Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 588 New Monetary Policy

Yifan said: "I disagree with his line of thinking. First of all, the British pound and the US dollar are based on the fact that they are firstly a manufacturing power. Our current production capacity is high in efficiency and low in total volume. Limited production capacity and products Most of them have to be put on their own upgrades-in the short term, they can't even meet the demand for industrial consumer goods in mainland China effectively, so it is still difficult to support large-scale output of credit paper only by selling Lingao products. It is even less likely that money can be circulated by force alone.”

"I don't agree either. The governor's idea is still the omnipotent planned economy," Wu Di said. "He just infinitely belittles the role of financial tools. It's nothing more than a few decades ago, the whole country only had the People's Bank, the Central Bank and retail banks. Later, the People's Bank of China withdrew from the second line and created a model of four specialized banks to take over."

"Let's not talk about this issue for now, let's talk about the new monetary policy." Chen Ce said, "A planned economy, we are originally a planned economy, and a planned economy that is even more planned than the Soviet revisionist."

"Monetary policy is a matter of menstruation. There is no monthly BBS that doesn't talk about it. Everyone wants to be an economist," said Yifan. First, they know that there is a problem with food stamps; second, they don’t know what to replace; third, it is also a fundamental problem, and there are too many opinions.”

Wu Di said: "From our point of view, basically copying the silver standard system is the most operable and stable system at present. It is easy to implement and the people can accept it."

The current system is clearly an unsustainable temporary measure, so in the spirit of being prepared, people in the financial department have held many working meetings on this issue, and there have been some differences so far.

Chen Ce said: "We are the service department, and we cannot wrestle with the executive committee. The production department and the sales department are the leaders. We just cooperate with them to solve the problems in the great cause of crossing. At most, we can look ahead five years." to ten years."

"Okay, you talk about your plan." Everyone present knew that Chen Ce was actually entrusted by the Executive Committee to draft the new currency system.His speech was meant to set the tone.

"The current theories are all kinds of strange, but in conclusion, there are generally two ideas." Chen Ce said, "One is the silver standard, and the other is pure credit currency. Both have benefits. I personally think that with Lingao's current situation, A credit currency system linked to silver can be established.”

"I think it is very good to use the silver standard at this stage. It is convenient, intuitive, and has guaranteed credit." Wu Di said, "Referring to the use of the Spanish Eagle Ocean in China, silver coins with a fineness of less than 900 are in circulation in reality because they are beautifully minted and easy to value. On the contrary, it is easier to use than 925 loose silver. In many cases, seven cents and two cents of silver dollars can be used for one or two purposes in transactions! The coinage itself can generate profits. And you have to consider foreign trade needs, without silver, you can’t buy goods at all .”

"Mechanism silver dollars." Yifan said, "If they are circulated, they will definitely become hoarding objects for old money on the mainland. Bad coins drive out good coins, so we have to guard against it. China's silver black hole is not for nothing."

"It's okay, let them store it. Anyway, when they go to Lingao to buy things, they always have to bring money. The outflow and inflow should be equal. According to our development momentum, I am afraid that the future will be seriously oversupplied, and inflation will be severe." Wu Di said.

"I'm afraid it's not that simple. What we need most is bulk goods. A merchant who sells bulk raw materials may not want to buy anything from us. He will walk directly with silver instead of purchasing our goods and taking them away. Let's take away It's a standard silver dollar, not necessarily a 925 silver dollar. People always tend to spend the worst currency."

"That's right, the role of silver is equivalent to foreign exchange for us." Chen Ce tapped his teacup with a pencil, "What about our currency notes? In fact, they are RMB 90 years ago. Circulation, but in fact this is impossible—at least for the time being. Despite various measures, the number of foreign merchants is still limited. Circulation coupons have no purchasing power outside Lingao. Foreign merchants will only The choice is either to accept the silver or to spend all the negotiable notes,"

"You want to peg the currency to silver?" Yifan immediately understood what he meant.

"Yes, it is wrong to deny the value of silver, at least not right now. Let's first see where are the problems we are facing?"

He opened his notebook:

"The first is the lack of raw materials. Except for steel, which is about to achieve self-sufficiency in the short term, others are almost completely dependent on imports; second, almost all export products rely on indigenous channels; third, the population under control is too small."

"Is this very similar to the early British!"

"Yes, but our burden is much greater than that of the British." Chen Ce said, "Britain only needs a sufficient navy, but we have to build and maintain a strong army at the same time. Army, navy, merchant ships team; ever-expanding administrative and technical teams; large-scale basic education...all of these require a lot of investment. And what about our productivity? Unfortunately, most of the industrial products produced in Lingao are used for infrastructure construction, Expansion of new production capacity, only a small part is used for export. At present, the balance of payments of the current account is maintained..."

Yifan coughed.Chen Ce realized that this was talking about state secrets."You know what I mean," he said.

Yifan said: "Of course, in the foreseeable future, Lingao's industrial production capacity is not enough to effectively meet even East Asia's demand for industrial consumer goods, so it is impossible to export grain circulation coupons, and people don't accept it. So, in fact, there is only one answer—according to historical practice, temporarily implement banknotes based on the silver standard system, especially this is the only precious metal that we can master in large quantities and is recognized by everyone.”

"No, it's too wasteful!" Chen Ce saw that he had said a big deal, but Yifan directly tampered with it, "It's a credit currency with a silver-linked exchange rate!" He went on to say, "The existence of silver circulation in Lingao's economic activities is itself a Waste of resources!"

"Use silver dollar certificates," Wu Di said, "there are no silver dollars on the market, and it is only stipulated that one-yuan banknotes can be exchanged for one-yuan silver dollars; or an incomplete silver standard. The silver content of banknotes is stipulated, but the number of silver exchanges is limited. In order to avoid sudden A run on non-convertible situation.”

"If I had to choose between the two, I would rather choose the first one. The second one will only accelerate credit bankruptcy when our credit is not high. If it can't be [-]% converted into silver, what's the point of specifying the silver content? One day, if a big merchant comes to exchange a large amount of circulation notes, you say, 'I'm sorry, this exceeds the exchange limit. You can buy the goods and go back.' Do you think he will understand what is called an incomplete silver standard under restricted exchange? No." Chen Ce emphasized his tone, "He only knows one fact, that the negotiable notes cannot be exchanged for silver. Then everyone who does business with us will know this, and our banknote credit will be ruined. If you can't exchange it, just Still don’t specify how much silver content is.”

"You are ***." Yifan knocked on the table, "Let's not mention whether your so-called credit currency can be realized, let's talk about the scale of Lingao's economy first? It’s not about the total amount of currency issued. We can’t print money according to demand, otherwise we will be second to Mr. Chang.”

"Aren't you responsible for the accounting of Lingao's economic scale?" Chen Ce kicked the ball back directly, "The Ministry of Finance has ordered all departments to establish a primary financial system. This thing can be trained by the indigenous accountants, and they will be able to get started soon. "

"Difficult!" Yifan said this word, "It's very difficult. I don't even have anyone to do an audit now. Talking about this is simply delusional." He took a sip of tea, "Just one calculation is enough for you to pass out."

"Let's talk about this matter later, I will continue to talk about my ideas." Chen Ce continued to talk about his monetary policy, "Simply put, at present, the currency system of the Celestial Dynasty can be imitated, and the circulation of precious metals is prohibited in the territory. All commercial activities in the area have also been converted to circulation certificates. No one can buy anything except the use of circulation certificates. By returning precious metals and redemption, all the precious metals in the control area are gradually controlled by the Crossing Group and used as foreign exchange Reserve and use. Banknotes are pegged to silver at a managed fixed exchange rate, which is not the same as the silver standard, and the exchange rate between silver and negotiable notes is only meaningful in trade."

"I understand what you mean." Yifan said, "It boils down to: all circulation coupons are used in the area controlled by the Crossing Group; small foreign merchants purchase Lingao products through designated banks to exchange circulation coupons; all large trade transactions are priced using circulation coupons , but the settlement is done in the currency acceptable to the other party, which is completed by a specialized agency; domestic and foreign trade companies in the crossing group control area use the currency certificate to denominate the foreign trade through the designated bank; the currency currency will no longer only use the grain standard, but use a Baskets of basic agricultural and industrial products will be pegged; negotiable notes will specify exchange rates with silver."

"In general." Chen Ce said, "The key to this policy is to implement compulsory foreign exchange settlement and sales. Under the influence of Lingao's infrastructure, technology, and policies, a number of domestic joint ventures and sole proprietorships will inevitably emerge. The silver and gold obtained from export must be settled at Delong Bank forcibly; their domestic consumption, expansion of production, recruitment of labor, and negotiable notes are enough; the silver they import needs to be approved by Delong before selling silver. Of course, with The outflow of circulation certificates will also generate a certain amount of daily consumption circulation in overseas places such as Guangzhou and Leizhou. Unlike deposit slips, the circulation certificates in Li Luoyou's hands can be purchased from enterprises controlled by Lingao in Guangzhou. Consumer services and products. But that number will be limited in the near term and it won’t make much sense.”

"Your thing itself is still a silver standard in disguise. It's just that you are now using compulsory foreign exchange settlement to control the financial risks in the Lingao economy. You have to make it clear that industrial products are priced in currency, not currency. Industrial products are priced For Lingao, the largest and most important imported product is coal, iron and grain. After the production capacity of Hongji and Tiandu is normal, the most important imported product is people. Mines use slave labor, and enterprises and agricultural employees come from the mainland. Import, as long as they don’t turn against Daming, how much money can the refugees spend? In the end, it’s the problem of food. The possibility of self-solution of the food problem is also very high. In Lingao’s long-term view, excess is inevitable, and the only thing to consider is inflation. The problem. This closed economy can only prevent itself from being killed by inflation by relying on the spread of exported capital and technology.”

"This is an issue to be considered in the future," Chen Ce said. "The fact at this stage is that we have a deficit. And this deficit will continue to exist for quite a long time."

"In the early stage of your system, you still have to rely on continuously increasing silver reserves. Otherwise, the risk is still very high." Ji An recorded in his notebook for a long time, "The problem is that our recent export growth is not very satisfactory."

"After the [-]st Five-Year Plan, trade will definitely exceed after the production capacity of light industry comes up. I'm not very worried about this."

"Well, in fact, it is still a question of the economic scale of Lingao. The scale of bank notes cannot be calculated according to the silver reserve, but the economic scale of Lingao."

"Don't you have to do the work?" Chen Ce said with a smile.

"Okay, okay. If your policy is passed, I have to talk to Cheng Dong about expanding the accountant. It's better to set up a statistics bureau to enforce a unified accounting system," he thought for a while , "The currency is single-linked to silver. Gold coins follow the market."

"Correct."

"Let's do it like this for the time being. In the long run, silver is not suitable as a currency." Yifan stretched his body, "There is still too much silver. It is better to use the gold standard—or the stainless steel standard."

Wu Di said: "There is one more thing about the stainless steel standard. No matter what plan the executive committee finally implements, I strongly demand the implementation of a unified legal currency in Lingao and cancel the current circulation of various silver and copper coins. The current circulation in the market is too chaotic. Already. Silver, copper coins, and negotiable certificates, copper coins and silver are of different quality, and it is too difficult for banks to convert."

"The Dugong has discussed this matter many times, but he started from the needs of the industrial field. The main thing is to recycle copper coins-there is very little silver in Lingao's daily circulation. Copper coins are big. But even the worst copper coins It also contains a lot of lead, wouldn't it be better to spend it as metal?"

"If you want me to say, it might as well be directly trafficked to Southeast Asia. This kind of low-quality small money is the most widely used currency in Southeast Asia, and some sea merchants specialize in trafficking this to Manila."

"The reality is that what we need most is the coin, and what the circulation link needs most is the small coin." Wu Di said, "It is best to use metal casting for the small coin. Now it is not ideal to use 1 cent, 5 cents and 10 cents banknotes, and ordinary people are not used to it." There are still a lot of copper coins in circulation for small payments.”

Several people pondered for a moment, and it would be best to continue to mint copper coins, but this is a strategic material, which is in great demand in both the military industry and the power industry.And copper's self-lubricating properties make it even more useful in the travel industry.Lingao's copper reserves are small, and the Planning Institute definitely disagrees; iron coins cannot be issued either—the status of this thing in the hearts of the people is too low.Moreover, the era when iron money was issued was not very good, and it was a currency with a bad reputation.

"How about issuing steel money? It's like RMB. It's shiny and looks like silver. Let's call it 'Mithril'!" Wu Di had an idea.

"The renminbi is made of stainless steel. Ordinary steel stamped coins look okay at first, but they will rust after a while. The common people will know that they are made of iron at a glance. You will also have a reputation as a forgery. It is not advisable."

"What do you need to make stainless steel?" Yifan has long had plans for stainless steel coins. If he wants this "secret silver", why bother so much? Just use stainless steel as standard.Anyway, only the time-traveling group can make stainless steel, and there is no one gram of stainless steel in this time and space.Release and use do not need to consider external factors.Moreover, "Mithril" is a good-looking thing, and its weight is not light, so it may be known that it will replace silver when it is done!
"Need nickel."

"Do we have this thing?"

"In terms of non-ferrous metals, the holy ship basically has a little reserve - including a lot of stainless steel. However, it is impossible for the executive committee to use it for coinage - according to this To help the engineers, it is best to use the silver in the industrial field."

"As long as there are suitable substitutes, I have no objection." Yifan said, "Can nickel be imported?"

"If you want to import from Southeast Asia, you may have to mine yourself - you have to do everything yourself these days. It seems that Guangdong is also available. But making stainless steel may not be so simple."

"Can we report it to the higher authorities. Let the industrial sector handle it." Yifan said, "Yes, we can also make aluminum coins. Back then, aluminum products were very strong, and they were cheaper than silver. As long as we control the output, we can also make coins." Play the role of Mithril."

"Aluminum coins are too light, and they don't look good after a long time. I really like the concept of stainless steel." Wu Di said, "I knew that I should have made more one-yuan and one-dime RMB. It was issued directly and used. The new version of the coin Without a country name, there is no need to explain it.”

"It's too heavy. It's better to bring more stainless steel than this one. At least you can define the denomination and size yourself."

"Okay. Let's go up with two plans. The issue of tokens must be resolved."

Everyone reached a basic agreement on this issue, and the next thing is to decide various details at the work meeting and formulate a plan.This plan has to be reported to the Executive Committee for discussion, and after it is passed, it has to be sent to the Standing Committee of the Senate for approval.The latter is basically a formality.

"On the Executive Committee side, it's hard to say the attitude of Duke Ma." Chen Ce said to Yi Fan, "Your proposal to conduct a comprehensive accounting of the economic system is very unpopular to Duke Ma."

(End of this chapter)