Chapter 822 It’s all leeks
When Felix first retired, he vowed that he and Yusupova would travel around the world. However, they did not even go out to the Mediterranean Sea. They only spent two months basking in the sun in the Aegean Sea before returning to Russia.
The situation is so chaotic now, and there is an economic crisis abroad. The scenery here in Russia is unique. Even if Felix and Yusupova have private army protection, they are still safer in Russia.
After Guchkov learned that Felix was back, he extended an invitation to Felix, hoping that Felix would return to politics.
Felix was fed up with the endless meetings and documents, and he was very determined. He only took the name of the chief executive of the family foundation, and he and Yusupova acted freely and freely when they had nothing to do.
Russian foundations are different from American foundations in that they only accept social donations and are not allowed to make any investments other than the purchase of national debt.
George and Anne also have foundations in their names and have always been the main force in purchasing national debt.
The Yuriev family has such a deep connection with Germany. The two generations of matrons are Germans. George actually did not buy German government bonds this time. If something goes wrong, something will happen.
Although Germany's debt ratio is high, it has not yet reached the point of defaulting on debt payments.
Even if we do, we don’t dare to rely on Russia’s debt.
Now Germany has stopped paying war reparations to Britain, France and the United States, and only Russia's reparations are still being paid normally.
George is not afraid that Mustache will not pay back the money. As long as Russia stops sending energy to Germany, the machines in the German factories will stop running.
"So, what are you worried about?"
Felix was curious. Normally, Russia should increase its support for Germany now.
After the economic crisis broke out, the United Kingdom and the United States had too much to take care of themselves. They not only stopped economic aid to Germany, but also withdrew funds from the German market. At this time, Russia should accept the market left by the withdrawal of British and American funds.
"The United States has fallen victim to Germany's economic recovery, and Russia is next."
George is also a layman, and he is afraid that his German relatives will suffer hardship, and he does not want to see his German relatives drive a Land Rover.
As the German economy recovers, Germany is becoming less and less dependent on American and Russian goods.
Old Karl is also ruthless. Under normal circumstances, he should gradually reduce the import of American and Russian goods and be impartial.
However, Old Carl directly stopped orders from the United States and gave all orders to Russia, which completely detonated the U.S. stock market.
This is obviously Old Karl's revenge against the United States, and the Germans' unwillingness to admit defeat is also fully exposed.
Since the Germans refuse to admit defeat, as Germany's economy grows, Germany's dependence on Russian goods will become less and less. Even when German productivity increases to the extent that it exceeds the German market demand, German goods will take the initiative to leave Germany and enter the world of free trade. Competition with Russian products within the alliance.
This is what George is worried about.
"What are you going to do? Expel Germany from the free trade union?"
Felix's expression was serious, there was no room for two tigers in one mountain, and there could only be one talker in the Free Trade Alliance.
"Russia is never afraid of competition of any kind!"
George has a strong voice. If Mustache wants to challenge Russia's dominance, then let's do it.
Like George, Guchkov is not afraid of competition.
Russia's advantages are too great. Its advantages in resources alone completely overwhelm Germany. No matter how advanced the cars made by Benz are, they still have to buy gasoline from Russia.
What's more, Russian cars are now representatives of technological advancement. German cars can't beat not only Russian cars, but also American cars and even French cars.
Germans are still very resilient.
In Germany, although the reputation of Russian cars is well known, there are still many Germans who would rather buy German cars with backward technology and insufficient comfort at high prices than foreign cars.
Most of the people who drive foreign cars in Germany are Hebrews.
Even Germans working in Russia buy German cars.
These people are the backbone of Germany.
Those who are not firm in their stance have already become Russian citizens.
So in Germany, it is very easy to tell whether a person is a Hebrew, just by looking at the car he drives.
Although this reason is not scientific, in the environment where the Hebrews have caused public outrage, it is completely irrational.
Guchkov followed suit, continued Felix's policy to the greatest extent, and continued to strengthen Russia's advantages.
The two major sources of taxation in Russia during the Felix era were tobacco tax and alcohol tax, which were also one of the few legacies of the Imperial Russian era. Most other industries were controlled by capital. The Russian government could only supervise dividends and did not interfere with the operations of enterprises.
Guchkov once again raised import and export taxes on the luxury goods industry, taking money directly from George's pocket.
In Russia during the imperial era, there was no concept of luxury goods at all. The best products only served the powerful and capital, and ordinary Russians had no access to these things.
With the demise of the four empires, many families that specialized in serving the aristocracy went bankrupt, which also gave ordinary people the opportunity to come into contact with this industry.
Are handmade Faberge eggs really worth tens of thousands of rubles?
In fact, no one buys it, even a thousand rubles is not enough, what is sold is a craft.
The Yuriev family itself relied on the luxury goods industry. After the demise of the four empires, many skilled craftsmen were employed by the Yuriev family and continued to produce luxury goods for external sales under the name of "exclusively for the royal family."
The real "royal exclusive" is still out of reach of ordinary people.
The clothes George is wearing now are still made of ordinary fabrics, and the complexity of their workmanship has far exceeded the requirements of luxury goods. The person who knew the most about George’s figure was not Anne or George’s family doctor, but the tailor at the Yuriev Palace.
"The import and export tax on luxury goods has almost reached 100%, what else do you want?"
George resolutely resisted, and the Russian Empire was not such a cheat.
Well, during the Russian Empire, George was doing business with Nikolai. George could pay as much tax as he wanted. The tax officer did not check the Yuriev family’s accounts at all. George became a member of the Imperial Russian Empire based on his noble personal cultivation. model tax payment.
"Nowadays, more and more expenditures are spent on education, medical care, infrastructure and other aspects every year. The government needs to collect more taxes to ensure that the finances do not collapse."
Guchkov is unruly and who can blame him!
George was the initiator of the establishment of the welfare system in Russia. If Werther had not been forced by George's power, he would not have had the courage to take drastic measures.
George is definitely right. Compulsory education allows Russians to reduce their educational burden, improving medical standards makes Russians' health more secure, and improving infrastructure can effectively increase Russians' happiness.
But these improvements are based on increasingly higher fiscal expenditures.
If the Russian government did not care about the life and death of ordinary people like Britain and the United States, not only would it not need to issue national debt, but it would be able to build a hundred battleships a year.
Referring to the current price, 100 battleships only cost 2 billion rubles.
Russia spends more than 2 billion on education every year.
"You can issue debt. As long as the debt is at an acceptable level, you can ensure healthy financial operation."
George takes it for granted that there is no country in the world that is not in debt.
"But debt itself is unhealthy——"
Guchkov made an astonishing statement. If he puts it this way, the only healthy era in human history was the rule of Wenjing.
If Emperor Wen and Emperor Jing had implemented compulsory education in the Han Dynasty, they would have definitely been in debt.
"Appropriate debt is good for finances, as long as you don't mess it up."
George encouraged Guchkov to work hard.
Relying on debt to develop the economy like Mustache is not a skill.
If you can lead Russia forward without borrowing debt, that is your real ability.
"Trash?"
Guchkov was confused and did not understand the essence of ruining it at all.
"Hoover and Baldwin were screwing."
George reminded Guchkov that there are many people in Russia who want to do it if you don’t want to do it.
Guchkov was very angry and went back to raise the export price of oil and natural gas by 10%. The reason was naturally the economic crisis.
What, the economic crisis has no negative impact on Russia?
If you say there is no impact, then there is no impact. Is it okay if Russia is frightened?
Russia's price increase immediately aroused strong opposition from relevant countries.
Let’s not talk about whether the economic crisis has a negative impact on Russia. It does have an impact on those European countries that rely heavily on Russian energy.
How can it be possible? European countries are eager for Russia to provide oil and natural gas to Europe for free.
Compared with Germany, which has fully turned to Russia, France has a more determined attitude. President Gaston Doumergue said that if Russia raises prices, France will reduce its imports from Russia.
Although the price of Russian oil and natural gas is lower than that of the United States, France still does not put its eggs in one basket and maintains imports from the United States to check and balance Russia.
Guchkov is not afraid, if he can get the same profit with less exports, that's not bad.
What Gaston Doumergue didn't expect was the terrible tacit understanding between Little John and Guchkov. After Russia decided to raise oil and natural gas prices, American oil companies also raised prices, in line with Russia.
History has fully proved that it is unreasonable to enter into a price war with Russia.
Therefore, it is in the best interest of the United States and Russia to maintain a tacit understanding between the United States and Russia while sucking blood from Europe.
Joseph was very angry. Didn't he agree to compete with Russia? Why do you, a pure American with thick eyebrows and big eyes, want to rebel?
Little John did not explain that when Rockefeller made money, the Dolgorukov family could get more dividends. As long as it was good for everyone, capital knew no borders.
Since Rockefeller can capital without borders, Dolgorukov can naturally do the same.
So Joseph is planning to move part of the car factory from the United States to Mexico because workers in Mexico are cheap.
During the years of Ford's rapid rise, Henry Sr. created a "middle class" in the United States in order to increase the enthusiasm of Ford workers.
As a result, the economy exploded, and Ford was forced to cut wages and lay off employees, and countless middle-class people were instantly reduced to abject poverty.
(End of chapter)