“…… All in all, agricultural societies before the Industrial Revolution were less likely to have economic crises because of their low levels of productivity and the inability to produce much surplus. But the problem is that at the beginning of the 19th century, the first industrial revolution was first completed in Britain and Western Europe, and it was immediately combined with capitalism, and the level of human productivity suddenly increased by leaps and bounds. From then on, the workers can produce wealth far beyond their basic needs, and the capitalists find themselves in need of a constant struggle with overproduction, albeit painful. ”

Professor Yang spread his hands, "...... In essence, the economic crisis is a kind of 'disease of wealth' caused by 'overproduction' -- it is not that human beings are really so high that they do not want to eat better, dress more beautifully, and live more comfortably. Rather, under the pure capitalist market system, it cannot provide enough purchasing power, and it must find a way to find other purchasing power from the outside to compensate...... Otherwise, there will be the fabled misery of capitalism - because too much coal is produced to sell, coal miners are forced to lose their jobs and then freeze to death because they cannot afford to buy coal for heating......

It sounds absurd, but there is no way to do it, capitalism is such a system of cheats that worry about excessive productivity all day long.

As early as Marx's youth, the problem had already developed to a very serious extent - after every economic crisis, factories would cut production and close their doors, the price of machinery and equipment would fall to about the same level as scrap metal, and the unemployed workers would starve to death, commit suicide, and rebel...... As a result, there is a strange situation in which the wind and rain are smooth and the grains are abundant, but the people are displaced, hungry and cold. According to traditional religious and moral values. This is clearly the 'omen of the end times', which means that something is wrong with the entire shijie and needs to be turned upside down!

This is how the European Revolution of 1848 began. At that time, there were more years of economic crisis than normal years, and the proletariat, which could not survive, rose up all over Europe, and even occupied most of the industrial cities for a time, almost upturning the entire social order - it was clear that the economic crisis could not be solved from within the capitalist economic system of Europe at that time.

So, Marx at that time felt. Since capitalism could not accommodate the emerging industrial productive forces, it was time to give way to a new system. Now that industrialization is on the horizon, the only thing that can limit development is purchasing power. Shouldn't the problem be solved by allowing the workers to organize publicly-owned enterprises and directly divide the surplus commodities? In short, Marx felt that capitalism was coming to an end. It is only a matter of time before the proletariat takes over. ”

“…… But this is clearly not the case. It will take another 70 years for the Soviet Union to be born, and capitalism will continue into the 21st century......" Wang Qiu said with a frown...... Is it because the capitalist countries have carried out institutional reforms and implemented welfare systems? ”

“…… Indeed, although the capitalists themselves cannot solve the problem of the economic crisis, the government can come up with a solution - the government can tax a portion of the profits, which can then be converted into purchasing power, and the government can collect taxes from the rich and transfer payments to the poor. Slow down the emergence of economic crises. The government can legislate to limit the minimum wage and allow unions to bargain collectively. If you reduce the rate of exploitation, you will also reduce the purchasing power gap a little. At worst, when the national economy is in an avalanche, the government can also stand up and print money wildly, turning the catastrophe into a small problem of flooding the neck......"

Professor Yang replied, but suddenly changed his words, "...... However, most of these macroeconomic measures were not widely used until the twentieth century, and in the nineteenth century, the economic crisis of capitalism was alleviated mainly due to three external factors:

The first factor is jishu's progress. At that time, Marx did not expect that from the second half of the nineteenth century, mankind began the second industrial revolution, from the age of steam to the age of electricity, and all kinds of new jishu sprung up like mushrooms after a rain...... Obviously, the rapid development of production jishu has forced the capitalists to upgrade their industrial equipment, otherwise they will be eliminated in the cruel market competition - and this investment in equipment is also a huge additional purchasing power, which can make up for the gap between supply and consumption in a few years, and alleviate the occurrence of the economic crisis to a certain extent

The second factor is the opening of new markets. Specifically, China, India, Turkey and other 'Oriental shijie' were opened by Westerners with strong ships and cannons, and became a dumping market for European goods - for us Chinese, as a result, the silver earned by our ancestors with silk, tea and porcelain for thousands of years began to flow back to the West in an uproar, and zuihou led to the complete bankruptcy of the countryside during the Republic of China!

The third factor is the most direct, the most absurd, the most wonderful, and the most similar to the way we collect antiques today - that is, the gold mine! ”

Speaking of this, Professor Yang's eyebrows suddenly fluttered, "...... In 1848, open-pit gold was discovered in San Francisco, North America, and in 1851, open-pit gold was also discovered in Melbourne, Australia. Both of these places were in a state of anarchy at the time, and the gold mines were not too deep, so you could dig ore directly without much investment, and you could even pan for gold in the riverbed without digging holes. So, the poor men of the whole shijie flocked in when they heard the news, hoping to turn over overnight. The former is therefore called 'San Francisco' by the Chinese, and the latter is 'New Golden Mountain'.

It should be noted that unlike the Old World, where the American cowboys all rode horses and shot guns, Australia has always been a place of exile for prisoners, and the inhabitants are extremely fierce. At that time, many ships had arrived in the Americas and Australia, and at night most of the poor sailors who had suffered from the haws had escaped from the ships to pan for gold, and the captain woke up to find that the men had run away and could not even drive the boats. So I had to go to the gold panning myself.

What is the benefit of this gold rush for the people of Shijie? It's not good, gold can't be eaten or worn, from the perspective of the whole shijie. Not a single grain of grain was produced, not a single extra piece of cotton yarn was spun, but there were thousands of less able-bodied people to engage in production, which was simply harmful and useless.

But on the other hand, what good is this gold rush doing to the shijie of capitalism? Saving! What capitalism lacks is demand, and demand is money. In the era of the gold standard, gold was purchasing power! Of course. According to the principle of diminishing consumption mentioned above, if this gold is concentrated in the hands of a few large miners, it will only add gold bricks to the mansions of the rich. It doesn't add much purchasing power. But the gold mines in Australia and the Americas are all in the wilderness, scattered to countless gold diggers, who use gold to buy food and clothing, which is the purchasing power of the resounding one. It's as if God hired these people. Inject hard currency into the entire capitalist shijie. As a result, the purchase and sales boomed, and the economic crisis was alleviated all of a sudden.

You see, gold is something that cannot be eaten or worn, and mining it consumes labor, which can actually alleviate the economic crisis and promote the market prosperity of capitalism. This shows that the economic crisis is not a material problem at all, but that human beings themselves find themselves awkward. Gold saves shijie, reflecting the absurdity of capitalism. Marx saw this absurdity. Only then did he propose to engage in public ownership and communism. to build a more rational new society...... But it's a pity. Until then, this new society still doesn't seem to have been built......"

“…… It does sound strange and absurd...... But what does that have to do with our collection of antiques? Wang Qiu asked with a wink.

“…… What does it matter? It's a big deal! Professor Yang replied, "...... Don't you think that the antique curiosities and Ming and Qing dynasty furniture that we have traveled back through time and space today are very similar to the gold dug up during the gold rush era? The same can't be eaten or worn, and it's also expensive and widely sought after. It wasn't a few oligarchs and rich people who collected them, but hundreds of poor men -- well, while the vast majority of the time-travelers weren't enough to get enough of a subsistence allowance, there wasn't a single guy who was born with a golden spoon in his mouth......"

When he said this, Professor Yang's tone suddenly became a little low for some reason, "...... Ahem, Comrade Xiao Wang, I think you should also know that our China today is not so much socialism as state capitalism. Although compared with the 'democratic' system in which the big conglomerates in the West are in power behind the scenes, China has the advantage of being able to concentrate on big things, and it is also more conducive to social fairness...... But in any case, state capitalism is still capitalism after all, and it still has to live on profits, and the government also has to rely on profits to collect taxes, so it cannot be expected to eliminate the purchasing power gap, except for the external market, it can only rely on the state to reach out and plug the gap, and use tax policy to engage in transfer payments.

But the problem is that there is no shijie government on this earth. If you take a lot of money from the profits of the company and force it to raise wages, the company will definitely suffer. If you collect more taxes and engage in more transfer payments, other countries may not do it; You have labor laws, you have unions, and a lot of other places don't. If other people's enterprises can squeeze the maximum profits to invest in the next round of competition, your business will have to go bankrupt, and if you don't want to go bankrupt, you will move the company to a place where there is no labor law. Moving around, the countries that engage in the welfare state become industrially hollowed out. Moreover, the government collects too much tax, and if it is not accompanied by high tariffs, it is providing purchasing power for other countries in vain. Tariffs are raised too high, people retaliate, a trade war is formed, and purchasing power is still finished.

Therefore, in the years since the beginning of the 21 st century, the global economy has been sluggish for a long time, and China's foreign trade export quota has almost reached its limit. However, domestic production cannot be cut casually, and if it is cut, there will be a wave of unemployment, and many people will have no money to buy things. So what to do?

The solution is simple, since the poor have no money to buy things, give them money to buy things. But you can't give it for nothing, you have to let them work, otherwise you will be raising lazy people. But how do you do it? If you produce things in the capitalist way, you will only produce more and more in surplus. Thereupon. The government has to create a bunch of production models that do not follow the capitalist way, cannot pursue profits, or have to put the recovery of profits in the long term - specifically, all kinds of infrastructure projects, or defence construction projects.

For example, in times of economic downturn, the government issues government bonds, embarks on a series of large-scale projects, and hires workers to build bridges and roads. It is the right of the government to exchange future profits for the money of the rich now. Workers are paid and can now be turned into purchasing power. As for whether the thing made is wealth or not, it doesn't really matter. In any case, what capitalism lacks is not wealth, but the space to accommodate it...... In fact, at this very moment in December 1934, Hitler was hiring workers to build cannons and airplanes, and Roosevelt was building infrastructure throughout the United States and carving the president's face on the mountains -- all of which were tantamount to sending purchasing power to the bottom. The economies of the United States and Germany have suddenly improved. ”

“…… But if you do this, it's basically equivalent to drinking to quench your thirst! Wang Qiu's face suddenly became a little ugly when he heard this, "...... Roosevelt's New Deal aside. Hitler's 'cannons, not butter' policy got zuihou, but it was the full-scale outbreak of the Second Shijie War! ”

“…… No way, history has shown that capitalism has never found a solution from within itself to cure the economic crisis. There are only various emergency methods to tear down the east wall and make up the west wall. If you want to really eliminate overproduction. At present, the only known way is to engage in socialist public ownership and give the capitalist system a funeral...... Of course, the revolution is never a dinner party, and according to this method, I am afraid that more people will die during the period than if we fight another shijie war, and it is not completely impossible for the earth to directly enter the 'nuclear winter' radiation wasteland copy......"

Professor Yang shrugged. “…… Clearly, our government could not have done such a high-risk thing. For the time being, we can only tear down the east wall and make up the west wall, and find a way to engage in short-term operations, which can be delayed for a day. And this is where the social significance of our large-scale collection of antiques lies -- the state can use slogans such as 'promoting traditional culture' to speculate on the price of antiques, exchange money from the rich, and then transfer the money to the people at the bottom who really need to spend money in the form of welfare, relief and construction funds, so as to create market purchasing power and alleviate the economic ......crisis."

“…… I understand, although the antique treasures and the Ming and Qing Dynasty furniture itself, it is true that they cannot be eaten or worn. But the key is to be able to use money, and part of the money earned from the antique trade is distributed to us temporary workers to create social purchasing power, and part of it is confiscated by the state and distributed again, so as to convey purchasing power to the bottom of society; Some of them have been turned into arms and materials, which are used to support the revolution of our party's predecessors in the time and space of the Republic of China, and have provided more orders for modern military industrial enterprises and fed more workers and their families......," Wang Qiu muttered thoughtfully.

“…… Yes, this is equivalent to the gods giving us a gold mine, which is not only large enough, but also appears in a place that no consortium can control, and will not be monopolized by a few rich people or large corporations. By the way, it can also dump some of the surplus goods that have been overstocked...... Even better, antiques are not food, stocks, businesses, or real estate, and even if the antiques market crashes one day, it usually just leaves some speculators and collectors with no money. For the people at the bottom, their lives will not be too seriously affected......"

Speaking of this, Professor Yang suddenly glanced at Wang Qiu meaningfully, and reminded lightly, "...... Comrade Xiao Wang, don't think that the country has taken advantage of you - indeed, without your ability to transmit across time and space, all this trade and exchange would be impossible. But the question is, if you only rely on your own liliang, how much money can you make in the maximum two or three years that the wormhole can last? ”

Recalling the bad experience of being blackmailed by gangsters and then scolded and warned by the old man of the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce when he opened a grocery store in Shanghai earlier, Wang Qiu, who was still in a little entangled, suddenly came to his senses, and couldn't help but scratch his hair with a smile, "...... Hehe, it is estimated that it is the limit to be able to earn tens of thousands of oceans, and I have to share the money with Sister Jinchina's family...... I just feel a little sorry for Su Yu, Fang Zhimin, and their revolutionary ancestors, because we have swept away all kinds of antique cultural relics in this time and space......"

“…… It's just a matter of taking what you need, nothing to be sorry about. Professor Yang replied lightly, "...... Who made our China the first industrial country with serious overproductivity; And here in China, it is in tatters and has a serious lack of productivity?

Moreover, the same thing, in the eyes of different people, has different values. These antiques and treasures that we took away are really not that important in the eyes of our revolutionary ancestors. Because for the Chinese in the Republic of China era, territorial integrity and national independence were the first priority, and everything else had to stand aside -- they were already so downtrodden that they were about to be wiped out, what use were these antiques that could not be eaten or worn?

For example, if we tell them plainly and unequivocally that if we sell all the antiques and treasures of China, we can immediately regain lost territory, expel the great powers, abolish unequal treaties, and achieve industrialization and national rejuvenation...... What do you think they will choose? Professor Yang shrugged, "...... Probably only a guy like Hu Shi, who reads foreign books, speaks foreign languages, and lives in heaven, will jump out to oppose it! ”

※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※

On the other hand, while Wang Qiu and Professor Yang, two travelers, were privately discussing the socio-economic significance of the cross-dimensional antique trade, the revolutionary ancestors of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army were still marching forward for the liberation of the whole of China and the construction of a new world.

By 24 December, the entire Red Tenth Army had landed ashore and began to deploy and assemble in Suzhou. A part of the vanguard took an assault boat and launched an all-out sprint in the direction of Shanghai along the inland waterways in the south of the Yangtze River, which were like spider webs, and seized all the key points of transportation along the way in advance. And tens of thousands of main troops dragged artillery and baggage, and marched along the highway in high spirits!

-- A Red Army soldier wearing a red star is about to make a cameo appearance as Santa Claus, giving the imperialist shili in Shanghai a "generous gift" that will never be forgotten! (To be continued......)