Alberton Jr.'s criticism of "tithes" does not stop there, and continues to expose the great damage caused by this tax to the national economy.

"Today, we are meeting at the School of Political Science and Economics, and you must be familiar with economics, so you should realize that the general imposition of tithes is equivalent to subsidizing foreign imports, which is equivalent to helping foreign manufacturers suppress their own manufacturing industries.

Tithes are tantamount to betraying national interests?

Little Alberton's words were simply shocking and not easy to understand, and immediately caused controversy in the venue.

Palatina, one of the few attendees who didn't know much about "economics", turned to Roland with a blank face, lowered her voice and asked, "What did little Alberton just say?" Why does the Church tithes amount to subsidizing importers? ”

"Alberton Jr.'s assertion is correct, but this question is a bit complicated to talk about, and you need to understand a little bit of market supply and demand theory and macroeconomics foundation."

Roland casually drew a Cartesian coordinate system on his notebook, with the number axis representing the price of commodities and the horizontal axis representing the quantity of commodities, and then drew the curve of the supply and demand function in the state of market equilibrium, so that Palatina could understand the problem more intuitively.

"It's understandable that people's demand for a certain commodity in the market is elastic, and if the price is too high, they will buy less, and when the price is lower, they tend to buy more, right?"

"Well, I still have this bit of common sense in life." Palatina nodded.

"In a state of equilibrium between supply and demand, the price of goods will maintain a relatively stable price, and both sellers and buyers will accept this price. What happens when the church suddenly comes to collect tithes under these conditions? Roland asked.

"Buyers have to pay tithes, their disposable income is reduced, they have to buy fewer goods, and sellers have to pay tithes, which is equivalent to an increase in production costs, and they have to pass on the additional costs to buyers, that is, to increase the price of goods, and the buyers' spending power is already decreasing...... As a result, there will be fewer items to sell, sellers' profits will shrink significantly, and buyers will have to endure the pain of cutting back on food and clothing. Palatine replied thoughtfully.

"Exactly!" Roland moved the supply and demand curve to reach a new equilibrium point, "Now let's consider imported goods, assuming that the price of imported goods is the same as that of domestic goods, and the quality is about the same, then buyers don't care about the origin of the goods when they choose, and the sales volume of domestic goods and imported goods are about the same, right?" ”

"That's true." Palatina nodded.

"What happens when tithes are taken into account?" Roland smiled strangely.

Palatina stared at the supply and demand curve for a few seconds, and suddenly her eyes lit up: "I understand! Imported goods are manufactured abroad, and tithes are not paid to foreign manufacturers! The domestic manufacturers who pay the tithes are forced to increase the cost, but the foreign manufacturers do not need to bear this additional expenditure, under the elimination of the other, it is equivalent to the import of goods to get a subsidy, the cost is lower than the domestic goods, the price can also be lower, under the same quality, of course, buyers will choose cheaper imported goods, in the long run, is it not to drive domestic goods out of the market, domestic manufacturers are not to be beaten by foreign competitors all over the ground to find teeth?! ”

That's the basis for Alberton Jr.'s remarks – tithes are actually import subsidies that help foreign manufacturers suppress local manufacturers. In this era of magic industrialization, industrial products are a direct reflection of national strength, if a country's market is flooded with foreign goods, local industries are squeezed into bankruptcy and unable to survive, sooner or later the country will lose its industrial capacity, which is equivalent to the loss of military industrial capacity, in case of foreign invasion, even weapons and equipment can not be made, how to talk about the enemy outside the country? Moreover, the import of foreign goods requires the payment of gold and silver, and the long-term import exceeding the export will lead to the outflow of gold and silver, the national wealth will be gradually depleted, and the currency in circulation will be seriously insufficient, and the national economy will inevitably fall into depression in the long run. Roland concludes, "In this sense, Alberton Jr.'s criticism of the church's indiscriminate and universal tithes is tantamount to betrayal of the nation, and although it is exaggerated, it is not entirely unreasonable." ”

Palatina nodded silently, her eyes radiating sadness. As a devout priest, she had never doubted the legitimacy of tithing, but after listening to Roland's analysis, she had to worry about whether she had served the church all these years as a tiger.

The debate over "tithes" turned into a scuffle. Conservatives and reformers are constantly getting up to speak, one side angrily denouncing the other side for propagating heresy and the other side cursing the other for bringing disaster to the country and the people.

Seeing that the seminar was about to evolve into an "all-martial exercise", Patriarch Gregory coughed heavily, and the divine power emanated from the thin old man, who was not good-looking, and the two sides in the quarrel felt suffocated and quieted down.

Patriarch Gregory slowly stood up and broke the silence.

"Bishop Claude has said a lot, and I didn't want to say much, but after listening to Mr. Weinstein's sharp criticism of the church, I had to stand up and respond."

The old man bowed deeply to the seat where the reformers had gathered opposite, and his words shocked both sides.

"Mr. Weinstein's criticism, if not all, is at least mostly realistic, and the church does have the ills that he points out, and if we pretend to be invisible, what difference is there from those we despise if we pretend to be invisible, and use arguments for the sake of vested interests?"

"I would like to thank Mr. Weinstein and all the wise men of the Reformers, who are like a mirror that shows our shortcomings and makes me realize that the church organization is gradually degrading, that the degeneration of the clergy is not an isolated case, and that it is necessary to carry out a thorough anti-corruption campaign!" The old man looked at the crown prince, "Your Highness Frank, do you agree with me?" ”

"Is it an anti-corruption campaign aimed at purifying the Church...... Frank muttered, and then he lowered his head, "I think it's necessary, Your Excellency Gregory. ”

"Since Your Highness agrees, I will write to Your Majesty as soon as possible to ask for this matter." Grigory sighed, "After the plea, I have to defend the church. As we all know, the Holy Light Church existed long before the founding of our country, and after sixteen centuries of ups and downs, countless once powerful orders have been destroyed and turned into the dust of history, but our church still exists, still plays the role of educating the world, spreading the truth, and maintaining social stability, and it can even be said that without the support of the church, the Assanian Empire would not have been able to continue to this day! ”

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