The Rise Of Australasia

"The frantic devaluation of the Franc is a matter we cannot help but worry about, and we must prevent other countries from following France’s example in devaluation of currency," discussed a Ministry of Finance officer at the diplomatic talks between the United Kingdom and Australasia, expounding on the risks that currency devaluations in other nations posed to British and Australasian interests.

You see, compared to the somewhat unstable French currency, the value of both the British Pound and the Australasian Dollar remained fairly steady.

They had certainly experienced devaluation, but the rate of it mostly stayed below 10%, which was an entirely acceptable margin.

But the Franc was different. If the purchasing power of the Franc before the war was considered 100%, then now it has dwindled to less than 25% of its former value.

Before the war, 25 Francs could be exchanged for 1 Pound, and the exchange rate between the two had been relatively stable.

But now, the exchange rate between the Franc and the Pound had plummeted to 247:1, with the actual rate possibly being 300 Francs to 1 Pound.

Given the nosedive in the exchange rate between the Franc and the Pound, would the Frenchmen still adhere to the gold standard?

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Discussing the likelihood of sticking to the gold standard, as well as negotiating a joint strategy in this currency competition, was the government’s concern, while William’s task was to liquidate the Australasian Royal Family’s assets in London, converting them into gold and other value-preserving items as much as possible.

Although Arthur had liquidated all of Duke Old Arthur’s assets after going to Australasia, it was impossible for the Royal financial group’s expansion to avoid the vast urban city of London over the past two decades.

As the current world’s financial capital, the London Stock Exchange was a common haunt for capitalists, and the Royal financial group had listed many enterprises there.

The most famous at present must be the British branch of the Benz Car Factory, owned jointly with the British nobility. This car factory generated several million pounds in revenue every year, monopolizing over seventy percent of Britain’s car market and bringing substantial income to both the native forces and Australasia.

It was only by collaborating with the native nobility and due to the good relationship between Australasians and the British that the British government’s covetousness was avoided.

Without these two relationships, this enterprise, which minted money daily, had no chance of resisting in a foreign land. In front of a targeted government, an enterprise is just like a sheep ready for slaughter.

Of course, the properties being sold this time were not the British Benz Automobile factories, but rather some unimportant investments, including some real estate companies in London and the like.

Although London’s economy was growing by the day, and the stock market was seemingly thriving, one might question how long such prosperity could last. If there wasn’t an early withdrawal, by the time the stock market fluctuated, it would be too late to pull out.

Arthur couldn’t guarantee that the economic crisis would unfold exactly as history had recorded, so liquidating some assets in advance was deemed necessary.

If the economic crisis were to happen, some enterprises could see their value plummet overnight, multiple times over, or even risk bankruptcy with the slightest misstep.

But withdrawing from the London Stock Exchange needed to be done gradually; it was impossible to sell off all these assets at once. @@novelbin@@

Not to mention the possibility of arousing suspicion, even the London Stock Market wouldn’t be able to stomach such a massive liquidation of assets all at once.

More importantly, the mass sale of assets could potentially cause turbulence in the stock market, or even an early crash, precipitating an economic crisis.

Although Australasia was prepared for an economic crisis, if it were an economic downturn in the London Stock Market triggered by the Australasian asset sell-off, that would be quite a spectacle.

After all, wherever an economic crisis erupts, that place suffers the most impact. If the British economy were carelessly ruined, there would be no deep pockets to fund World War II in the future.

The first assets to be sold were companies and enterprises in the real estate sector. The speculation in real estate had been quite a success.

Although the national circumstances in Europe and America were different from later generations, speculating in real estate in economically developed urban cities was still relatively easy to accomplish.

No matter how sparse the population of the entire country, when concentrated in a certain city, it was easy for the population to become excessive and saturated.

Especially in cities like London and New York, with populations exceeding 7 million, a slight push could keep the real estate heat rising incessantly.

The London real estate company established by the Royal Consortia in London had already built over fifty thousand housing units, with profits exceeding 2 million pounds.

And the price of a property in London had skyrocketed from just a few dozen pounds to around 150 pounds, while slightly larger and more luxurious apartments had broken through the 200-pound mark.

Under the influence of such exaggerated property prices, Britain’s economy, too, was climbing, flourishing at an annual growth rate of over 7%.

Of course, compared to London, which Australasia hadn’t specifically hyped, the property prices in New York were the most exaggerated.

The price of housing in New York was originally under 700 dollars, but now the price of the cheapest second-hand houses had risen to over 1000 dollars, with each being hotly contested.

The newly built houses were all priced above 1500 dollars, the better ones even surpassing 2000 dollars, amounting to twice that of London’s housing prices.

Luckily the American people indeed had money to spend; even with house prices breaking through the 2000-dollar mark, their enthusiasm for buying homes was still unshaken.