The bearded Peter gave Lu Ming a comprehensive introduction to the planned economic policies implemented by the Soviet Union. He gestured with a big pie with his hand to emphasize that the planned economy could perfectly avoid the biggest drawback of capitalism: economic crisis.
Lu Ming couldn't help but be fascinated after hearing this. Although he felt that there was no perfect economic model in the world, in theory, if the government fully controlled and regulated the economy, at least there would not be too much turmoil.
The lessons of history are painful.
Since October 1929, when the New York stock market crashed in the United States, an unprecedented economic crisis broke out and quickly spread to the world.
In less than two months, the financial systems of major cities such as London, Tokyo, Paris, Berlin, and Rome collapsed like dominoes.
Shanghai, China, was not immune. Global stocks plummeted, almost half of the wealth created by mankind evaporated in three months, and the world fell into poverty, as if it had returned to the dark Middle Ages overnight.
Although Lu Ming did not study economics, he knew that economic crisis is an inevitable product of the capitalist system. The length and intensity of the outbreak cycle are just different, and they will come every more than ten years.
After the outbreak of this economic crisis, countless banks around the world collapsed. The middle class in rich countries became paupers overnight, and some even fell into extreme poverty. Financial bosses jumped off buildings one after another, and newspapers reported daily reports of suicides.
The people who were originally living at the bottom of the class are even worse, and their days are like a year.
A few days ago, Lu Ming received a telegram from his teacher Frank, describing to him the tragic situation of the United States, where tens of millions of unemployed people were struggling to survive. These were all industrial workers who created wealth for the country.
, and now he has become a beggar.
Citizens protested around the White House, and the intellectual class loudly called for bailout, but the U.S. government remained indifferent.
President Hoover publicly stated that he would never use the power of the government to intervene in the market. He firmly believed that the market would automatically play a mediating role and allow the U.S. economy to recover automatically.
As a staunch admirer and adherent of market economic theory, Hoover believed that free economy was the greatest superiority of the capitalist system.
The people in dire straits are paying a heavy price for Hoover's firm belief.
Frank scolded Hoover in his heart for his inaction, but he was not worried. Mr. Roosevelt has the highest voice for being elected president in the next term, and his public support rate has been rising. It is almost certain that Roosevelt will be the next president of the United States.
Frank said in the telegram that Mr. Roosevelt had drafted a comprehensive plan to rescue the U.S. economy and was piloting it in New York State. As long as he is elected president, the U.S. economy can fully return to normal under the stimulation of the new economic policy.
Frank's call was intended to let Lu Ming understand how much impact this global economic crisis has had on China.
Lu Ming saw the Shanghai stock market go from crowded to deserted, but he didn't understand the inside story.
Apart from Jing Lao (Zhang Jingjiang), Sheng Youde is the most vocal Shanghai Tang chaebol.
Lu Ming immediately consulted Sheng Youde with questions.
Sheng Youde told Lu Ming that he had not suffered any losses in this economic crisis because he had long expected that the tragedy that would hit the world was about to happen.
A year ago, when the stock market reached a fever pitch, he had emptied all his stock accounts and invested the money he earned in real estate, ports and oil companies in New York.
Not only did Sheng's industry remain unscathed during this economic crisis, but its market value increased by more than a hundred times. It was precisely because of this that Jing Lao entrusted him with the arduous task of financing the party and state.
Sheng Youde told Lu Ming that China is currently mainly a farming economy, not a chaebol economy, so it has not been greatly affected by the global economic crisis. China's banking industry is also underdeveloped. It mainly implements a bank system, and what banks believe in is not banknotes and stocks.
, but real gold and silver.
All in all, except for some major foreign-operated capitalists in Shanghai, Peking, and Guangzhou who suffered heavy losses, the Chinese economy did not suffer a big blow.
Of course, this is not something to be happy about. It can only be said that compared with the capitalist industrial powers, China is too poor, and it cannot lose much if it has no money.
Lu Ming wrote these letters and sent them to Frank. Because it was not an urgent matter and there was a lot to talk about, he did not send it by telegram but mailed the letter.
Frank's prediction of the international situation made Lu Ming feel inexplicably worried and uneasy.
Frank said that the economic crisis is still spreading, but the United States can recover within a few years with its abundant resources and vast market.
Britain, France, Italy, and the Netherlands all have their own colonies and have formed their own colonial systems. Relying on this system, they have been able to stand up again from the economic crisis one after another.
The most worrying ones are Germany and Japan. These two countries consider themselves to be superior nations and are too conceited to live in poverty.
Although Germany is not a poor country, as a defeated country in the First World War, it has been restricted by the Treaty of Versailles. It was already breathless, and now it is suffering from an economic crisis. The situation can be imagined.
What to do? If you don’t die in silence, you will explode in silence.
Germany is exactly like this. Either it collapsed in the economic crisis, or it relied on military expansion, launched aggressive wars abroad, and plundered wealth to rescue this crisis.
Judging from the trend of Nazi forces becoming more and more mainstream in Germany, Germany is very likely to choose the latter path in the future, that is, to launch a war of aggression.
Another crisis is that of Japan, Asia's only industrial power.
Japan and Germany are just the opposite. They made huge profits from the First World War and are in the stage of expanding desires.
However, Japan is an island country with poor resources, a large population, and a weak industrial foundation. If it wants to alleviate the blow caused by the economic crisis, whether it is to compete for overseas markets or dig deep into the domestic market, it will be a long way to go.
Seeing that the time was ripe, the Japanese military began to advise the emperor, repeating the same old tune, vigorously advocating the revitalization of Japan through "Co-Prosperity in Greater East Asia", advocating waging war abroad, plundering resources, and restoring and developing the economy.
Japan's first target is naturally China, which has a vast territory and rich resources, and then its sword is aimed at the Soviet Union spanning Europe and Asia.
Facts have proved that Mr. Frank's prediction was basically accurate, but he also miscalculated a little. Japan did not dare to attack its old enemy the Soviet Union. Instead, it launched its war machine in Asia and launched an attack on the vast British, French, American and Dutch colonies.
The European and American powers were finally bitten hard by the hell hounds they raised.
It can be said that the Soviet government "never leaves the saddle, never leaves the horse, never leaves the armor" and is always on guard against Japanese attacks from the direction of Siberia.
Stalin deployed a large number of elite troops in the Far East and reached a cooperation agreement with the Republic of China government to provide unconditional support in dealing with the Japanese.
Stalin planned to make the Republic of China government a sharp knife that stabbed the Japanese in the back.
Unexpectedly, the Japanese devils were too cowardly to target the Soviet Union, and instead took meat from the mouths of the British, French, American, and Dutch powers.
Of course, the military strength of these colonial or semi-colonial countries is far inferior to that of the Soviet Union, and Japan also picked a soft persimmon.
The 34 Siberian divisions that had been stationed in the Far East to prevent the Japanese from attacking the Soviet Union survived without any damage. This can be regarded as God's punishment for the fascists.
When Hitler launched a blitzkrieg against the Soviet Union, this elite force appeared in the Moscow military parade and became a new force that successfully defeated the German army, breaking the myth that the German Wehrmacht was invincible.
These are all afterthoughts, and of course Lu Ming doesn't know. What he can predict is that Japan's preparations for plotting against China must have accelerated, and maybe war will come tomorrow morning.
Lu Ming asked Sheng Youde directly about this: "Is war really not far away from us?"
Sheng Youde gave him a definite reply: "Yes, I seem to have smelled the smoke of gunpowder."