Expedition to Europe

Before 1920, the most special building in New York was the Waldorf-Astor Hotel.

This hotel was built by William Waldorf Astor and his cousin, John Jacob Astor IV. William built the Waldorf Hotel first, and then John built the Astor Hotel. Later, the two hotels were connected by a 300-meter corridor and merged into one, renamed the "Waldorf-Astor" Hotel, becoming the earliest landmark building in New York.

Just last year, the Waldorf-Astor Hotel was sold to Federal Bio for $17 million, and then the Waldorf Hotel became the headquarters of Federal Bio, and the Astor Hotel became the headquarters of Federal Motors.

Federal Bio and Federal Motors are both large companies that have just become famous in the past two years. Federal Bio's flagship products are penicillin and nylon, which has just been launched and has not yet formed production capacity; Federal Motors' flagship products are the "Matador", "Jueying" and "Chasing Wind" series of cars.

Both companies have been established for less than two years, but they are already the leading companies in the United States. Among them, Federal Biological has become a new money-making monster with a profit of more than 400 million US dollars last year with penicillin; Federal Motor has successfully snatched half of the market from Ford Motor with its rich colors and beautiful appearance in less than a year since its establishment, becoming the new favorite of the American auto industry.

Taking a hotel as the company headquarters sounds a bit exaggerated, but it is understandable. After all, it is normal for a large company to have an affiliated hotel. This is not too strange.

Federal Biological and Federal Motor, just by listening to the name, you can tell that they are subsidiaries of the same consortium.

Yes, Federal Biological and Federal Motor do belong to the same consortium-Federal Group.

Federal Group also has a subsidiary called "Federal Oil".

This is another behemoth. Federal Oil controls two oil fields in Libya. Now, together with France's "United Oil", they have become the two largest giants in the oil market. They control more than half of the world's oil and can be said to control the world's oil lifeline.

In fact, many people know that whether it is "Federal Oil" or "Union Oil", or even the entire "Federal Group", they all belong to the industry of the King of Lan Fang. The king not only controls an empire with a vast territory, but also controls a huge business empire. No matter in which field, the king is a leader.

That's right, the Federal Group is a monster created by Qin Zhiyuan. Qin Zhiyuan owns 75% of the shares of this group, and the other 25% belongs to Louis Renault.

In early 1920, a new building rose from the ground next to the Waldorf-Astor Hotel.

This building, known as the "Empire State Building", was built solely by the Federal Group. The building is designed to have 66 floors and a height of 235 meters. After completion, it will be the tallest building in New York and will replace the Waldorf-Astor Hotel and become a new landmark building in New York.

In fact, many people have not noticed that the construction company that built the Empire State Building is also named "Federal". This company called "Federal Construction" is also a subsidiary of the Federal Group. It has a large number of construction workers with excellent designers. After the construction of the "Empire State Building", Federal Construction will also have proud qualifications. This will be another big crocodile that does not show its mountains or water.

Although it has been established for only more than a year, the Federal Group has become the pride of many Americans. Even if its helmsman is Simon Allen, a Frenchman who has just become an American citizen, so what? America is originally an immigrant country. A hundred years ago, all Americans were not Americans.

Simon Allen's office is located on the top floor of the Waldorf Hotel. It was originally a huge luxury suite. After the Federal Group purchased the Waldorf-Astor Hotel, Simon Allen turned this luxury suite that occupied an entire floor into his own office.

Speaking of which, Simon Allen's office has a lot of origins with the Chinese. At the end of the 19th century, when Li Hongzhang, the governor of the Qing Empire, visited the United States, he stayed at the Waldorf Hotel, and it was this suite that he stayed in.

Many people who knew about this incident speculated about Simon Allen with some malicious intent. Perhaps the nominal head of the "Federal Group" wanted to become a governor under the "King".

Those who thought so must be envious and jealous. It is not easy to become a governor under the King. I heard that as long as you are a governor, you will be awarded the title of "Marquis" at the very least.

Title!

This is a symbol of nobility, and it is definitely a rare title in the democratic United States.

It is not easy to get a "title". Simon Allen sleeps no more than five hours a day, and most of the time he is working. Although he is in a high position, this president is so busy that he doesn't even have time to fall in love, so he is still single.

Well, Simon Allen is the biggest bachelor in the United States in 1920.

The bachelor has become increasingly busy recently. With the continued downturn in the European economy and the massive outflow of American capital, the American economy has also begun to be dragged down. During this period, the economic crisis that Qin Zhiyuan had discussed with Simon Allen has become increasingly obvious. Simon Allen keenly feels that perhaps the economic crisis is really coming.

During the World War, the United States made a lot of money by playing both sides. It not only got rid of its status as a debtor country in one fell swoop, but also turned itself into a creditor country in the world. This made Americans ecstatic and almost forgetful.

The World War was a disaster for Europe, but for the United States, it was an absolute carnival.

Unfortunately, the good times did not last long. After the "carnival" of the World War, the hidden dangers are finally slowly exposed.

The biggest profit for the United States in the World War was farm products and military products. At that time, the people of Britain and France had already participated in the war, and no one was engaged in agricultural production. Therefore, agricultural products could only be imported from the United States. By the end of the World War, nearly 70% of the agricultural products needed by Britain and France had to be imported from the United States. This also stimulated the rapid development of agriculture in the United States. The enthusiasm of farmers for production was greatly improved. In just four years, the scale of agricultural products in the United States quadrupled, and the export volume increased by 700%.

After the World War, with the large-scale recovery of military personnel in Britain and France, agriculture began to recover slowly, but American farmers did not make corresponding adjustments and continued to produce at the pace during the war.

The consequences of doing so are imaginable. Since the beginning of this year, the price of agricultural products has dropped by 300% compared to the war period, but there is still no market.

The same as agriculture is industry.

Compared with agriculture, war has a greater stimulus to industry.

During the World War, thousands of tons of arms were shipped from the United States to Europe every day. American arms factories were working overtime day and night. Factory owners were adding factories, recruiting workers, and racking their brains to increase production every day to meet European needs.

During the entire war, Europe's demand for American arms increased by 950% compared to before the war, which is a crazy ratio.

Industrial production has never been an individual behavior. It involves the overall behavior of the whole society. If you want to process more products, you need more raw materials, more human resources, and more capital investment.

Of course, during the war, these investments are worth the money.

The original text is in the six # 9 @book/bar!

But after the war, the crazy behavior during the war will also lead to serious consequences.

Industry is different from agriculture. Agriculture does not require too much human resources. It only needs to improve the degree of mechanization to greatly improve productivity. In contrast, improving industrial productivity requires people. Only with enough skilled workers can productivity be fully improved.

Then when demand is no longer so strong and the products produced have no market, factory owners have to reduce production scale and reduce production costs. The most important means is layoffs.

Layoffs mean the emergence of a large number of unemployed workers. If these people cannot find new jobs, they will become a hidden danger to society.

People always have to eat. Farmers have no income, but they still have food at home and will not starve to death.

What about workers?

If workers have no income and no surplus food at home, they will really rebel!

In fact, the consequences of industrial contraction have already begun to show signs since the middle of last year, but perhaps because the unemployed workers still have surplus food at home, the impact does not seem to be too great. In April 1920, the impact became more and more obvious. Metropolises like New York may not see much signs of chaos, but in industrial cities such as Detroit, chaos has begun to appear, with theft, robbery, and even large-scale looting constantly occurring. The government still pursues free economics that allows the market to regulate, which further exacerbates the degree of chaos.

The Federal Group has an independent department, similar to the think tank of the 21st century, which is dedicated to predicting economic indexes.

Just a week ago, the "think tank" of the Federal Group submitted a report to Simon Allen. If the situation does not improve, then the economic crisis will break out on a large scale by August this year at the latest.

Considering the stimulus of the world war to the economy, the scale of this economic crisis will be unprecedented, and the duration will be very long, longer than any previous one.

After receiving this report, Simon Allen immediately started to operate.

For the United States and Americans, the economic crisis is a tragedy, but for Simon Allen and the Federal Group, the economic crisis is an opportunity, a good opportunity to "buy at the bottom".

The companies under the Federal Group are basically money-making monsters, and since the middle of last year, the head office in Europe has stopped withdrawing funds, just to prepare for "buying at the bottom" during the economic crisis.

It can be predicted that when the economic crisis begins, the Federal Group will expand further and become a real empire.