Rise of Australia

Chapter 686 Expensive Bread

The chaos in the United States is like a bomb that was suddenly ignited. The scope of the explosion covered the entire United States, including whites and blacks.

When the last bit of government credibility is lost, the chaos in the United States is unimaginable and uncontrollable by anyone or any force.

If others add fuel to the fire, this will be a heavy blow to a country that was founded less than 200 years ago, and an even greater blow to a country that ended its civil war just a few decades ago.

Although the end of the Civil War brought decades of peace and stability to the United States, this does not mean that the United States is a powerful country.

After blacks were liberated, the conflicts with whites deepened, because their roles were no longer slaves on the estate, but American citizens who wanted more political rights.

The conflicts between the east and west, and the northern and southern states of the United States are also irreconcilable unless there is a president who can be trusted by all Americans to mediate.

But it is obvious that President Hoover no longer has the trust of Americans, which is also the fundamental reason why the United States has fallen into extreme chaos.

After California announced that it was about to hold an independence referendum, the western states followed their elder brothers and announced independence referendums.

This also paralyzed the construction of the Hoover Dam before it even started. After all, the location of the dam is in the western United States, and the western states no longer obey the dispatch of the US federal government.

Even the Hoover Dam, the biggest political achievement, has been unable to proceed smoothly. It can be said bluntly that there is no chance of reversal in President Hoover's political career.

What's even worse is that the U.S. policy of not prohibiting firearms has accelerated the occurrence of chaos.

State governments can even have an armed force for a short time if they so choose. Even those dark forces who cannot get on the stage can obtain weapons through various methods. Civilians who have weapons are no longer civilians.

Coupled with President Hoover's massacre of World War I veterans, few American soldiers were willing to suppress these rebellions for the government.

Many soldiers have even expressed dissatisfaction with the government, and a break between the army and the government seems possible.

While the world's attention is focused on the chaos in the United States, another country that is also in chaos is undergoing huge changes.

If the United States is the country suffering the most severe economic crisis, then Germany is definitely the second most severe.

According to the latest unemployment population estimates, the unemployed population in the United States has exceeded 1200 million, and the unemployed population in Germany has reached more than 500 million.

This is a quite exaggerated level, and it can fully prove how chaotic the domestic economies of the United States and Germany are.

The US dollar still maintains a very high value for various reasons, but Germany's official currency, the mark, has already plummeted in value, and the current official exchange rate has fallen below 1355:1.

What does that mean? Under the official exchange rate, the pound, which has plummeted in value, can still achieve an exchange rate ratio of 1 to 1355, which means that the value of 1 pound is equivalent to 1355 marks.

And this is only the official data. The real conversion is even more exaggerated. In most areas of Germany, it can reach a ratio of more than 1:2000.

Such an exchange rate has plummeted by more than 100 times compared with before the war. This also means that the German people need to receive more than 100 times the salary before the First World War in order to live a life similar to that before the First World War.

But the problem is that before World War I, the per capita annual income of Germans was about two thousand marks, and now the per capita income can barely exceed three thousand marks.

Per capita income appears to have increased, but actual purchasing power has plummeted dozens of times. If you include the rising prices, the income of Germans has been falling crazily in the past ten years.

How exaggerated are prices in Germany?

The first is the price of food, which has been rising more exaggeratedly year after year.

Before World War I, most Germans ate delicious-looking white bread, which cost about 1.3 marks per pound.

Now, white bread has become a food enjoyed by German aristocrats and capitalists. Common people can only eat grains and brown bread with a rougher taste. After all, such bread costs and sells less.

But even the cheapest brown bread, the price per pound has exceeded 60 marks.

If it is white bread with a more delicate and soft texture, the price per pound has even reached as high as about 150 marks. It is still priced but not available and cannot be bought at all.

If civilians really wanted to buy white bread regardless of the cost, it would cost at least 170 marks or more per pound of white bread.

This also means that civilians can only buy up to 20 pounds of white bread with their annual salary, which can eat about 140 meals.

Such data are extremely exaggerated. The income earned by the people for a year of hard work cannot even be used to simply satisfy their hunger.

Germany also has a large number of unemployed people, as well as the elderly and children who cannot work at all. This is also a burden on the working population.

According to surveys by some German media, in 1927, German people spent more than 2300 marks on food, accounting for 77.8% of the average annual income of German citizens.

What kind of exaggerated concept is this? Most of the income Germans earn through hard work throughout the year is used to buy food, and a considerable number of people still do not have enough to eat. If prices in Germany are allowed to continue to grow, not only will the unemployed population continue to grow, but so will the number of people who are underfed and on the verge of starvation.

But at this time, the German government did not realize this problem. Because of Arthur's reminder, William II has entered a state of gradually decentralizing power.

Except for the news that the German royal family occasionally provides relief to the people and distributes free food to the people, there is almost no news about the royal family in the German political arena.

This gave President Hindenburg, the controller of the government, a sigh of relief, because it represented the temporary end to the struggle for power in the imperial government.

Without the suppression of William II, those countries jumped out one after another. Some countries are constantly printing marks and frantically increasing their currency reserves.

Some countries even abolished the mark directly, such as Bavaria, which issued its own currency.

The behavior of these countries may be a solution to the economic crisis for them, but for the German government it is the last straw that breaks Mark's head.

As time entered 1928, Mark's value was like a surging river, flowing down three thousand feet, and it was impossible to stop it.

Even if Hindenburg promulgated a number of strategies, it could not prevent the value of the mark from plummeting like a cliff.

1928年1月，英镑和马克的汇率还保持在1：1300，但等到进入二月，英镑和马克的汇率已经已经增长到1：1500。

It is worth mentioning that the value of the pound did not rise during this period, and was even declining slightly.

This also means that the value of the mark has fallen far beyond the current exchange rate, and the lives of Germans in the new year are destined to be not very good.

Sure enough, the purchasing power of the mark ushered in a new round of plummeting in March.

This round of plummeting not only caused the exchange rate between the mark and the pound to reach a terrifying 1750:1, but also caused all prices in Germany to rise. The price of black bread per pound also rose to 75 marks.

Although this seems incredible, if you count the number of marks printed by various German states, it will be clear at a glance.

Because the German government has little jurisdiction over the states, states with sufficient power are also printing marks unscrupulously.

This resulted in the number of marks circulating in the market far exceeding the market demand, even dozens of times more than the market demand.

What were these marks originally used for? Long before the economic crisis broke out, these marks were used as reparations for Germany's defeat and were delivered to the Allied Powers.

But after the economic crisis broke out, the German government announced a temporary suspension of compensation payments. Although this has eased the German economy to a certain extent, the large number of marks printed by the German government and various states are of no use.

Such a huge number of marks cannot be treated as waste paper. Countries are destined to be unable to bear such temptation, so it is inevitable to put a large number of marks into the market.

The continuous decline in the value of the mark is not a big deal for these countries. At worst, they will print marks with a larger face value.

Starting from March 1928, all the denominations of marks printed by various states increased to more than 3 marks. Some states also printed denominations such as 100 marks and 1000 marks.

The fact that all of Germany was printing marks like crazy was naturally reported by the media. Some political parties who want to attract public attention have angrily criticized the German government and various states for their crazy printing of marks, but this has not helped the entire incident.

In April 1928, a large number of German workers asked companies to increase their wages because the purchasing power of original wages had dropped significantly due to the crazy depreciation of the currency.

值得一提的是，1928年1月的3000马克相当于4月的6000马克，马克贬值速度之快可见一斑。

Under pressure from a large number of workers, some German companies have chosen to increase workers' wages.

This also caused Germany's per capita income to skyrocket in a short period of time, quickly growing from 3000 Marks per capita to 5000 Marks per capita.

But the problem is that the actual purchasing power of the current 5000 marks is not as good as the previous 3000 marks. This is also the biggest problem facing the German government.

As people's income increases, the selling prices of goods will naturally increase. Don't overestimate the conscience of those capitalists. During such an economic crisis, the ambition and greed of capitalists will emerge.

The German people who could barely afford to eat soon found that their income could not even afford meat and could only buy the cheapest brown bread.

The prices of various types of bread are also rising, with the price of a pound of white bread even exceeding 300 marks.

The price of the cheapest black bread also exceeded the expectations of the German people, because the lowest price per pound of black bread marked in all stores was as high as 120 marks.

　The first update of 3000 words, ask for a monthly ticket, ask for support!

　　

　

(End of this chapter)