The Third Reich: The Return of the King

Goebbels has been so busy this time that he is about to fly!

After the Allies relaxed military restrictions on the German army, Mainz immediately pushed forward the German army expansion plan.

He didn't waste any places, and directly planned to expand the army to 500,000 people.

As a result, after the plan report was submitted, it was rejected by the government without any suspense!

"Mainz, I'll tell you the truth, the government doesn't have that much money to afford such a large army!"

Hindenburg called Mainz directly and informed him about the incident.

"The treasury is running out of rats, and most of the current revenue is invested in the reconstruction of the empire, so I can't come up with such a large sum of money to help you expand the army!"

Hindenburg was born in the military, so he should be on the side of the military to help protect the interests of the army.

However, even with this tendency, this time, Hindenburg did not choose to side with Mainz.

The reason, as he has just said, is that the government cannot afford it.

"So, at what maximum can the government support for the expansion of the army?"

Mainz sensed President Hindenburg's attitude and asked tentatively.

In fact, he has a large amount of money in his own hands and does not need to rely on the government's financial allocation, but Mainz cannot use his own money to support the army at this time, because this army is not his personal private property, but the army of the whole country!

Moreover, the Allied Coalition Arms Control Committee has not been abolished at this time, and their surveillance of the German army is still very close, if the German army suddenly has a large amount of military spending, they only need to investigate carefully, they can know that this money does not match the central government's allocation, then Mainz will soon be exposed!

Therefore, Mainz's money cannot be directly invested in the army, and can only be used as a substitute for the government to undertake part of the work of weapons research and development, and the money can be invested in these aspects, but the direct expenditure of the army, these must go through the government's financial channels!

"You can only expand to 200,000 people at most!"

President Hindenburg understood that the other party was asking for this sentence as an attempt to compromise with him.

Since Mainz is so good at talking, then he naturally has to make corresponding concessions here, it is impossible to say that he really doesn't give a penny, it is too much!

The figure of 200,000 is the result of repeated discussions between Hindenburg and the Minister of Finance, and if it were not for his face, the Minister of Finance probably would not want to spend a penny more on the army!

After all, the government's fiscal revenue is limited, and if the money in their hands is invested in industrial and livelihood projects, it will bring more revenue to the government, and only when the country's economy returns to normal and people's income levels rise, then the taxes collected by the government from factories, merchants and ordinary people will increase!

Putting money into this field is a very cost-effective deal for the government, which is a good thing for the present and for the future.

But put money on the army, and it will be true!

After all, the use of money on the army will give them more money, but the army is like a bottomless pit, no matter how much money is smashed into it, it will be swallowed by the army, and it will definitely not spit out half a bone!

In peacetime, all countries will reduce the size of the army as much as possible, so as to reduce military spending and reduce the financial burden of the government, so that the government can have more money to develop the economy and people's livelihood!

Hindenburg knew the importance of the army, so he did not adopt the advice of the Minister of Finance so short-sightedly, but did not win the financial allocation of 10 for 10,000 people in the army, but this is already the limit, even if the army is very important, but the government really has no money, if the army is forcibly funded, the government's finances will be in deficit, and it will not be able to cover the expenditure!

A hundred years later, almost all countries in the world at that time could not make ends meet, but at that time, all countries could borrow money from the private sector and banks through the issuance of government bonds.

During the First World War, countries also issued bonds, but the bonds at this time were basically short-term war bonds, and there were not many countries that could issue war bonds, only those countries with good credit and collateral guarantee could have the qualifications to issue war bonds, and the national sovereign bonds of this era were not popular, or would not be accepted at all!

After all, compared to the world a hundred years later, countries in this era are very prone to annihilation, and if bonds are issued as collateral for sovereignty, if the country is destroyed in a war, won't the people who buy these bonds cry out?

Either way, however, the nascent Weimar Republic was not eligible.

With the status of a defeated country, coupled with the heavy debts they are carrying, they look like they may go bankrupt at any time, such a government, such a country, there are no investors at all, so even if they issue bonds, basically no one will buy them.

Since you can't issue bonds to borrow money, you can only rely on your own skills to make money.

The Weimar Republic's fiscal revenues came from three main sources: the first was industrial tax revenue from major corporations.

The second is customs duties from customs.

The third is the income tax from residents, including personal income tax, value-added tax, stamp duty and business tax on the sale of goods.

The industrial tax revenue was originally the largest tax collector of the Second Empire, and the industrial volume of the Second Empire was the second largest in the world, second only to the eagle sauce in North America, and higher than that of a large number of traditional powers in Europe, so their industrial taxes were naturally very high.

However, the First World War caused great damage to Hans's industry, and a large number of factories were requisitioned by the government during the war and converted into arsenals to produce various weapons and equipment for the army.

After the war, the Entente dealt a great blow to Hans's military factories, and a large number of factories were affected, and this influence has not recovered until now.

Therefore, at this time, the Weimar Republic's major tax collector was the customs tariff, because of the post-war reconstruction, the Weimar Republic imported a large number of materials and equipment from abroad, and these things would be charged very high customs duties when they entered the customs, and this money was the main part of the current Weimar Republic's fiscal revenue.

As for the income of the people, because the inflation caused by the four years of war was very serious, and the wealth of the people was looted under the soaring prices, and whose hands did the wealth flow?

In the hands of the Junker aristocracy, who controlled the Second Empire, of course!

Fortunately, the power of the Junker nobles in the army is not as great as before, otherwise, by relying on the army to suck blood, the Junker nobles will be more serious in looting the wealth of society.

For the government of the Weimar Republic, it is the right way to make good use of the money in its hands and invest it in the industrial sector as soon as possible to help the factories resume production, so as to increase the tax revenue of industry and agriculture, and only in this way can the government build a healthier tax system and get them out of the crisis of fiscal deficits.

As for investing in the military, which is a money-losing business, they are naturally particularly resistant.

Mainz was silent for a while after hearing President Hindenburg's words, he could understand the government's difficulties, but he was still very disappointed in his heart.

I finally got a quota of 50,000, but I could only recruit 200,000 people, which is really uncomfortable!

The enemy is on Capitol Hill!_

Fei Lu reminds you: three things to read-