hidden danger to society if they cannot find new jobs.

People always have to eat, and the peasants have no income, but they still have food at home, and they can't die of hunger.

What about the workers?

If the workers have no income and no surplus food at home, they are really going to rebel!

In fact, since the middle of last year, the evil consequences of industrial contraction have already appeared, but perhaps because those unemployed workers still have surplus food in their homes, the impact does not seem to be too great, and by April 1920, the impact has become more and more obvious, and a metropolis like New York may not see much sign of chaos, but in an industrial city such as Detroit, chaos has begun to appear, theft, robbery, and even large-scale looting incidents continue to occur, and the government is still pursuing a liberal economy regulated by the market at this time. This adds to the level of confusion.

The Federal Group has a separate department, similar to a twenty-first-century think tank, that specializes in forecasting economic indices.

Just a week ago, the "think tank" of the federal bloc sent a report to Simon Allen that if the situation does not improve, the economic crisis will erupt in a big way by August at the most.

Given the economic stimulus of the world war, the scale of this economic crisis will be unprecedented, and the duration will be very long, more than any previous one.

After receiving this report, Simon Allen immediately went into operation.

For the United States and Americans, the economic crisis is a tragedy, but for Simon Allen and the Federal Bloc, the economic crisis is an opportunity, a good opportunity to "buy the bottom".

The companies under the Federal Group are basically gold-sucking monsters, and since the middle of last year, the head office in Europe has stopped pumping funds in preparation for the "bottom-hunting" during the economic crisis.

It is foreseeable that by the time the economic crisis begins, the Bloc will expand further and become a true empire.

(To be continued.) )